By Ayo Akinfe
[1] If you ask me, having Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) makes it imperative that Nigeria becomes a mainstream player in the global economy. It is highly embarrassing that Africa accounts for 18% of the world’s population but only 3% of its trade and 1% of global manufacturing. It falls to Nigeria to correct this imbalance
[2] As is the case with every other African economy, the fundamental problem with Nigeria is that we are not productive enough. Because we do not produce enough, we are heavily reliant on imports to meet our domestic needs. An import-dependent nation can never be a major trading partner
[3] Because we manufacture almost nothing, we have very little to trade with. All African nations have are primary commodities like crude oil, gold, diamonds, timber, bauxite, tin, copper, yam, cassava, cashews, cocoa, etc. When you sell raw materials in exchange for finished goods, you are always going to have a balance of trade deficit because the value of imports after mark-up will be 10 times that of your cheap primary goods
[4] If Africa wants to join the global trading community, the first thing she needs to do as a continent is set serious foreign direct investment (FDI) targets. If Africa is attracting say $300bn worth of FDI annually, most of it will obviously go towards adding value to raw materials and processing our primary products
[5] I for one am a big believer in the Big Bang approach to addressing matters. I believe in taking one drastic move that makes a clear statement and outlines your intentions, leaving no room for doubt. Our next president should seize the initiative and announce drastic measures that will make the Marshall Plan look like child’s play
[6] In the recent past, Nigerian governments have clashed with the US, UK and European Union over Nigeria’s inexplicable homophobia. For some bizarre reason, Nigeria is hellbent on scapegoating homosexuals while turning a blind eye to terrorists, kidnappers, bandits, marauding armed herdsmen, rapists, etc. Now, I believe is the time to redress this misplaced priority
[7] I believe our presidential candidates should be brave and announce that they will repeal every single one of Nigeria’s homophobic and anti-gay laws in exchange for a five year agreement under which companies from OECD nations and the G7 will invest $50bn annually in the Nigerian economy
[8] We can ask Ngozi's WTO to broker with President Biden and the European Union under which all investment in Nigeria will be tax-deductible and these firms will also be offered open-ended access to export credits by their governments
[9] This package should be extended across the rest of Africa too. Coming up with an Africa foreign direct investment (FDI) development plan worth $300bn is peanuts to the G7. I actually suspect that if offered the deal, President Biden will take it because US firms desperately need new markets and production sites abroad. If they want to expand, they need access to global markets and Nigeria offers them that on a plate as we will also open up a route into Ecowas
[10] From what I can see, the biggest obstacle to Nigeria reaching such a deal will be the religion-inspired dogma, homophobia, bigotry and hate. My people need to look themselves in the mirror and ask which is more important. Religious dogma or socio-economic development
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