Manufacturers in Nigeria are urging the federal government to gazette the patronage of locally made products as part of the “Nigeria First” policy to enhance the country’s product competitiveness amidst rising imports.
Segun Ajayi-Kadir, Director General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, speaking at the BusinessDay Manufacturing Conference in Lagos on Thursday, stated that the Nigeria First Policy must be established as a binding law to promote local competitiveness.
“This is critical to give the policy legal standing, ensuring transparency, public awareness, and enforceability across government institutions and the private sector,” he said at the event themed, “Unlocking Nigeria’s Manufacturing Potential: Strategies for Sustainable Growth Amid Economic Turbulence.”
According to him, legal consequences should be enforced for violators. “There should be repercussions for any CEO or head of an organisation that fails to comply.”
But the support goes both ways, he says. Ajayi insists the government, alongside the private players must support local content and value chain development. He warns that failing to nurture the domestic industry will leave the nation “forever at the mercy of others.
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“It will be commendable to see the president driving a vehicle made and assembled in Nigeria,”
President Bola Tinubu recently unveiled the Renewed Hope Nigeria First Policy, a procurement directive compels all federal ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to prioritise Nigerian-made goods and services in public spending.
Manufacturers emphasise that Nigeria must move from recommendations to actual implementation by incentivising backwards integration and enforcing local content policies to enhance domestic sourcing and strengthen industrial linkages.
Ajayi noted that by prioritising and actively supporting locally made goods, consumers help stimulate demand for domestic products, encourage increasing manufacturing and springboard exports with reduced rejection.
Odiri Erewa-Meggison, external affairs director at British American Tobacco (BAT), West and Central Africa, affirmed that a favourable market at home will lead to global recognition.
She stated that BAT has fostered resilience and sustainability in local content by investing in the production of made-in-Nigeria cigarettes for export within Africa consequently generating foreign exchange without running to banks.
“It is important that the government looks at the current environmental context of Nigeria to ensure that Nigerian-made goods are competitive and can generate the needed forex, she said.
“This will bring investor confidence,” Ajayi affirmed.
However, achieving this ambition will not come easy, manufacturers say. They identified several significant factors hindering the local patronage of Made-in-Nigeria products, including low consumer purchasing power and the influx of cheap, adulterated, substandard, and smuggled goods.
The MAN DG linked the increase in unsold finished goods to low consumer purchasing power, alongside high inflation and rising production costs.
He explained that when individuals have limited disposable income, they are less likely or able to purchase goods, which directly impacts the demand for locally produced items.
