The 22nd Nigerian Economic Summit (NESG 2016) themed “Made in Nigeria” kicked off Monday in Abuja but it turned out an exercise in hypocrisy as most of the guests including resource persons wore exotic, Victorian apparels while urging the public to patronize made-in-Nigeria goods.
Those who were patriotic including President Muhammadu Buhari, the Minister of Budget and National Planning Udoma Udo Udoma saved the situation by way of mitigating the overflow of hypocrisy in a nation that shuns its own products and services in preference for foreign ones.
However, President Buhari speaking at the event said the country would not attain the much needed economic growth and development without a strong foundation and emphasis on made in Nigeria goods and services. The President’s speech was a wake-up call and subtle indictment of Nigerians especially those present at the event decked in all manner of foreign apparels.
Buhari said that the diversification of the Nigerian economy remained a cardinal point of his administration, adding that his greatest desire is that Nigeria moves from import dependence to self-sufficiency in local production, becoming an export-led economy in goods and service.
Evolving a pan-Nigeria orientation among Nigerians, he said, had been the commitment and mandate of his administration, adding that he has remained focused on it each day since the assumption of office: “I am also delighted that you have chosen as your theme: ‘Made in Nigeria’ which lies at the heart of so many of the efforts we are making to lead us through this troubled times and to lay a firm foundation for the future.
“As I have said in the past, we need to diversify the economy so that we 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 textile, produce most of the things we use and create the right environment for our young people to be able to benefit and create jobs through technology.
“There is clearly no better way to achieve this without building our economic foundation on made in Nigeria goods and services. Fortunately, we have champions of made in Nigeria that had defied the odds over the years to produce locally and contribute to our economy”.
Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr. Udo Udoma also noted that the Federal Government is encouraging a ‘Made in Nigeria’ philosophy and preference in all its practices as part of ways to diversifying the country and take the country out of recession.
“The Federal Government is already implementing policies aimed at getting the economy out of the current recession, key among which is taking action to reduce the disruptions in the Niger Delta”. Others, he noted, include fast-tracking measures to raise funding from foreign loans, and other sources, to fund the 2016 Capital Budget; targeting capital releases to projects with impact on employment; speeding up the implementation of the social investment programmes among others.
In his presentation, Chairman, Nigerian Economic Summit Group, NESG, Committee on Research and Publication, Dr. Adedoyin Salami, bemoaned the state of the Nigerian economy. He said that the country’s economic position at the moment is worse than stagflation. He regretted the absence of the necessary framework which was supposed to articulate national development preferences, while he disclosed that Nigeria’s Strategic Implementation Plan, SIP, falls short of a development plan. He called for a concerted coordination of all efforts into a development plan that can easily be communicated to the private sector.
