Americans now patronise Made -in- Aba products — US company’s MD

Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has said the eighth National Assembly would use the ongoing 2017 budget defense sessions to engage Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) on why they should patronise locally produced goods when implementing the budget.

Saraki made this known when an American firm, Diamond Designs Limited, visited him in Abuja, adding that the action would assist in getting the country out of the current economic recession.

The lawmaker commended the firm for keying into the buy Made-in-Nigeria initiative being championed by the Senate to stimulate the economy and create jobs.

According to him, “At the moment, the budget process is on and we intend to use that opportunity to engage the MDAs (Ministries, Departments and Agencies) to ensure that when they start implementation of the budget, they will make sure that they patronise locally produced goods more than imported goods.”

All entrepreneurs in the crusade of buy Made-in-Nigerian goods project, he emphasised, “we would see how we can create an enabling environment that will support your business so that as you grow, you will provide jobs for a lot of Nigerians and thereby contribute to the growth of the economy.”

Managing Director of Diamond Designs Limited, Mary Francois, said following the Made-in-Nigeria initiative by the Senate, she decided to invest in Made-In-Aba by producing American designs with Nigerian fabrics for sale in the United States.

She added that the designs made from Nigerian fabrics were received by Americans.

“What we have been doing is that we have hired tailors and we are still looking for more tailors from Aba and Abuja to make clothes in the American designs using the Nigerian fabrics.

“We are also opening up a shop in Aba, not only to produce our items, but we also want to take some of the items from the people in Aba and market them in boutiques in the United States, so that these people in Aba will have an income and have their goods sold in the United States,” she said.