Two weeks ago, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) announced the adoption of “Nigeria First” policy, an initiative aimed at prioritising local production and enhancing national growth. The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who announced details of the policy while briefing newsmen, said that the landmark policy was aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s domestic economy and promoting local content. He said it would be backed by an Executive Order which will be signed by President Bola Tinubu.
Media reports quoted Idris as saying that the policy framework, which is tagged the ‘Renewed Hope Nigeria First Policy’, is seen as a mirror of U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” initiative and that it would give the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), “sweeping powers” to ensure full compliance with the Federal Government’s procurement policies, while applying necessary sanctions for non-compliance. The minister also noted that the Federal Government would prioritise Nigeria’s interest at the centre of all public procurement and business activities, while laying “strong emphasis” on empowering local industries and reducing dependency on foreign imports.
The Minister said: “This policy seeks to foster a new business culture that is bold, confident, and very Nigerian. So President Bola Tinubu has proposed that we will no longer just sit there and allow importation to come into this country where there is the capacity for the production of any of these commodities locally. Now, as I said, the President has proposed the following directives, and all of them have been approved by the Federal Executive Council.
“It aims at making government investment directly benefit our people and industries by changing how we spend, how we procure, and how we build our economy.”
He said that the FEC had already directed the office of the Attorney General of the Federation to draft an Executive Order which will give full legal effect to the new framework, adding: “Now this seeks to foster a new business culture that will be bold, confident, but also very, very Nigerian, and it aims at making government to invest in our people and our industries by changing how government spends money, how we procure and how we also we build our economy .Going forward, Nigerian industry will take precedence in all procurement processes.
“Where local Supply falls short. Contracts will be structured to build capacity domestically; contractors will no longer serve as intermediaries sourcing foreign goods where local factories die. I take the example of the sugar industry.”
The minister said that the Bureau of Public procurement (BPP) has been directed to revise and enforce procurement rules that prioritise Nigerian-made goods and homegrown solutions across all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), adding that the Bureau would create a comprehensive compliance mechanism to ensure all government procurements adhere to local content requirements. Besides, the FEC also mandated the BPP to operate a regularly updated database of high-quality Nigerian suppliers, and that the data would be used as a reference for all procurement decisions. Other measures approved in relation to the Nigeria First policy, according to the minister include a ban on MDAs from procuring foreign goods or services already in Nigeria, unless there is a written waiver from the BPP and where foreign procurements are unavoidable, they must include provisions for technology transfer, local production, or capacity development in Nigeria.
The minister lamented that sugar is a sector that has exhibited complete neglect for local capacity and that the country has continued to import sugar despite the existence of the Nigerian Sugar Council and many local producers. He said that the policy is expected to positively influence local production by ensuring that Nigerian contractors would no longer be mere intermediaries, as local factories stay idle. “Government money must now work for the Nigerian people,” he said, adding that the initiative is aimed at boosting job creation, industrial growth, and sustainable economic development.
I have taken time to quote the details released by the Minister of Information and National Orientation above, so that nobody would be left in the dark as to the intendments of the policy when the time comes for implementation. But I must first note that some grey areas that could impede its implementation already exist. First, the policy was named after the Renewed Hope mantra of the current administration. That is to tell us that a grave has been dug on its path to sustainability because the next administration, even if it is headed by Seyi Tinubu, would come with its own mantra. Secondly, why implement the policy via an Executive Order? Why not amend the Local Content Law of 2010 to guarantee a statutory status for an all-encompassing Nigeria First policy? Even though the policy was called “landmark,” it is not the first time a government is attempting to boost local production ahead of importation. Those that floated the Structural Adjustment Programme under General Ibrahim Babangida equally claimed they were targeting home-grown goods. Besides, the National Assembly had in 2010 passed the local content bill, while President Goodluck Jonathan signed the same into law on April 22, 2010. While we can say that the local content law relates more to the oil sector, nothing should have stopped the current lawmakers from expanding the scope of the law to cover every aspect of local production and procurement. The coming into effect of the Local Content Act facilitated the creation of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), while efforts were made by the House of Representatives to introduce amendments in 2020, through a bill called Local Content Development and Enforcement Bill. Outside such efforts, we had witnessed the indigenisation policy of the military regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo, which saw to the takeover of some multi-nationals by the Nigerian government.
But because we jettisoned such policies, Nigeria has largely become a dumping ground for foreign goods. We import Petroleum products because the local refineries had collapsed, and even after the inauguration of the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refineries in Lagos, regulatory authorities have continued to issue import licenses to marketers, allegedly to “promote competition,” or “prevent monopoly.” You may wish to ask the regulators why they were unable to fix government-owned refineries in 20 years and what they were waiting for when Dangote was striving to build his refinery. Why would anyone designate the Dangote Refinery a monopoly, when some modular refineries are equally in place and the NNPCL had been bragging about the revival of its refineries in Port Harcourt and Warri? You would also wish to direct their attention to Donald Trump’s America and let them know that when President Trump talked America First, his intendment is a total freeze on anything un-American, and that is how it should be. In Nigeria, we have been importing just anything you can imagine, toothpicks, household items, shoes and clothing and most especially we import the Adire and Aso Oke, which were originally indigenous to us. I learnt some time ago that some persons even import sand in the process of constructing their houses, because they want the house to look exactly like the original design they copied from wherever.
