FG to showcase quality of made-in-Nigeria products through ‘buyNaija’ portal

Owing to the low level of patronage of made-in-Nigeria products, the Federal ‎Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) has resolved to launch an online e-commerce platform, ‘buyNaija’ , ‎to market and promote quality of locally made goods to the world.

The portal will be launched in six weeks’ time in partnership with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN).

William Otabil, chairman, project management team of the ministry, said the platform would  strictly be devoted to selling locally made products, stressing that goods to be bought from the portal would all be genuinely certified, of good quality, not smuggled, not counterfeited products and proudly made-in-Nigeria.‎
At the MoU signing ceremony to seal the partnership with manufacturers in Lagos, Otabil said the platform would serve as a one-stop portal where over one billion Internet  shoppers, 340 million ECOWAS markets and close to 200 million Nigerians‎ could access anywhere in the world to get quality goods and services.

“We are looking at retail and wholesale, while also targeting procurement offices in all the tiers of government. It is a one-stop referral for procurement entities looking for top quality products and services,” he said.

“One of the challenges of local patronage is that procurement offices claim that they do not know where to find made-in-Nigeria goods. This is why they violate the existing procurement laws.
Part of the MoU we have signed is featuring a task force that will have members of the press to monitor, evaluate and report on violation of the existing local patronage laws by the procurement agencies. Buying made-in-Nigeria is a serious business because the lives of our people depend on it. This government is committed to looking inwards, so I believe all Nigerians will join hand together to buy that which we produce,” he stated.

“We have found out that one major problem of local patronage is that a lot of good products do not have NAFDAC numbers, because of the expensive and cumbersome regulatory requirements needed for certification.  We are using this medium to appeal to NAFDAC and other regulatory agencies to give conditions that are favourable to micro enterprise development to help them spend more in packaging to give us good products,” he said.

> Earlier, Frank Jacobs, president, MAN, had said ‎the portal would give Nigerians the opportunity to advertise made-in-Nigeria goods, saying that there had never been a portal in the past to showcase Nigerian goods and services to the world.

> Jacobs, who was represented by Layo Okeowo,  chairman, MAN 6Ps, said the portal was a breakthrough for the country, adding that it was aimed at procurement officers of the MDAs, who were actually the biggest spenders.‎
She said ‎Nigerians must make sure they bought made-in-Nigeria products, stressing that this would go a long way in encouraging and boosting manufacturers in the country.

“To be a manufacturer in these harsh economic times takes a lot of guts and determination. Manufacturers are faced with a myriad of challenges and for us to remain in business, Nigerians should patronise us. Members of MAN produce high quality products to suit the needs of our local and international consumers,” she said, adding that Nigerians must patronise locally made goods all round the clock.

 

ODINAKA ANUDU