A group, Ahead Nigeria Initiative (ANI), has urged Nigerians to patronize locally made products to boost the economy.
It emphasized that supporting domestic production will help the country thrive and create jobs for unemployed youths.
ANI, a pro-Nigeria and anti-corruption organisation saddled with the responsibilities to provide economic empowerment, humanitarian services, political participation and promoting the rule law among others, stated this during its maiden press conference on Thursday in Abuja tagged “Buy Naija to Grow Naija”.
The Convener of the group, Alamoh Kehinde Samuel, said the only way Nigerians can encourage local investments is to increase the capacity of local manufacturers by patronising their products and services which he said will lead to wealth generation and creation of jobs.
He said, “The purpose of today’s inaugural press conference is to encourage and educate Nigerians in the face of growing economy challenges that the only way to promote the nation’s economy and create jobs is when Nigerians patronise made in Nigeria products.
ALSO READ: Nigeria to witness more infrastructural development in 2025 — Tinubu
“Nigerians as a matter of patriotism should start patronising all home-made products to encourage and promote the economy.
“All Nigerians should instead of Mercedes Benz, Range Rover buy Innoson, fly Air Peace over Air France, bank at First Bank, UBA, GTB and Zenith.
“We hereby wish to plead that all Nigerians discontinue their mass purchase of all foreign products. If Nigerians can imbibe the habit of patronising home-made products, the naira will appreciate against the dollar and other currencies and our economy will grow.
“We therefore call on all Nigerians to aggressively promote, encourage and “buyNaija” products to “growNaija” economy.
In the same vein, the group, said having critically evaluated , appraised and analysed the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu across board, it passes a vote of confidence for the bold initiative taking by the President to end the fuel subsidy regime which has doubled Nigeria’s statutory revenue allocation and improvement in the area of security.
The group called for continuous support for President Tinubu saying his policies has started yielding positive results by rolling out intervention programs which has helped to cushion the unintended negative impacts of the reforms and policies.
“These interventions include minimum wage and salary increase, student loan schemes and scholarships, supporting states and local governments to enable them to cater for the less privileged, providing grains to households, fertilisers to farmers, cash transfers to people with low incomes and plans to roll over 10,000 CNG buses for affordable public transportation among others.
“The President has shown deep knowledge and understanding of the Nigeria problems and came up with a master plan to rescue the nation.
“The end of fuel subsidy regime has doubled the Statutory Revenue Allocation of the country to about N10.1trillion, an increase of about 23.56% compared to the preceding year of 2022.
“The landmark presentation of 2025 budget allocations of N4.91 trillion for Defence and Security, N4.06 trillion for Infrastructure, N2.48 trillion for Health and N3.52 trillion for Education underscores the importance of security and lives and property of all Nigerians. Without security, development and progress cannot strive,” Samuel said.
The group also urged residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to rally round and support the minister, Nyesom Wike, for the ongoing infrastructural reforms being implemented in the nation’s capital.
It added that Wike’s dedication to restore the Abuja Master Plan and reposition the FCT among the world’s top capital cities is in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu’s administration.
and then