President Muhammadu Buhari has said his greatest desire is to guide Nigeria to become an export-led economy.
According to him, there is no way to achieve this without building the right economic foundation of patronising made-in-Nigeria goods and services.
The President, who made the remarks at the 22nd Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja on Monday, urged Nigerians to develop interest in made-in-Nigeria products.
“My greatest desire is that Nigeria moves from import dependence to self-sufficiency in local production and become an export-led economy in goods and services,” Buhari said.
He said Nigeria needed to diversify its economy so that “we will never again have to rely on one commodity to survive as a country; as we will be able to produce the food we eat, make our own textiles, produce most of the things we use and create the right environment for our young people to be able to benefit and create jobs through technology.”
Buhari lauded the theme of the summit, which is ‘Made-in-Nigeria’, saying the idea had continued to be a priority to the government and was part of the many efforts being made by the administration to lay a firm foundation for the future.
Also speaking, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, said the summit would allow for dialogue between the private and public sectors, as the public sector was beginning to accept the private sector as true partners in the development of Nigeria.
On the state of the nation, he said the government was already implementing policies aimed at getting the economy out of the current recession.
Udoma said, “Already, our focus on agriculture is beginning to yield fruit as indications are that the agriculture sector will show quite strong growth in the third quarter.
“Even after getting out of the recession, we will continue with the implementation of our Strategic Implementation Plan, which was launched by the government at the time the 2016 budget was signed into law.
“The plan will restructure our economy onto the path of sustainable growth, as the SIP is anchored on the commitment of this administration to create a more diversified, sustainable and inclusive economy that releases the latent potential of the Nigerian people, communities and natural resource endowments across the nation’s federating states.”
