Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr. Garba Abari, has said local contents, production, services, patronage and support plays critical role in accelerating economic development and building self-sufficiency.
He stated this while opening a two-day stakeholders forum and exhibition on the theme ‘Change Begins With Me: Patronize Made in Nigeria Products and Services’.
According to the DG, the event, which is taking place at the HOA Headquarters in Abuja, is to provide a platform of interaction between producers and users. Noting that it will help to sensitize citizens to prefer and support locally made goods and services to drive economic development, employment and self-sufficiency.
Abari said: “The rationale for this campaign is the unimpressive fact that we have over the years depended on petroleum products for income generation, while other high income sectors such as agriculture, solid minerals, manufacturing, arts and culture, technology, tourism and more have not been given the requisite priority attention.
“The theme of this National Sensitization Campaign, which is Promoting Local Production and Services for National Economic Development, is therefore apt as it draws our attention to the critical role that local content, production, services, patronage and support play in enabling self-sufficiency, generating employment and accelerating National Economic Development.
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“Evidence from the vibrant economies of countries such as China, India, United States and Brazil have shown that
diversification, local sourcing and production have great potentials for exponential economic growth and development.
“As you may be aware, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) is the organ of government saddled with the arduous task of ensuring that the citizens, not only understand all government policies, programmes and activities and participate actively, but also provide credible feedback to government on the people’s consequential opinions, which will subsequently guide government decisions.”
He argued that the Nigerian economy needs urgent diversification from crude oil to other sectors such as local production so as to generate more manpower and increase revenue.
“For us as NOA, like many other concerned Nigerians, we believe that our economy has relied too much on oil revenue and it is long overdue, we diversified and prioritized our local production sectors to generate more manpower, increase revenue and transform the economy.
“This is pursuant of our key function, which Is to propagate and promote the spirit of dignity of labour, honesty and commitment to qualitative production, promotion and consumption of home produced commodities and services.
“The various strategies and approaches we deploy to sensitize and mobilize the citizens to act in ways that encourage, promote and support local production and services include advocacy, stakeholders forum and exhibition, media and social media engagements, video documentary, town hall meetings and community engagements.
“Others are association meetings, school outreaches, motorized rallies and roadshows, theatre for development to mention just a few,” he said.
Abari further stated that at the end of the event, the agency is expecting a deliberate shift in the behaviours of Nigerians from idolizing foreign products, to valuing and preferring local products urging all Nigerians to appreciate, encourage and support local products, he tasked citizens to cultivate the lofty attitude of “growing what we eat and eating what we grow.
“I call on all Nigerians to always Patronize our locally-made products and services. It is our path to economic growth and development. It is our path to poverty reduction and wealth creation,” he added.
Meanwhile, NOA’s Director of Public Enlightenment and Mass Mobilization, Mrs Ruth Ogun, while speaking to The Trumpet, said the federal government is committed to providing support and resources to entrepreneurs to encourage local production.
“The government is there to provide an enabling environment, platforms, resources, technical encouragement and building skills of those who want to become entrepreneurs,” she said.
