In the early 2000s, walking around the street rocking ‘Made in Aba’ goods was synonymous with saying that you shopped at ‘bend-down-select’ markets and roadside stations. Wearing leather sandals produced from the eastern part of Nigeria in those early years of the new millennium, was seen as an unfavourable status symbol for many - despite the hard work and expertise that had been put in to produce those goods from our local manufacturers.
Retrospectively, quality-wise, the shoes, clothing, bags and other ‘Made
in Nigeria’ goods back then, were nearly on par with their imported
counterparts. However, the marker of acceptability in social circles in
those days came from the fact that your ‘Nike’ products were truly made
by ‘Nike, Inc.’, and your ‘Adidas’ was not labelled ‘Adadis.’
Somewhere along the line, things changed
Somewhere along the line, things changed
and Nigerians began to look inwards. We began to understand that our
extreme foreign consumption capacity would not fuel the domestic growth
of our economy. We began to realise that Timi, Deji and Haruna, could
design and produce goods that were just as good as Thomas, Dickens, and
Harrisons’. We began to see that indigenous goods and home-grown
services could be on par, or even better than those from abroad.
Consequently, new small and medium scale enterprises sprung up allover
the country to cater for our increased demand.
From fashion to finance, from entertainment to edibles, ‘Made in Nigeria’ experienced a positive boom somewhere in the mid to late 2000s. However, with this positive upsurge in our collective social mindsets towards our local products, halfway into the second decade of this millennium, effective policy thrusts to encourage the local manufacturing sector have not been formulated and/or implemented. Even Nigeria’s Public Procurement Act of 2007, which is aimed at advising and assisting “procurement staff to help them carry out their procurement responsibilities,” fails in some critical aspects to address pushing ‘Made in Nigeria’ products.
Queue in Dr. Bukola Saraki, and the 8th Senate of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria. Over the past few weeks, against the backdrop of the
President Buhari-led administration’s efforts to boost internally
generated revenue (IGR), Dr. Saraki, and his colleagues have embarked on
a systematic social and legislative charge to encourage local producers
and manufacturers. While speaking at the ‘Made in Aba’ Trade Fair,
Saraki mentioned that the Senate would be working on the review and
amendment of the procurement act that would ensure that Made in Nigeria
goods are patronized by the government. Some parameters of this
amendment, Saraki explained, would include provisions that would ensure
that government agencies would only resort to imported goods when there
are no domestic alternatives.
From fashion to finance, from entertainment to edibles, ‘Made in Nigeria’ experienced a positive boom somewhere in the mid to late 2000s. However, with this positive upsurge in our collective social mindsets towards our local products, halfway into the second decade of this millennium, effective policy thrusts to encourage the local manufacturing sector have not been formulated and/or implemented. Even Nigeria’s Public Procurement Act of 2007, which is aimed at advising and assisting “procurement staff to help them carry out their procurement responsibilities,” fails in some critical aspects to address pushing ‘Made in Nigeria’ products.
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