President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that made-in-Nigeria goods and products must be patronised henceforth to save the nation’s foreign exchange and also help grow the economy.
This follows the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on the economy, which has affected 2020 budgetary provisions.
Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this when she briefed State House correspondents after the virtual Federal Executive Council meeting anchored from the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday.
The online FEC was in line with protocols from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on physical distancing as Nigeria strives to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ahmed said: “On prioritisation of made-in-Nigeria products, as you know, the President has set up an economic stimulus committee, chaired by the Vice President. The work of the committee is to develop 12 months’ economic stimulus plan and we are at the final stage of that work.
“We have prioritised spending in that plan to use and consume made in Nigeria. For example, some of the public works projects that will employ a lot of our youths (are) to be done using strictly our raw materials, so we don’t have to import bitumen, for example, to build our roads.”
On the council’s approval of contracts to Globe Motors Holdings Nigeria Limited, in the sum of N683 million for purchase of 19 operational vehicles for Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), she said it had been in the works for months before COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Ahmed, “Some of the council memos that were given today have been in council waiting in the queue for a couple of months now. The one for transport is not new, it didn’t just come today and council felt it should go because it’s been there for a long time. But we have got approval from Mr. President that spending as much as possible should be made in Nigeria on goods and products that are produced in Nigeria, so that it saves our foreign exchange and also helps to grow the economy.”
