THE National Orientation Agency (NOA) on Tuesday said that Nigeria’s economy would only improve when the citizens patronize locally produced goods and services.

The Kaduna State Director of NOA, Zubair Galadima-Soba, said this at a one day interactive forum on patronizing Made-in-Nigeria products and Services, held in Kaduna.

“NOA has brought the initiative of the Federal government to sensitize critical stakeholders and the general public on why we should patronize made in Nigeria products.

“We are in an era where we are fighting poverty and unemployment; when you patronize home made products, you are creating job opportunities and also contributing to the country’s economy”, he said.

According to him, major developed economies of the world boosts their small and medium enterprises through patronage of their locally made products and services urging Nigerians to follow suit.

He noted that buying goods made in Nigeria would boost employment, technological innovation and Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Galadima-Soba also urged Nigerian industries to be more competitive by producing high quality goods and take pride in their own products, so as to attract patronage from Nigerians and others  in the neighbouring countries.

Similarly, Lawal Abdulkadir, a representative of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) commended NOA for the initiative, saying it would help greatly in changing the mindset of Nigerians on locally made goods.

” Nigerians believe that goods that come across the shores of this country to our markets are always the best, which is not true, and by patronizing foreign goods, you are exporting jobs to other countries”, he noted.

Abdulkadir said patronising locally made product was not just an act of patriotism, but also a huge contribution to the sustenance of industries, thus saving jobs, eradicating poverty and opening up the economy for more development.

Also, Mr Aina Ayorinde, an official of the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), stated that the organization had encouraged locally made products through business certification, products registration among others.

He commended all stakeholders who were into the business of producing quality local goods and urged  them to ensure that the end users had value for goods purchased.

-NAN

BE

– July 9, 2019 @ 15:15 GMT