by Ayo Akinfe
President Buhari should return to Nigeria from this AU-EU Summit in Brussels with a signed agreement that looks like this-
[1] Nigeria is willing to offer European Union (EU) member states observer status at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). This is to facilitate massive investment in West Africa with an annual minimum target of $500bn
[2] Nigeria is offering free land and five-year tax holidays to European automobile manufacturers like Citroen, Peugeot, Fiat, Volkswagen, Mercedes, BMW, Volvo. We want each of them to open assembly and manufacturing plants in Nigeria employing at least 5,000 local people each.
[3] Any company from an EU nation that invests in a manufacturing facility in Nigeria employing at least 1,000 people will get a five-year tax holiday. In return, any state in Northern Nigeria where these investors build a manufacturing facility employing at least a thousand local people will be compelled by law to rescind its Sharia laws to accommodate their foreign workers.
[4] Shipping industries from across the EU are welcome to open at least one shipyard in the Niger Delta to manufacture vessels for global distribution. Nigeria will offer them a 99-year lease to do this
[5] On an annual basis, each EU nation will take in 50,000 Nigerian graduates to train them up to international standards in manufacturing, management, and commerce
[6] Power and steel companies will be given unprecedented sweeteners when they invest in Nigeria. If they invest over $10m and employ in excess of 1,000 Nigerians, they will be offered five-year tax holidays, 99-year land leases, diplomatic status for their staff and the right to acquire Nigerian citizenship.
[7] Pharmaceutical giants from EU member states must combine forces and manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine in Nigeria. Their Nigerian plant must manufacture up to 300m doses by the end of 2021
[8] Agricultural giants are welcome to come and invest heavily in cattle ranches, food processing plants, storage facilities and refrigeration in Nigeria. They will be offered 100-year land leases and five year tax holidays
[9] Most EU countries have a national airline. We want them to come and take out a 25% stake in Nigeria’s planned national carrier. Any airline that comes will become a joint partner in the venture, second only to Air Peace, taking over all the assets of Arik Air
[10] Steel companies are desperately needed in Nigeria like yesterday. Steel giants from across the EU are to purchase the Ajaokuta, Aladja and Oshogbo steel mills with a mandate to produce 20m tonnes by 2025.
Ayo is a London-based journalist who has worked as a magazine and newspaper editor for the last 31 years. He was the founding editor of Nigerian Watch, the UK-based paper for the Nigerian community in the UK.
He is the current president of Ondo Union UK, the chair of Uncelebrated Nigerian Awards UK and was the chairman of the Nigerian Centenary Awards UK organising committee. He was recently appointed as the Chairman of the Central Association of Nigerians in the UK
He is also the author of two books on Nigeria. Fuelling the Delta Fires is an expose which reveals the depth of the challenges in the Niger Delta, while Black Ladder is a narrative about the life of a Nigerian immigrant in the UK. In addition, Ayo is a columnist for several publishing houses in both Nigeria and the UK.
Ayo has a history degree from the University of Ibadan and I did my post-graduate studies in journalism at the University of Westminster.
