We wish to emphatically join the growing list of patriotic Nigerians to salute the courage and wisdom of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari for his patriotic and strategic leadership in using the Central Bank of Nigeria to finally begin to introduce far-reaching policies to curb the long-running wanton abuse of the Nigerian FOREX market and by extension our external reserves by greedy and self-serving traders (foreigners and Nigerians) who have for decades been masquerading as investors. It is even more heart-warming that the underlying purpose of this policy is to promote local manufacturing industries after decades of drift.
Attaining this feat which regulatory agencies including the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the National Agency for Food And Drugs Administration (NAFDAC) etc. have collectively failed to do for so many years in previous governments is a clear testimony of your selflessness and quality leadership and a testament of why God chose you to finally ascend to the office of the President of our beloved nation. Your action within only a few weeks in office is in line with what other countries have done for their local industries including China, United States, India, Singapore, Indonesia, Turkey, Taiwan, Malaysia and so on.
The new policy by CBN which has stopped the sales of foreign exchange to importers of rice, private jets, textiles, tomato paste, poultry products and 35 others was initiated not only to conserve foreign reserves but also to facilitate the resuscitation of domestic industries that have closed or on the verge of closing down as well as generate employment. For instance, 18 months ago, our indigenous tomato paste sector members were 5 before but now 2 have closed down, remaining only 3 due to inclement operating conditions. While it is gratifying to note that the CBN has also come up to explain that primary and intermediate raw materials and input for local manufacturing are not affected by the new policy we hope that indigenous Nigerian industries will ultimately be protected by the introduction of more nationalistic policies and the strengthening of key agencies including the Customs, NAFDAC, SON and Immigration Services.
The Nigerian Customs must begin to do better assessment and valuation of imported goods and apply the appropriate tariffs. This is with a view to reducing and ultimately stamping out the notorious practice of under-invoicing by unscrupulous foreign traders and their local ilk. Mr. President Sir, for instance a container of 20 foot container of standard tomato paste should have an actual value of 35, 000 to 45,000 USD but most of the importers under-declare and under-invoice them at less than 10,000 USD; thus paying duty based only on the fraudulent figure. This not only denies Nigeria of its deserved income but also places the fraudulent importers at an unfair advantage over local manufacturers of tomato paste. NAFDAC should not compromise in its mandate to keep Nigeria free from the influx of imported substandard food products the same way they monitor local manufacturers while SON should be made to be more rigorous in applying prescribed standards across board. Also, our Immigration Service should stop making it extremely difficult for high-value expatriates with technical and scientific expertise to get entry visas into Nigeria for reasons best known to them thereby stopping our factories from running; to the benefit of importers of the same goods. Meanwhile, they curiously, easily issue the same entry visas to expatriates of low value to our economic growth who come in as traders or take up jobs which an abundance of Nigerians can handle.
Mr. President Sir, we support your administration fully and appeal to you to roll out more of these policies that will promote indigenous entrepreneurship as was done effectively in Turkey, China and India. Nigerian officials must be more accessible to Nigerian indigenous investors unlike the foregoing scenario where so-called foreign investors who do not have the interest of the nation at heart have easier and better access and therefore easily manipulate the system, processes and economy for their own selfish ends; getting away with things they can never contemplate in their home countries otherwise they will be committed to prison or even put to death.
In addition, we call on governments at all levels to build industrial clusters or estates in order to promote the speedy inauguration of many factories which will benefit from the economy of scale using closeness to available raw materials, infrastructure and markets. Mr. President Sir, we promise that if these policies are faithfully introduced and executed, indigenous Nigerian investors will deliver a turn-around in the economy that will result in a noticeable leap of fortunes within 12 months of establishment of their factories. Opening up of factories will lead to the sustainable generation of direct and indirect employment across the land. Federal, state and local governments will then benefit through personal income tax and other taxes which will bolster the IGR of the various governments and thus reduce the multiple excessive taxation presently being routinely introduced which has become an albatross on indigenous industries.
Mr. President, it has become clear that no foreigner can develop our country better than Nigerians. Our high dependence on needless imported products has undermined our economy for too long. We must arrest it before it collapses Nigeria completely. Excessive importation is akin to importing economic upheaval and social vices such as armed robbery, kidnapping, terrorism and gangsterism. Only sustained support and protection of Nigerian investors and industrialists will guaranty economic and social security for Nigerians. We trust that with your leadership we shall get to the Promised Land as even your enemies have attested that not only are you not corrupt but you are incorruptible. This means that it is time for everyone to sit up.
Thankfully, President Buhari is a worthy Army General who fought gallantly to keep this nation one; he is credited to having fought foreign mercenaries fearlessly and successfully, he is the only Nigerian Minister of Petroleum to have built 2 refineries within his short stay in office, he has been a state governor when Nigeria had only 12 states; he has led Nigeria’s most successful intervention agency, the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) and of course President Buhari is one of Nigeria’s most beloved Military Heads of State for his impeccable record of discipline, forthrightness and visionary leadership in addition to being a successful farmer. We are reassured, like a majority of Nigerians that President Buhari and his Vice-President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and his worthy lieutenants such as Mr. Godwin Emefiele will be able to permanently checkmate the economic mercenaries.
Mr. President Sir, we urge you to be steadfast and unyielding to the antics and lobbying of the economic mercenaries who will fight hard to reverse the noble policies that you have enunciated. We appeal to you to even do more to bring Nigeria back to winning ways for the following reasons:
- We have a unique opportunity to remove the shackles of economic enslavement and underdevelopment that ruthless cartels and rent collectors have placed on Nigeria for decades which have among others led to the failure of our electricity system, failure of our refineries, failure of our agro based industries, textiles industries, tyre industries to mention but a few
- The current prohibitive terminal and freight charges for exporting made-in-Nigeria goods is also working against Nigerian interests while benefiting these importers. This needs to be addressed. Just like the excessive stocking of banned goods by foreign supermarket chains which to date refuse to stock high quality goods produced in abundance in Nigeria e.g. high quality made-in-Nigeria tinned tomato paste
- The Cameroun government recently banned cement importation when our very own Dangote decided to build a cement plant in Cameroun in order to encourage and protect his investments. If a foreign country can do that for a true Nigerian investor, our own government must do even more for its own indigenous industrialists
- Nothing good comes easy, but with focus, discipline and dedication members of our association(APEMAN) and the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) as well as other well-meaning Nigerians will not only provide virtually all the consumer needs of Nigerians but indeed also begin to earn foreign exchange through exports of our proudly Nigerian manufactured products.
Finally, we appeal for the promotion and protection of made-in-Nigeria products by indigenous Nigerians for Nigerians to survive. Thank you Mr. President for using CBN to start the CHANGE process in the Nigerian economy. May God help us. Amen
God Bless Nigerian Indigenous Manufacturing Industries!
God Bless President Muhammadu Buhari!!
God Bless The Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
For: Association of Agricultural Products & Equipment Manufacturers in Nigeria (APEMAN)
Chief Eric Umeofia (Ikuku Oma, Amichi) Barr. Umaru Faruk Abduahi
President Secretary
