Walter Ukaegbu, Abuja
The Federal Government said it has put in place policies to enable the country come out of the coronavirus pandemic strong against predictions of economic doom by some international bodies as more support would be provided to the manufacturing and other key sectors of the economy to boost their productivity after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, gave the assurance in Abuja, while giving awards to members of the Emergency Operations Centre of the Committee on Sustainable Production and Delivery of Essential Commodities during COVID-19. The EOC was responsible in monitoring the live status of transportation and delivery of essential goods during the period of interstate travel ban through which government was able to cut down on the difficulties that was faced by manufacturers, transporters, and distributors of essential commodities.
The minister commended the committee for effectively discharging their mandate, adding that based on feedbacks received during the exercise, it is now imperative that Nigeria has the capacity to produce some of the products it needed.
“For the first time in our nation, we all have to come together to tackle the vulnerability that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed
“As you all acknowledge, the lockdown that we have instituted to curb the spread of the virus resulted in a number of casualties across board as jobs were lost and supply was disrupted and led to shortfall in movement of goods and services.
“Our manufacturing sector continue to be our key focus as our economy continue to grow.
“From the market intelligence findings, more than ever before, we need to boost local production of key commodities required.
“Therefore, moving forward, our efforts as a response team at the Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment has been recognised and we have been mandated to lead the Presidential Task Force responsible to deliver increased capacity in local manufacturing,” he said.