‘Promote local goods to sustain economy’

Government must encourage ‘Made-in-Nigeria’ products and their manufacturers by making foreign exchange accessible and infrastructure development priority if the drive for economic sustenance through local producers is to be achieved, the Managing Director of Intercontinental Distillers Limited (IDL), Patrick Anegbe has said.

Anegbe, who spoke at the company’s distributors’ award and re-launch of the Eagle Schnapps in Lagos, recently, said government at all levels must support local manufacturers in sustaining the development process of the economy.

He said: “It is our prayer that the government finds a permanent solution the challenges bedevilling manufactures in the country. Also, the instability of the Naira against the Dollar is another factor affecting manufacturing companies in Nigeria especially in the area of equipment procurement.

Besides, the distributors’ award saw distributors from the 10 IDL distributing regions across the company being rewarded with N296,974,000 in cash and gift reward.

Anegbe maintained that the essence of celebrating excellence and rewarding hard work is to encourage the distributors to invest more in their businesses and also rekindle the drive to grow their businesses.

Among the gift rewards received include a single door fridge, 42 inch LED TV , 55 inch LED TV , 15 KVA generator , 20 KVA generator and four tonne trucks Meridan Marketing, one of the distributor from Port Harcourt won N6.5 million in cash and a 10 tonne truck.

In his remarks, the Managing Director, Meridan Marketing Joseph Ugwoegbu, expressed delight at IDL especially for taking time to reward its distributors despite the economic recession, which Nigeria was passing through.

He urged Nigerians to support made-in-Nigeria products stating that products producers by the distiller are of quality, which competes with international brands.

Head of Marketing, IDL, Mobolaji Alalade, disclosed that the brand was renewed because of imitations in the market stating that the new look features full proof security feature on its label, bottle caps and label.