Buy Made-in-Nigeria Products, MAN Tells State Govts

• Buy Made-in-Nigeria Products, MAN Tells State Govts

The President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Dr. Frank Jacobs, has urged state governments to patronise made-in-Nigeria products as government remains the largest single spender in the economy.

State governments, he stressed, could drive industrial development and economic growth by increasing the patronage of locally made products.

He specifically advised state governments to set a minimum percentage threshold for government purchases of made-in-Nigeria products.

Jacobs said that the Federal Government had through the Executive Order fixed a 40 per cent minimum threshold of purchases of locally made products by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

He said these in Calabar, Cross River State at the 11th Annual General Meeting of the association hosted by the Cross River and Akwa Ibom states.

This came just as the Chairman of the Cross River and Akwa Ibom states of MAN, Mr. Giandomenico Massari, advised the Federal Government against signing the EU-ECOWAS Economic Partnership Agreement and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.

On the minimum threshold for local products, Jacobs called on state governments to give an acceptable 35 per cent margin of preference in terms of price consideration for locally made products as against foreign ones.

This, he said, would mean that even if local products would cost a little more, they should be patronised within the set margin of preference.

Jacobs said, “It is an established fact that when we buy foreign goods, we pay the returns to factors used in producing them in the originating countries. That is to say we pay wages, rent, interest and profit to foreign countries with our local resources.

“On the other hand, greater patronage of made-in-Nigeria products would enhance the manufacturing sector, and this would result in increased revenue to government through taxes, employment creation and reduction in antisocial vices as well as peace for the populace of the state.”

On the signing the EU-ECOWAS and African Continental Free Trade Agreement, Massari said it would lead to the influx of European products at the expense of made-in-Nigeria goods.

“We lend our voice to the National Council of MAN which has advised the Federal Government against signing the controversial EU-ECOWAS Economic Partnership Agreement and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, which is aimed at opening the doors for European products at the expense of made-in-Nigeria goods.”