Nigeria’s Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganaga has revealed that a draft- policy aimed at encouraging the patronage of made-in-Nigeria products is ready and will be presented to the Federal Executive Council for ratification in the next two weeks.

Aganga disclosed this on Monday during an official visit to Omatek Computers Limited, an indigenous computer manufacturer in Lagos.

If the proposition comes to fruition, it will be of immense advantage to indigenous firms in Nigeria especially in terms of local capacity utilisation.  Its enforcement would be actualised through the development of a comprehensive policy that will enhance monitoring, reporting and compliance to the use of locally manufactured products in all government establishments.

According to the Minister, the draft policy, after due evaluation, would become a definitive policy to enhance the patronage of locally made products, especially by government ministries, departments and agencies.

“Through patronage of locally made products, we will be developing local industries, and this has to be done by leading by example,” Aganga said.

He posits that campaigning on the consumption of locally manufactured goods is not enough to boost the use of indigenous made product, rather, it would be appropriate to back such campaign with a policy that would further drive its implementation.

“We have since discovered that monitoring and enforcing the use of made-in-Nigeria products is a key challenge and this would be addressed through a policy that would be ready in a few weeks. There is no country that has managed to transform itself without adequate industrial growth or wholesome dependence on imported goods.”

“Local industries need to be empowered and that is why developing a policy to enhance local consumption of made-in-Nigeria products is key to the economy. We are looking at replicating the success story in the cement industry to some other key sectors through local capacity utilization that would further spur exportation,” he said.

To support the essence of Made-in-Nigeria goods, Aganga said the Federal Government will partner with Omatek to supply made-in-Nigeria computers to educational institutions across the country.

“We will be able to achieve the much needed linkage between our abundant natural resources and the application of appropriate technology and production processes through the application of ICT in our schools and industries.”

“We are, therefore, designing a strategy for a workable partnership between the government and Omatek with the banks to make available your made-in-Nigeria computers to all our schools and colleges,” the trade Minister said.

Aganga pledged that the government will continue to support indigenous firms in order to realise the objective of the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Programme (NIRP) towards providing an enabling environment for their businesses to flourish.

“Let me re-iterate here that the Federal Government’s transformation agenda is a project which recognizes the need to consciously nurture Nigerian industries in the quest for a sound economy developed on the back of industrial growth. We are therefore assuring Omatek of the necessary support all the way.”

“We have done a lot to remove the bottlenecks in the business environment and the positive results are already manifesting in terms of a friendlier business environment and enhanced industrial capacity utilization. Recent figures from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) reveal that the capacity utilization in the textile sector, for instance, has increased significantly from 29.14 per cent in 2010 to 49.7 percent as at 2011.”

“We are not yet where we want to be, but we shall get there. What Government needs is the right collaboration with sound private sector operators who are always on the drawing box, thinking outside the box, in their bid to give back to the society. Omatek surely falls within this productive group.”

He praised the Bank of Industry (BOI) involvement in enhancing industrial growth in the country adding that the conclusion of the bank’s recapitalization process will make it easy to increase the pace of industrialization through effective access to finance at a low interest and longer tenor period.

Meanwhile, the minister said that the Federal Government is ready to  complete the recapitalisation of the Bank of Industry (BoI) and other development banks, to enhance their capacity to finance operations of the real sector, in addition to an arrangement that would ensure that the country’s nine industrial cities enjoy at least 15-hour daily power supply soon.

Aganga said with the collaboration with the Ministry of Power, key industrial areas may soon begin to enjoy at least 15 hours of uninterrupted power supply to aid their production.

Elsewhere on Ventures

Triangle arrow