The Producers Affiliation of Nigeria (MAN) has known as on the Federal Authorities to introduce annual native content material benchmarks for presidency procurement in key sectors akin to vehicles, textiles, prescribed drugs, and agro-processing.
MAN President, Otunba Francis Meshioye, made the enchantment in Lagos on Thursday throughout the fifth Adeola Odutola Lecture and Presidential Luncheon held as a part of the affiliation’s 53rd Annual Basic Assembly (AGM).
He mentioned such a framework would guarantee authorities companies prioritize Made-in-Nigeria merchandise, stimulate home manufacturing, and strengthen the nation’s industrial base.
Meshioye defined that Nigeria’s manufacturing sector is at the moment working in “a really difficult setting” worsened by weak enforcement of native patronage insurance policies and continued dependence on imports.
In keeping with him, “It’s unsustainable for Nigeria to proceed subsidising the manufacturing and employment of different nations by way of unchecked imports whereas our personal factories proceed to file low capability utilization and serial underperformance.”
The MAN President additional urged the federal government to penalise MDAs that fail to satisfy native content material targets and reward those who exceed them. He famous that earlier Govt Orders 003 and 005, which sought to advertise native patronage, failed as a result of they lacked clear enforcement mechanisms and penalties for non-compliance.
He emphasised that the ‘Nigeria First’ coverage, which fashioned the theme of this 12 months’s AGM “, Nigeria First: Prioritising Patronage of Made in Nigeria” is not only an industrial ambition however a matter of nationwide financial survival.
“We should again the Nigeria First coverage with laws and implement it throughout all Ministries, Departments and Businesses (MDAs). Compliance must be tied to efficiency metrics monitored by the Nationwide Bureau of Procurement,” Meshioye mentioned.
Meshioye famous that regardless of Nigeria’s rebased GDP of $244 billion (N372.82 trillion), the share of producing within the economic system has declined, signaling “an even bigger however much less productive and fewer industrialised economic system.”
“The rebasing confirms that Nigeria’s economic system is greater, however much less productive and fewer industrialised,” he mentioned, warning that with out deliberate industrial insurance policies, the nation dangers deepening its dependence on imports and shedding the chance to create sustainable jobs.
He pressured that prioritizing home manufacturing by way of annual native content material benchmarks would assist Nigeria save overseas change, drive innovation, and create a resilient financial construction.
“If we don’t deliberately help our personal producers, we will be unable to compete globally. The ‘Nigeria First’ coverage is about constructing nationwide resilience, creating jobs at house, saving overseas change, and giving Nigeria the productive basis it must be aggressive globally,” Meshioye mentioned.
Asserting the Nigeria First coverage in Might this 12 months, the Presidency had declared that the Federal Authorities would bar all Ministries, Departments, and Businesses (MDAs) from procuring overseas items and companies the place native alternate options exist.
