Jonathan tasks Nigerians on patronage of made in Nigeria goods

Jonathan tasks Nigerians on patronage of made in Nigeria goods

Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan has urged Nigerians to patronise made in Nigeria goods as much as possible to help increase the capacity utilization of the Real Sector.

President Jonathan said this in a statement posted on his facebook page on Thursday.

Dr Jonathan noted that patronising Nigerian manufacturers and their products would also ensure that money earned in Nigeria circulates within Nigeria, with added multiplier effect of strengthening the value of the Naira and equally help in keeping jobs in Nigeria.

The president noted that his administration had as one of its goals, the transformation of the economy by ensuring that the Private Sector employed the largest number of Nigerians. He said that presently, the government was the largest employer of labour in Nigeria.

Enabling investment environment

He said that the government would create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive. “This is a model that has been accepted the world over and our case in Nigeria can and will not be different,” Jonathan said.

In his words: “Let us all take time to consider the big picture. I do understand that there are products that we do not yet produce in Nigeria and the government is working to address that. This takes time. But while we work on that, we all can make a contribution to Nigeria's progress by making a conscious effort to patronize Nigerian made products rather than foreign goods in cases where a Nigerian alternative exist.”

Controlling inflation

The president expressed concern over inflationary trends and observed that in recent years they had been within manageable bounds.

Dr. Jonathan said that his administration would gradually bring the trend down even as the nation maintained a steady GDP growth.

“We are looking good for achieving both objectives this year and our projected GDP growth of 7 per cent is amongst the best projections in the world for 2011. However, we still need the buy in of Nigerians in this endeavor,” he stressed

President Jonathan, however, noted that without an increased capacity in the Real sector and in Industrial complex, the growth experienced in the Telecoms and Banking sectors of the economy may not trickle down to the common man as quickly as desire.

Stressing that it is not his intention to see the rich get richer while the common man stays the same, he called for a democratized economic benefits, which he said was the only democracy dividend the average man on the street would understand.

Facebook/Williams