THE Federal Government has said it is putting in place adequate policies to support the manufacturing and other sectors of the Nigerian economy.
These policies, it said, would enable the economy come out stronger from the coronavirus pandemic against predictions of economic doom by some international bodies.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, gave the assurance in Abuja while giving awards to members of the Emergency Operations Centre of the Committee on Sustainable Production and Delivery of Essential Commodities during COVID-19.
The EOC was responsible for monitoring the live status of transportation and delivery of essential goods during the period of interstate travel ban through which government was able to cut down on the difficulties that was faced by manufacturers, transporters, and distributors of essential commodities.
The minister commended the committee for effectively discharging their mandate, adding that, based on feedbacks received during the exercise, “it is now imperative that Nigeria has the capacity to produce some of the products it needs.”
He said, “For the first time in our nation, we all have to come together to tackle the vulnerability that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed. As you all acknowledge, the lockdown that we have instituted to curb the spread of the virus resulted in a number of casualties across board, as jobs were lost and supply was disrupted and this led to a shortfall in movement of goods and services.
“Our manufacturing sector continues to be our key focus as our economy continues to grow. From the market intelligence findings, more than ever before, we need to boost local production of key commodities required.”
“Therefore, moving forward, our efforts as a response team at the Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment has been recognised and we have been mandated to lead the Presidential Task Force responsible to deliver increased capacity in local manufacturing,” he added.
The Minister of State for Industry Trade and Investment, Mariam Katagum, said the pandemic had created a consciousness among Nigerians on the need for all stakeholders to look inward in solving the economic challenges.
“From what happened during the pandemic, everyone was either producing a facemask or sanitisers. So what stops us after the pandemic to produce anything that we want to produce that we have the talent to do? This covid period has shown us we can achieve whatever we set out to do as a nation,” she noted.
The Permanent Secretary, FMITI, Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, said that the government would do all it could to ensure that the impact of the pandemic did not cripple the economy.
“We must ensure that the COVID-19 pandemic does not cripple the economy and we must continue to produce and manufacture our products in a sustainable manner. The ministry has set a pace because we made sure livelihood was eased during the lockdown period” he said.
Chairman of the EOC, Tijani Inuwa; the Manager, Battah Ndirpaya; and the Lead, Abimbola Olufore, commended the ministry for the support given to the team during the assignment.
“Under your leadership, we ve been able to make available the essential items needed by Nigerians to survive the crisis,” they said.
During the period of the inter state travel ban, the committee received and resolved 121 cases of complaints.
Out of the 121 cases, about 76 per cent of the challenges were related to movement of manufacturing and pharmaceutical products.
Also, about 10 ventilator companies, 46 producers of hand sanitiser, among others, were assisted to boost their current capacity during the period of the lockdown.
