As part of his campaign for patronising and buying Nigerian products, under the #GrowNairaBuyNaija campaign, a public analyst and former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has called on Nigerians to buy locally produced products and support Dangote Industries Limited.
According to him, it is in doing so that Nigerians can collectively promote the country’s local goods and services, as well as grow the value of the naira and the economy.
Omokri, who made the call during the tour of the Dangote Refinery, Dangote Fertiliser Plant and other facilities at Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, however, stated that “if Nigerians buy Made-in-Nigeria products, it will enhance the value of the naira, and reduce the foreign exchange rate.
The former aide, who recalled that he started this campaign two years ago to promote Nigeria’s products, advocated that if we have more exports than imports, our economy will be at an advantage.
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“It is not compulsory for it to be Dangote products. I mean all products produced locally in Nigeria. In fact, the money or wealth that is not attached to production has no value,” Omokri stated, even as he lauded the Chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji
Aliko Dangote for his investments in the petroleum Downstream sector, fertiliser and cement, among others, to boost the nation’s economy.
Omokri, who noted that the Dangote Refinery exports refined products to countries such as America, India, Brazil, Argentina, and others that come here to buy its products, however, said the more ships that leave here with the products, the more our naira has value.
While recalling that Nigeria is no longer the country with the highest importer of petroleum products, and noting that this was due to Dangote Refinery, stressed that “this is why we all need to support the refinery to work, and also support Alhaji Dangote for what he is doing to grow Nigeria’s economy, and especially employment generation.
Lamenting that Nigeria for a long period of time has been having trade deficits, he noted that last year the country recorded a trade surplus of about $14 billion, while this year it has surpassed that record by 44.3 per cent in the first two quarters of the year, a development he attributed to the activities of the refinery and others, as well as the readiness to Nigerians to buy Made-in-Nigeria products and refined petroleum products.
He added: “My message to Nigerians is that let us buy or patronise Nigeria’s refined oil products; it is not compulsory, it should be Dangote, but so far it is products produced or refined in Nigeria. I implore all to look for petrol stations to buy our petrol products.
“If we pay for imported fuel, we are driving down the value of our naira, but if we are buying or paying for Nigerian oil in naira, we are driving up our naira value.
“This is one more reason we should make the refinery successful and sustainable. We all have a stake in this. The government, the private sector, unions, individuals should all join hands to ensure that the refinery and others coming on board succeed.
“The unions should cooperate and support Dangote, and not be confrontational. Nigerians should be proud of what is happening here with over $20 billion in investments. All unions in the oil and gas sector need to support this project.
“The volume of money Nigerians have is not as important as the value such money creates. As citizens, unions, and the government, we should support the refinery because if not, the value of our naira will go down as we continue to buy imported products and services instead of Nigerian products.
“About 33 licences were granted to some individuals or groups to set up refineries, but nothing has been done, because they are waiting to see how Dangote Refinery will be successful.
“Therefore, our unions should realise the importance of their support and cooperation in this regard, while the Federal Government should remove all bottlenecks that hinder oil and gas sector growth.”
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