Juliet Jacob Ochenje
The Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, has said the Federal Government will support locally produced adire to boost local and international trade, thereby creating jobs.
She said this when she visited Itoku and Asero Markets in Abeokuta, the Ogun State Capital, a statement issued on Friday by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Minister, Rasheed Olanrewaju Zubair, said.
It added that she also took time to sensitise the traders on the market monies programme and other social safety net programmes of the ministry, while disclosing that the federal government will invest largely in creating jobs through the local fabrics production chain as one of its many ways to reduce poverty and improve export, boost the economy and generate revenue for market men and women.
Edu, while stating that the government will stop import of the fabric from other countries, stated: “First, you must be able to push local production to meet the demand. Local production must be enhanced at all costs to meet the demand. When local products saturate the market at a rate subsided and supported by the government, it will automatically eliminate whatever coming into the market.
“We don’t want to be selling fake Adire, made in other countries, and brought into Nigeria. What we want are the local ones made by our people to create jobs, it will build micro and macro economy and it will help Nigeria to be more of a manufacturing economy rather than an import dependent country.
“These are the things that are affecting the exchange rates and other economic indexes in Nigeria. Government will provide that subsidy for the people, so we take the fuel subsidy off the fuel, we will provide it for the adire makers so that they can provide local adire that will be used in country and exported out of the country.”
