Recall that in February 2024, President Bola Tinubu directed mandatory recitation of the pledge immediately after the national anthem at every official and public engagement. According to Mr President, the directive is aimed at ensuring absolute respect for the national symbols, strengthening allegiance and fidelity to the country and preserving Nigeria’s ethos and defining character.
On March 22, 2024, at a gathering in Abuja, Tinubu urged Nigerians to patronise home-made goods to strengthen the value of our local currency. The President also told the nation that the Federal Government was making efforts to ensure that the naira becomes stronger against foreign currencies. It has been observed that most Nigerians prefer to patronise foreign goods instead of locally-made goods. The reason is quite obvious. Most Nigerians believe that foreign goods are much better than locally-made products. This shows that we lack patriotism. I would like to back up this statement with three examples. The first example is about our textile industries that have become moribund. Recall that between the early 1970s and late 1990s, the country had the best textile industries in the whole of Africa. There were textile industries in Lagos, Kaduna and Kano. Moreover, the country had ginneries in Zaria, Kaduna State. These textile industries employed thousands of workers but suddenly in the late 1990s, they all became moribund.
So what happened to these industries? Your guess is as good as mine! There was an obnoxious policy that allowed the importation of used clothes, popularly known as Okrika. The markets were flooded with imported clothes and our people started purchasing them, eventually leading to the collapse of our textile industries. Thousands of workers lost their jobs. Efforts made by successive administrations to revamp the ailing industries have proved abortive.
One of the lessons learnt from the death of the textile industry is the advantage of patronising home-made goods. Furthermore, we should realise that anytime we purchase foreign goods, we are creating more jobs outside the country to the detriment of our local market and this will put a lot of pressure on the naira.
Again we should always make sure that our locally-made goods meet international standards so that they can be easily exported and by so doing we will be making a lot of foreign exchange.
The second example has to do with the production of the ‘National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy’ document. Recall that during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, a vital policy document, NEEDS, was prepared. The public officials who were saddled with the responsibility of preparing this document travelled outside the shores of Nigeria to get the document prepared. First and foremost, this document could have been prepared here in Nigeria considering the fact that we have capable experts in the country. Secondly, the so-called foreign experts were oblivious of our economy, culture and tradition; therefore, they couldn’t do a thorough job. Sadly, the policy document is now lying on shelves gathering dust.
The third example is about one of the newly created ministries that has requested a foreign expert to assist in developing viable policies for its smooth take-off. This action to me is unpatriotic because we do have many learned professors here in Nigeria that could do a better job. I have repeatedly emphasised that government policies, be it social, economic or foreign, must be home-grown.
A couple of years ago the Central Bank of Nigeria removed about 43 items from the list of items that were supposed to be imported into the country and the reason the CBN gave was that those items could be produced locally. That was a right step in the right direction. The secret behind the success of most developed countries is that their citizens always patronise and purchase home-made goods.
A couple of years ago, I had the privilege of travelling to India on a World Bank training programme. We visited some notable companies as part of our itinerary and TATA was one of them. This is where they manufacture their vehicles. About 90 per cent of their vehicles are produced locally and this has contributed immensely to their economic prosperity.
We need to imbibe the spirit of patriotism in this country if we really want our economy to grow. It has been in the news lately that our so-called public officials whose policies and actions ought to be patriotic have decided to do otherwise. In addition, they have also been alleged to have unrestrained taste for products manufactured outside the shores of Nigeria. This is unpatriotic. Let us make use of what we have to produce what we need. We should be able to promote made-in-Nigeria goods no matter what!
Our public officials are supposed to set good examples so that the rest of us can follow suit. The Federal Government should enact a law making it mandatory for all Nigerians, irrespective of social status, to patronise and purchase made-in-Nigeria goods.
The government should develop and implement policies that will promote Nigeria’s non-oil exports and create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive. One of the major challenges we face in this country is an erratic power supply. Power is very critical for any business to thrive.
Awareness and sensitisation programmes are very important if we really want people to patronise made-in-Nigeria goods. Finally, all hands must be on deck to revive our ailing economy.
Oladele Oladipupo can be reached via [email protected]