Not long ago, I was told a pathetic story of how the Chinese came to Iseyin, Oyo State and asked to be allowed to modernise the Aso Oke making process. The government was said to have objected, and the Chinese went with samples of the local Aso Oke. The outcome of that is what you see today whereby China-made Aso Oke reigns at our social functions. Today, if you see our people in colourful regalia of Aso Oke, don’t think they are locally made. Most are imported from China. The same goes for the Adire, which is largely popular in Abeokuta. Today, the Chinese Adire is more in the market than our own hand made Adire. It’s a sad commentary on how we have refused to guard our legacies jealously to the extent of not knowing how to even modernize the products to our advantage. So if the Nigeria First policy would work, that’s an area it has got to direct its attention to in the immediate. I know that the government of Ogun State has been battling to stop the use of China-made Adire as a way of protecting local products. It is well known that like the Aso-Oke, Adire is indigenous to Yorubaland but the made in China versions have taken over all the major markets just because our government failed to be proactive when the Chinese danger was looming. I hope the Nigeria First policy will place a ban on the importation of the Chinese Aso-Oke and Adire and insist that if China must continue to make these products, the factories must relocate to Nigeria.
So, a major question that would be on our lips is whether the Nigeria First policy would affect issuance of import licenses for importation of petroleum products. One will want to ask if the Nigeria First policy, aided by the Local Content Law of 2010 would put a freeze on the importation of all items we can locally produce. In recent months, we have seen undue rivalry between Dangote’s refinery and fuel importers. Even when Dangote Refinery announced it has millions of litres of refined Petroleum products in its tanks in Lekki, Lagos, fuel importers have continued to import the products. In February, the regulatory agencies said that products from Dangote refinery and others were only able to meet 50 per cent of our petroleum product’s needs, even though the regulators did not give the exact figure of what Nigerians consume daily. The vague governance procedure in the industry under Engineer Mele Kyari gave room to suspicions and distrust, such that no one is sure of what to expect. The situation has not drastically changed as we expect the policy directions of the new NNPCL management to unfold.
Apart from the toothpicks and such inanities that we import, one area that the Nigeria First policy can immediately make its impact is in the area of vehicle importation. As recently as 2005/06 when Obasanjo was in power, Peugeot was the official vehicle of the country. And that was because the products were being assembled in Nigeria. Today, no such policy is on ground to dictate the procurement process. In the days of Obasanjo and partly the earlier part of Dr. Jonathan’s era, the nation’s official vehicles remained Peugeot. Today, such deliberate policies have been thrown into the dustbin, with agencies like the Police, Army, Navy, Air Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps(NSCDC) and the Federal Road Safety Corps(FRSC), the Central Bank of Nigeria, the National Assembly and Aso Rock Villa spending billions to import vehicles. We don’t need a soothsayer to tell us that such funds are being used to import poverty and joblessness into the country. During the wee days of Dr. Jonathan’s administration, the government announced an auto policy that compelled all auto companies to set up their assembling plants in Nigeria. That policy was not followed through by the Muhammadu Buhari administration and today we are back to Nigeria First.
Meanwhile some vehicle assembling plants are already making their own level of waves in the country. So, why not support them with all we have? When China shut itself to the world, everyone laughed at that country for the “poor products” the citizens were being forced to use, but because the leaders were consistent and fired by unbridled patriotism, China has today built an economy that can compete with the rest of the world.
Let me share with those who will implement this Nigeria First policy a classical case study of how Honda Motor Company came to America. Today, when you see American versions of Honda, Toyota and Japanese cars generally, you won’t know that it was brought about by the unwavering nationalism of the Americans. As the story goes, Honda, annually manufactured its cars and shipped products to American markets. But at the end of each year, the company ended up incurring the cost of shipping back the unsold products due to lack of sales. Year after year, the same cycle was repeated and several managements got sacked for failing to penetrate the American market. One particular Managing Director of Honda, however, promised to break the jinx. He got four top American auto professors to do a study on what Americans wanted in cars, introduce them into Honda and came up with designs to that effect. Immediately, the vehicles were shipped to America, they were lapped up by the market, and multiple orders were placed. Within a short time, the American government noticed an imbalance in trade and it placed a ban on importation of Honda into America! The dispute was settled when Honda company agreed to set up its factory in America, paving the way for other Japanese car companies to do the same. So, the operators of Nigeria First policy should know that America First did not start with Donald Trump. It is all about nationalism and patriotism in aid of the nation’s economy.
