Ayo Akinfe
(1) Al Rajhi Bank of Saudi Arabia
(2) Dubai Islamic Bank of the United Arab Emirates
(3) Kuwait Finance House of Kuwait
(4) Maybank Islamic of Malaysia
(5) Qatar Islamic Bank of Qatar
(6) Alinma Bank of Saudi Arabia
(7) Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank of United Arab Emirates
(8) Masraf Al Rayan of Qatar
(9) Al Baraka Banking Group of Bahrain
(10) CIMB Islamic Bank of Malaysia
Sectors in which organisations like the Arewa Consultative Forum, the Northern State Governors Forum, Macban, etc should attract investment into should include:
(1) Cattle ranches
(2) Animal feed compounders
(3) Dairy plants
(4) Leather tanneries
(5) Solar farms
(6) Solar panel manufacturing plants
(7) Cotton textile mills
(8) Millet, sorghum, groundnut and gum arabic processing plants
(9) Steel manufacturing plants
(10) Railway lines
It makes my heart bleed when I see how the likes of Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc are investing billions from Islamic finance annually in their countries to develop their infrastructure and we are doing nothing. These countries are really benefiting immensely from their membership of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) but alas, Nigeria is fast asleep.
It appears that Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen are simply not interested in any of the economic opportunities the OIC has to offer. Turkey blew my head away with the underground railway tunnel they built connecting the two sides of the Straits of Bosporus using Islamic finance.
One thing I like about Islamic finance is that the interest rates are very low. Has Nigeria taken her Fulani herdsmen crisis to the OIC and asked for funding to build ranches?
What exactly is wrong with us please? Why can’t we seize opportunities that are right under our noses?
