President Muhammadu Buhari has
reiterated the determination of his administration to diversify the economy
through increased local production of goods and services.
President Buhari reiterated this
in Abuja on Monday at the opening of the 22nd Nigerian Economic Summit.
He said that with a diversified
economy, Nigeria would not have to depend on a single commodity to survive as a
nation.
He said, “As I have said in the
past, we need to diversify the economy so that we will never again have to rely
on one commodity to survive as a country so that we can produce the food we
eat, make our own textiles work; produce most of the things we use and create
the right environment for our young people to be able to innovate and create
jobs through technology.
“This has been the commitment and
the mandate of this administration and I have remained focused on it each day,
since this administration assumed office.
“There is clearly no better way
to achieve this without building our economic foundation on made-in-Nigeria
goods and services.”
According to him, the theme of
the summit: ‘Made in Nigeria`, lies at the heart of so many efforts his
administration is making to lead the nation through the moment of recession and
lay a firm foundation for the future.
He said that some of the
stakeholders at the summit were champions of made-in-Nigeria products.
He said such champions had defied
the odds over the years to produce goods locally and contribute to the growth
of the economy.
Buhari stated that his
administration will continue to encourage increased local production of goods
and services to ensure self-sufficiency.
He said, “My greatest desire is
that Nigeria moves from import dependence to self-sufficiency in local
production and become an export-led economy in goods and services.
“I strongly believe that this
summit will bring all stakeholders on board to stay on that course.”
The President expressed the hope
that at the end of the summit, the participants would make useful and realistic
recommendations that would provide solutions to the socio-economic challenges
facing the country.
In his remarks, the Minister of
Budget and National Planning, Mr. Udoma Udo Udoma assured that the government
will continue to improve the environment conducive for businesses to thrive.
He said, “We will continue,
amongst other things, to prioritise our spending towards critical
infrastructure to improve Nigeria’s competitiveness.
“Government agencies will work
with the private sector to support research with a view to developing high
quality indigenous products and technologies.’’
He said many of the government’s
programmes had been structured to stimulate domestic production.
The minister said only locally
produced food items would be used for the School Feeding Programme of the
government.
He said that much more needed to
be done by both the public and private sectors to encourage and support local
production.
Udoma expressed the hope that the
summit will provide an opportunity to examine what more can be done.
He said, “How do we promote the
consumption of more Made-in-Nigeria goods and services?
“How do we improve the quality of
Made-in-Nigeria goods to international standards so they can be exported?
“How can we support our SMEs to
be able to compete?
“It is our expectation that this
summit will provide a platform to sharpen the focus of the conversation and
also offer recommendations that will help reinvigorate our industries and
services.”
He said a productive indigenous
manufacturing sector would curtail the growing demand for foreign exchange for
imported end-user goods.
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