America’s DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), Nigeria’s DAOA (Department for Abolition of Aid)

This is the summary of what Africa should do: “The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has issued a stern call to African leaders, urging them to abandon their long-standing reliance on foreign aid and instead mobilize domestic resources to attract investments and drive economic growth.”

In America, Trump has DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) which Elon Musk runs. I think Nigeria should create DAOA (Department for Abolition of Aid) with a clear mandate to stop own-goals  in the ways we do things.

Yes, a few days ago, I noted how Nigeria and other African countries are falling over themselves to build gas pipelines out of Nigeria to Eruope so that European companies will have cheap gas to run their operations even when our industrial cities and companies do not have access to the same gas. To add salt to injury, these pipelines will pass our industrial cities like Onitsha with no outlets for our LOCAL companies to use the gas. How can decent humans think that way?

That way of thinking is why we have been depending on aids. If not, someone would have said local companies must get the energy they need, to expand operations, and pay local taxes, and we will have resources to advance the nation. So, the DAOA to make sure no one depends on aid will push a mandate that every state will have at least 2 cities linked to gas networks so that local producers will have energy to grow and then pay taxes to the level that no one will pay attention to aid donors.

Madam WTO summarized elegantly: “We need to develop our processing industries to create jobs, boost intra-continental trade, and ensure we stop exporting raw materials without value addition.”

Okonjo-Iweala to African Leaders: Stop Relying on Foreign Aid, Tap Into Domestic Wealth

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