The State Director of the National Guidance Agency (NOA) in Anambra State, Charles Nwoji, has called on Nigerians to drop their preference for foreign products and patronize products made in Nigeria.
Nwoji made the call Wednesday at a news conference in Awka.
He described sponsoring locally made products over their foreign substitutes as a strategic means of fostering local industries and also growing the nation’s economy.
The economy of any nation, he said, grows rapidly when citizens promote and patronize locally made products and services.
He said: “A nation needs to sponsor its own products first to grow its economy if the people are confident and proud of its products and services.”
NOA has been running awareness programs to promote patronage of local assets, he said.
Mr. Nwoji said that a sustained national campaign, continued awareness raising and reorientation of Nigerians, especially the Anambra people, were needed to change their attitude towards locally made products.
He said the country needed a strong defense “to revive dying industries in order to create job opportunities and restore Nigeria’s pride as a nation.”
In the long run, the promotion would help boost the nation’s foreign exchange reserve and promote the Nigerian spirit, he said.
“Charity, they say, begins at home, and truly no nation will develop when its economy is at the mercy of foreign goods and services,” he said.
He described the developed nations of the world as those whose economies are largely based on production.
He said most Nigerians suffer from foreign craving syndrome due to social symbols and the claim that foreign products are superior to their locally made substitutes.
Mr. Nwoji said that although the statement might not be entirely incorrect, it is worrying and economically dangerous to abandon locally made products in favor of foreign products.
“The worst thing is that manufacturers, in reaction to the development, have resorted to misleading branding of their products with foreign labels and tags.
“This translates into giving credit for quality products that were produced in Nigeria to other countries,” he said.
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