28th October, 2016
The World Economic Power Chamber of Commerce (WEPCCOM) on Friday advised the Federal Government to host a duty-free Nigeria International Shopping Festival to promote made-in-Nigeria products.
The President of WEPCCOM, Mr Jude Onumajuru, said in Lagos that it was through such fairs that Nigerian made products could be sold to the world.
Onumajuru said that WEPCCOM was support the Federal Government’s effort aimed at moving Nigeria from depending on foreign goods to home made products.
“Nigerians are too dependent on foreign products; it is time to change our mentality about locally produced goods.
“Nigerians have talents and can do things that can sustain them as a nation,’’ he said.
“The idea is to showcase made in Nigeria products to the world. It will also attract more local and foreign investors to the country,’’ he said.
Onumajuru said that such a festival was expected to have participants from over 40 countries, adding: “We want foreigners to know what we are capable of doing’’.
He listed some of the locally made products to be showcased as agricultural produce like rice, beans, yam, cassava, millet, tomatoes, corns and coconuts.
Others are jewellery, electronics, bags, shoes, cloths, artefacts, and tourism products among others.
He said that such festival would also boost the country’s foreign exchange earnings and improve on commercial activities in the host community.
The WEPCCOM president said that his chamber had trained over 60 local farmers on how to improve on their productivity.
He said that the idea was to support the Federal Government’s change agenda from dependence on oil to dependence on agriculture.
Onumajuru said that the chamber had embarked on aggressive sensitisation of local farmers on the incentives provided by the government for them to boost productivity.
“Most rural farmers are not aware of government programmes. That is the reason we are focusing on farmers in the rural areas to get them aware of soft loans and other incentives the government has for them.’’
Onumajuru urged the government to continually support farmers to improve on their agricultural produce packaging to meet international standard.
“If care is not taken, foreigners will tap into our agricultural products, export them for refining and import them to us at a high price.
“It shouldn’t be like the oil sector where crude will be exported for refining and be sold to us as petroleum products at high cost,’’ Onumajuru said.