Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki has commended
the Nigerian Army for its decision to purchase 50,000 pairs of
shoes from local manufacturers in Aba for the use of officers
and soldiers as he said the move shows that the military is
living up to its billing as an institution that can play vital roles
in boosting the national economy.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity,
Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki said the army's decision to patronise
Made in Nigeria footwear is a good example which shows the
force as a pace setter and a truly national institution which is
ready to contribute its quota in ending the present economic
recession in the country.
The Senate President who is a long-time champion of the Buy
Made in Nigerian campaign and has been a major supporter of
the Aba local manufacturers urged all the other military and
para-military forces like the Air Force, navy, police, civil
defence corps and the National Youth Service Corps to
emulate the army by immediately banning the purchase of all
imported foot wears in preference for locally produced ones.
He also urged the military and paramilitary agencies not to
limit their patronage and promotion of Made in Nigeria goods
to only shoes but to other items that can be sourced locally,
while also praising the Air Force for the co-operation it is
forging with the Innoson Motor Group in the area of
manufacturing of some air plane parts.
"This is the essence of the amendment of the Public
Procurement Act by the Senate since June. The new law
compels all Ministries, Department and Agencies of
government to compulsorily give preference to goods and
services which can be sourced locally. We believe one of the
gains that our country will derive from this recession is to
make our people look inward and patronise locally made
goods.
"Patronage of Made-in-Nigeria goods is an obvious panacea
for our economic problems. We will by doing that increase our
Gross Domestic Product (GDP), empower our youths,
challenge their creativity, increase revenue generation ability of
state governments and improve on the sense of self pride and
patriotism of Nigerians", he said.
The Senate President further advised state and federal
governments to encourage local manufacturers by providing
them with necessary infrastructure, soft loans, patronage and
helping them to improve on the quality of their goods as well
as facilitating their ability to access the export market.
Saraki also implored organised groups like the National
Economic Summit Group (NESG), associations in the field of
marketing communications and others who can help in the
areas of goods packaging, sales promotion and quality
enhancement to engage the local manufacturers and see how
they can help them broaden their reach and produce goods
that can be sold across the world.
"We have an opportunity to turn our challenge to prosperity.
We can create mass employment and make the private sector
centre of our economy if we can make our small and medium
enterprises to prosper. This is a task for all of us and this
promotion of Made-in-Nigeria is a cardinal point in the
Agenda of the present Senate", he said.
