60% patronage of made-in-Nigeria products to raise investment by 56%

A study conducted by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and the Enhancing Nigerian Advocacy for a Better Business Environment phase II (ENABLE2) has shown that 60 percent home bias in public procurement in the country will raise the share of investment in the gross domestic product (GDP) by 56 percent.
The study shows that this will cut unemployment in Nigeria by 37 percent and raise the willingness of firms to engage new workers from the current 1.5 to 22.6 percent.
It further shows that Nigerian manufacturers lose an average of $3 billion annually to government preference for foreign goods.
Speaking at a press briefing to promote made-in-Nigeria products in Lagos, Frank Udemba Jacobs, president of MAN, said when Nigerians buy foreign goods, they pay the return to factors used in producing the goods to originating countries, including wages, interest, rent and profits, with local resources.
“Most intriguing is the fact that when we buy foreign goods, we expand the industrial base of the producing country, thereby creating more jobs there, to the detriment of our local economy. In contrast, when we patronise made-in-Nigeria products, we expand our industrial base, create more jobs and reduce the human misery brought about by poverty in the country,” he stated.
He said prior to the commencement of the advocacy campaign, MAN and ENABLE2 undertook an exhaustive diagnosis of some of the challenges of local manufacturers in Nigeria.
The result of the diagnosis, Jacobs said, shows that the manufacturing sector has huge inventory of unsold finished products occasioned partly by poor patronage of locally manufactured products by the government, backlashes from smuggling and counterfeiting activities as well as the general apathy of the consuming public towards locally produced products, laced with the high penchant for foreign goods.
Real Sector checks show that a section of Nigerian consumers complain of poor quality of some locally made products. Another section says made-in-Nigerian products are often more expensive than imported ones. But Jacobs debunked the claim that locally made products are inferior.
“Nigerian cables are among the best in the world. There have been cases where those who were building houses had to get rid of Chinese cables for Nigerian cables,” he stated.
“What often happens is that once there is any Nigerian product that is doing well in the market, unscrupulous Nigerians take it to China and produce exactly the same thing. What many people call inferior local products are goods produced in China that are imitations of Nigerian products,” he said.
He, however, acknowledged that locally made products could be more expensive than substandard goods from Asia, as high cost of funds and energy, poor infrastructure and business environment raise production costs of local manufacturers dramatically, which is opposite to the Asian situation.
The Federal Government recently approved implementations of Executive Orders, one of which prescribes preference for local products in public procurement at ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
Jacobs commended the Federal Government for supporting the made-In-Nigeria campaign and for introducing the Executive Order, saying that manufacturers believe the objective can be best achieved if the Executive Order on patronage of local products is based on Sector-Specific Margins of Preferences (MOP).
“The beauty of adopting MOP is the fact that it recognises the peculiarities within each sector and defines the prosperity or otherwise of operators in these sectors,” he added.
Sola Salako-Ajulo, founder, Consumer Advocacy Foundation of Nigeria, said Nigerians must understand that it will be in their own interest to patronise locally manufactured products.
Salako-Ajulo said the success of the campaign will impact Nigerians and prevent economic implosion of the country.
“It is clear that we can’t continue the way we are going. It is not the government that we abuse that is solely responsible but all of us,” she said, urging the media to own the campaign to save the country.

ODINAKA ANUDU