The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and the Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE) has called on the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s led Federal Government to implement policies that supports the patronage of Made-in-Nigeria goods.

This call was jointly made by the President of MAN, Otunba Francis Meshioye and the Acting DG of BPE, Mr. Ayodeji Ariyo Gbeleyi at the opening ceremony of the 3-day MAN Annual General Meeting (AGM), in Lagos.

Meshioye noted that the Executive order 003 and 005 was actually for the public to buy Made-in-Nigeria goods, adding that MAN is currently pushing for Made-in-Nigeria Day, where everybody in Nigeria and the world will buy Made-in-Nigeria goods.

According to him; “Nigerian Manufacturers are not only resilient, but very innovative and apart from being innovative, our members are trying to embrace the use of Gas and car with CNG. About two years ago, the CNG busses and cars in Anambra State developed by Innoson have been embraced by many members of MAN. Now that the cost of PMS is no longer relatively affordable, and diesel also not relatively affordable, our members have come up with vehicles that make use of CNG which is on display and even today, electric cars are on display. We are very innovative, and we are moving forward.

“Our aim is to direct Nigerians towards Nigerian products. To make sure we consume what we produce. If we don’t consume what we produce, we will keep importing from other countries, which is quite expensive and will not be contributing to the economy.

“By importation, it will not be encouraging the empowerment of labour, but when we eat what we produce, it creates more jobs, takes care of our local resources and makes us as a country less import dependence.”

Sharing the same sentiment, the Director General of MAN, Mr. Segun Ajayi-Kadir stated that the Government has to be intentional about those policies that support the growth of the Manufacturing Sector, especially those measures that are needed to support manufacturers’ competitiveness so that manufacturers can be able to have market penetration in other economies in Africa and the world.

Ajayi-Kadir noted; “With proper policy framework and enforcement, we will be able to overcome those challenges in the domestic environment that have continued to limit the performance of the sector. So we are beginning to inform people in this case, such that the President and CEO of the African Finance Corporation would share his global and continental experience on how advanced measures, policies and initiatives will develop the manufacturing sector.

“This year’s AGM is quite unique and you can see the quality arrays of Made-in-Nigeria goods that have been exhibited. This is the place for exhibitors to come and see the power of a resilient manufacturing sector that has continued to grow inspite of the downting environment in which we operate.

Lending his voice, the Acting DG of BPE, Mr. Ayodeji Ariyo Gbeleyi stated that President Tinubu is fully in support of implementing and enforcing the policies that will further the patronage of made in Nigeria products.

“Haven gone round, I am quite impressed with the various quality goods that Nigerian manufacturers have made. Am assuring you that Nigeria has the potentials and we are going higher and I can assure you that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is solidly behind the Manufactures Association of Nigeria,” Gbeleyi averred.

He stressed that President Tinubu is doing everything humanly possible to support the patronage of locally manufactured goods, stressing that very soon, Nigeria would be able to effectively compete with their foreign counterparts.

“I want to encourage Nigerians to be localy minded and to patronize made in Nigeria products. We have passed the time that the mentality is all about foreign foods, because we have very good locally produced goods and I encourage Nigerians to consume Made-in-Nigeria goods.

“Again, to further buttress the support for Made-in-Nigeria goods, Nigerians have been made to patronize locally made goods by the executive order 003 and 005, so this shows how much President Tinubu has put effort in patronage of home made goods.

“However, that goes beyond MAN, because if you have the goods and Nigerians did not look to it, there will be no patronage, so Nigerians are encouraged to patronize made-in-Nigeria goods.”