Nigeria needs to learn from India who has just overtaken China as the world’s most populous nation
Ayo Akinfe
[1] India’s population has just overtaken that of China. They now have 1.428bn people to China’s 1.425bn. However, India have not been caught napping
[2] India prepared for this moment by building industrial cities, wooing blue chip companies on their hundreds and getting 10% annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates
[3] By 2050, Nigeria is going to become the world’s fourth most populous nation behind India, China and the US. Are we prepared for it?
[4] First of all we lack the landmass to deal with this population growth. It is estimated that we will have a population of 400m by 2050. Our current landmass of 923,770 square kilometres is wholly inadequate for this. Whether we like it or not we simply have to merge with some of our neighbours
[5] More worryingly, we lack the economic clout to deal with this population growth. Our current GDP is about $400bm. We need of at least $2trn
[6] Our population is growing at a rate of about 3% per annum. We are not even getting that level of economic growth
[7] At the moment, it is only Lagos that is really attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) into Nigeria
[8] At the moment, Lagos State accounts for a quarter of Nigeria’s GDP and about one third of non-oil GDP. We have no choice but to replicate this across the 35 other states
[9] Does Bola Tinubu know what he has actually let himself in for? He needs to get something like 10% GDP growth and attract like $10bn a year in FDI
[10] By May 29, I look forward to seeing Tinubu’s plans to attract the 10 following companies into Nigeria:
[1] John Deere – Our plans to commercialise and industrialise agriculture will get nowhere unless we can produce crops competitively. To do this, our farming has to become mechanised, so John Deere, this agricultural equipment manufacturer simply has to be present in the Nigerian economy, churning out tractors, crushing machines, harvesting equipment, seed planting machines, irrigation sprinklers, etc by the thousand every day.
[2] Mars – As we step up our agricultural expansion plan, we need a major food processor in the country to turn our raw products into finished goods. For instance, Mars should build the world’s largest chocolate manufacturing plant in Nigeria that converts all West African cocoa into finished chocolate bars ready for export to the rest of the world
[3] Embraer – This Brazilian aircraft manufacturer has not been a good brother to its fellow developing nation Nigeria. Outside Africa, Brazil has the largest number of negroid people in the world. I want to see Embraer set up a manufacturing facility in Nigeria that supplies all of Africa’s airlines with their aircrafts
[4] Toyota – This company has taken Nigeria for granted for too long. We loyally buy their vehicles in large numbers, yet they have no industrial presence in the country. I want to see at least two Toyota manufacturing plants in Nigeria where they make say engine blocks, body carcasses and even venture into other sectors like producing railway equipment
[5] Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering – Nigeria has 853 km of Atlantic coastline but yet, has zero presence in the maritime industry. This for me is totally unacceptable. We need a company like Vickers to open shipyards in somewhere like Bonny or Badagry where it manufactures ships, speed boats, submarines, aircraft carriers, etc
[6] Daihen Corporation – This Japanese company is a colossus in the transformer manufacturing industry. They make both transmission and distribution transformers, so if we are serious about addressing our power issues, we need to attract them to open a plant in the country
[7] Tata Steel – No country gets anywhere if it does not produce steel. This Indian conglomerate not only produces steel products but also works on the technology of the future. We need a local subsidiary that not only runs Ajaokuta and Aladja but also manufacturers machine tools and other equipment like railway carriages
[8] – Everywhere else on planet earth, humanity is thinking green. As part of this drive, Nigeria needs to pedestrianise some of her city centres, only allowing bicycles through. Every Nigerian villager too can ride a bicycle, so why are we not home to the world’s largest bicycle plant?
[9] Samsung – This is the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer. It is ludicrous to expect 200m people to keep importing handsets. We need them manufactured locally
[10] Nike – This company is the kit sponsor of the Super Eagles. In 2018, they sold 3m of our jerseys worldwide. If they opened a plant in Nigeria to produce these tops locally at a cheaper price, who says they cannot sell 50m pieces
