18th May, 2017
Photo: Femi Ipaye/PM News
Ministers of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, Industry Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enalemah say that the `Buy Nigeria Campaign’`Buy Nigeria Campaign’ is for real, and government will make a success of it.
The two ministers stated this on Thursday in Abuja at a National Press Launch of the Campaign for Patronage of Made-in-Nigeria products.
At the event attended by stakeholders from the public and private sectors, the information minister said the administration had in the last two years put measures in place to ensure success of the campaign.
He said the campaign which formed parts of diversification agenda of the government would ensure that “never again we will be held hostage by a single commodity’’.
“The Federal Government is not paying lip service to Buy Made In Nigeria Campaign, we have taken very concrete steps toward it,’’ he said.
The minister said that government had taken steps to amend the Bureau of Public Procurement Act to give more emphasis and advantage to Made-in-Nigeria products.
According to him, government has been able to achieve 41 major reforms across eight indicators of ease of doing business and is determined that the country moved at least 20 steps of global ranking.
On his part, Enalemah said “the campaign is for real and we are not selling from an empty wagon’’.
He said that government was implementing deliberate policies to reduce cost of production in order to make locally made products cheaper and competitive.
“We will use our industrialisation programmes to ensure that locally made products are cheaper and more convenient to produce.
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“Government procurement policies will ensure it leads by example by ensuring it buys more of locally made goods,’’ he said.
The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajia Aisha Abubakar disclosed that in 2015 alone, more than N6.7 trillion was spent on importation of goods and services that could be produced locally.
“N1.9 trillion was spent on imported foods and drinks, N1.5 trillion on spare parts, N123 billion on imported shoes and cloths, and N399 billion on imported household items.’’
The minister said that government would encourage local manufacturers to produce good quality products of international standard that would be available and affordable.
She said that government was determined to implement programmes that would “encourage Nigerians to wear our traditional attires to project our culture’’.