President Muhammadu Buhari has hinted that Nigerians get ready to patronize products made in the country after he pledged that his
administration will implement essential reforms to protect Nigerian
manufacturers from unfair competition from abroad.
“We will no
longer allow our markets to be flooded with things we can produce
ourselves. We must believe in our system. Whenever you need my
intervention at anytime, please come to me, ” President Buhari told the Permanent Secretary, Abdulkadir Musa and senior officials.
According to PM News, at
a meeting with the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of
Industry, Trade and Investment, and senior officials of relevant
agencies, President Buhari stressed that with its focus on job creation,
his government was ready to do whatever it considers necessary to boost
domestic manufacturing and industrialisation.
The President said
that his administration will fully support the effective implementation
of the plan evolved by the Ministry to boost local manufacturing
through legal, regulatory and structural reforms, lower interest rates,
special intervention funds, protection of local manufacturers and
significant improvements in national infrastructure.
“With high
interest rates and entrepreneurs needing trillions of Naira to buy
machinery, we are virtually back at Ground Zero as far as industrial
development is concerned.
“So, we will shun all anti-development
policies, and make the climate more suitable for entrepreneurs. We will
create the environment for them to thrive. Generating employment was one
of our key campaign promises and we will keep that promise.
The
Permanent Secretary and his team told the President that the objective
of the Ministry’s Industrialisation Plan was to create more jobs,
diversify exports and broaden the country’s tax base.
They said
that the plan’s critical success factors included dialogue and
consultation with industry stakeholders, essential reforms and greater
collaboration among relevant agencies.