The Vice Chairman, Famad Plc, Aronke Omame has urged Nigerians to embrace locally-made products to position the country as one of the best quality producers globally and grow the economy.

She made the call, yesterday, during a factory tour of Famad’s Footwear and Accessories Manufacturing Plant by school owners and parents.

Omame said one of the major challenges affecting the footwear industry was that Nigerians believe that “imported products are of higher quality than locally-made ones.”
She said despite the Federal Government’s ban on importation of footwears, second-hand shoes of low quality still flooded the Nigerian markets.

Omame urged the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to visit shops and malls to clamp down on people importing contrabands from foreign countries, adding that until “this is done, Nigerians will not appreciate the quality products made locally.”

She said the footwear company was hoping to partner with school proprietors, the Parents /Teachers’ Association (PTA) and social media to draw Nigerians’ attention to quality locally-made products and to patronise them.

An educationist, Mrs. Olubukola Adewuyi, a guest speaker said “when the country continues to rely on importation of products from foreign countries that can be produced locally, it is gradually losing its cultural heritage that could go into extinction.”

Adewuyi, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Supreme Education Foundation Schools, called on policy-makers and industries to encourage and promote made-in-Nigerian products.
Adewuyi said Nigerians were doing well in manufacturing quality products that could compete with their foreign counterparts.

She said supporting local brands would lift Nigeria’s prestige globally and in turn, grow the nation’s economy.