A business agenda for Nigeria’s new president

On Thursday, October 22nd, 2022, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate released an 80-page policy document that highlights an eight-point agenda. Top on the priority lists of the agenda which detailed what Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu planned to do as president was national security, economy, agriculture, power, oil and gas, transportation and education. In his manifesto, Tinubu said his objective was to foster a new society based on shared prosperity, tolerance, compassion, and the unwavering commitment to treating each citizen with equal respect and due regards.

The former Lagos State governor promised the following: One: Build a Nigeria, especially for our youth, where sufficient jobs with decent wages create a better life. Two: Manufacture, create, and invent more of the goods and services we require in Nigeria. He said Nigeria shall be known as a nation of creators, not just of consumers. Three: Export more and import less, strengthening both the naira and our way of life. Four: Assist our struggling and toiling farmers, through enlightened agricultural policy that promotes productivity and assures decent incomes, so that farmers can support their families and feed the nation. The commodity board will be introduced to assist farmers in production and marketing of their products. Five: Modernise and expand public infrastructure so that the rest of the economy can grow at an optimal rate.

Other promises made are: Six: Embolden and support our young people and women by harnessing emerging sectors such as the digital economy, entertainment and culture, tourism and others to build the Nigeria of tomorrow, today. Seven: Train and give economic opportunity to the poorest and most vulnerable among us. We seek a Nigeria where no parent is compelled to send a child to bed hungry, worried whether tomorrow shall bring food. Eight: Generate, transmit and distribute sufficient, affordable electricity to give our people the requisite power to enlighten their lives, their homes, and their very dreams. State governments shall be encouraged to generate electricity. Nine: Make basic healthcare, education, and housing accessible and affordable for all. Ten: And, most importantly, establish a bold and assertive policy that will create a strong, yet adaptive, national security architecture and action to obliterate terror, kidnapping, banditry, and all other forms of violent extremism from the face of our nation.

In his inaugural speech on Monday, May 29th, 2023, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu used the opportunity to reiterate the priority of his administration. The new leader promised to create at least one million jobs for Nigerians, especially the youths. It is in line with this one million job promise that setting a business agenda for the president becomes a necessity.

Nigeria has a comparative advantage over and above most countries of the world in agriculture. The country is blessed with arable land, being a tropical nation, consumer market and high number of youth’s population. It will be productive if we invest in farm settlements where our vibrant unemployed youths who are interested in engaging in mechanised agriculture can have opportunities of becoming modern farmers. Our youths are our power-house in Nigeria. Despite the numerous disappointments from the older generations, they have lived up almost to expectation by contributing their quotas, based on their ability, to the development of the country, with no or little support from the governments. They performed creditably well in international music front and information technology (IT) start-ups.

Flutterwave, Africa’s fastest-growing unicorn startup, which has reached a $3 billion valuation and is still driving the waves of digital payment, having processed over 200 million transactions worth over $16 billion, across 34 countries in Africa, was started by three Nigerians. The company was founded in 2016 by Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Olugbenga Agboola, and Adeleke Adekoya and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Jumia, Opay and Andela were created by Nigerian youths. The duo of Tiwa Savage and David Adeleke (Davido) are making us proud in the international music arena. While the former sang at the coronation of King Charles in London, the latter sang at the closing ceremony of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Before that, Nigerian-born Briton, Jacob Banks (Jacob Akintayo Akinoso) sang at the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony in Birmingham. Grammy’s Award singer Burna Boy, co-headlined the 2023 UEFA Champions League Final Kick-Off Show by Pepsi, at the Atakurk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul on Saturday, June 10, 2023. The rave of the moment, Victor James Osimhen, MFR, who broke the Golden Boot Award of Italian SERIE A, is a Nigerian youth.

Efforts should be made by this administration to invest more in the youths who are the future of tomorrow. Though top on this government’s priority lists of action are national security, economy, agriculture, power, oil and gas, transportation and education, the government still needs to give ‘youth mass employment’ priority. This will ensure efficiency of the Nigerian people, reduce abject poverty, and increase purchasing power of the people, thereby incentivising manufacturing and increasing revenue generation. The federal government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria, should identify all the items being imported, especially the finished goods and look for means of producing the same in Nigeria. Government should make an attempt at reviving our refineries by selling them to investors who are ready to operate them.

It is a shame that Nigeria imported toothpicks to the tune of N26 million from Germany and China in 2018, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). It is only through mechanised agriculture by a high number of rice farmers that the mega-rice mill established by Lagos State government will not go moribund. Our extinct textile industry should be revisited. Epileptic electricity supply, which forced Dunlop and Michelin out of Nigeria, should be addressed. If we can revive the Oba Akran – Ikeja, and Apapa Industrial Estates, Lagos State alone, the problem of industrialising Nigeria is half-way solved. Football is a money spinner. The federal government should show interest in making our football league attractive by inviting major players in the Nigerian business environment to sponsor teams and take over the administration of football as a business in Nigeria.