The Centre for the Promotion of Personal Enterprise (CPPE) has referred to as on the federal authorities to enact complete laws to present full authorized backing to the proposed Nigeria First Coverage, which goals to institutionalise native content material, home manufacturing, and financial self-reliance throughout all sectors of the economic system.
The CPPE chief government, Dr Muda Yusuf, who made this name, described the proposed framework as a daring strategic initiative designed to reposition the Nigerian economic system on a path of self-sufficiency by prioritising Nigerian items, companies, labour, and enterprises in each private and non-private procurement and funding selections.
Based on Yusuf, the Nigeria First Coverage seeks to maneuver past mere government orders and coverage pronouncements by creating an enforceable, incentive-driven, and legally backed system that may embed financial nationalism into the nation’s growth structure.
“Nigeria has skilled related coverage interventions up to now, together with government orders selling native procurement and home participation. Whereas these interventions demonstrated good intent, their influence was restricted by weak enforcement mechanisms, poor institutional coordination, lack of legislative backing, and coverage inconsistency.”
The newest coverage he famous “seeks to beat these previous shortcomings by a structured, enforceable, incentive-driven and legally backed framework that may institutionalize native content material and home worth creation as nationwide financial priorities.
He mentioned the coverage, if carried out by laws, would guarantee consistency, accountability, and sustainability, whereas addressing the nation’s persistent structural vulnerabilities comparable to import dependence, weak native manufacturing capability, and international alternate instability.
Describing the coverage as a nationwide financial safety agenda, Dr Muda mentioned its implementation provides transformative alternatives for inclusive development and structural transformation throughout a number of fronts, together with financial safety and stability, job creation and human capital growth, industrial linkages, and worth chain growth.
Calling for a Nigeria First Coverage Act that codifies the rules of native content material, procurement desire, and home participation, Muda famous that to translate the Nigeria First Coverage from technique into influence, a sturdy implementation structure is required, including that it must be constructed on the pillars of strategic procurement coverage, fiscal and financial incentives, legislative backing, institutional capability and oversight in addition to personal sector partnership.
He identified that decreasing reliance on imports is not going to solely stabilise the macroeconomic setting but additionally defend the economic system from international disruptions comparable to pandemics, geopolitical conflicts, or provide chain breakdowns.
Yusuf additional outlined how increasing native content material in sectors like agriculture, manufacturing, companies, and extractives might generate thousands and thousands of jobs, empower small companies, and foster inclusive development.
He famous that the failure of previous insurance policies stemmed from weak enforcement mechanisms, institutional overlap, and coverage inconsistency, including that the brand new framework would come with measurable compliance obligations and penalties for non-compliance.
Underneath the proposed implementation plan, CPPE really helpful the creation of a Nigeria First Coverage Implementation and Monitoring Company, which might implement compliance throughout Ministries, Departments and Businesses (MDAs), observe efficiency, and publish annual scorecards to make sure transparency and accountability.
It additionally proposed the combination of native desire clauses into all public procurement and funding promotion frameworks, together with focused fiscal incentives comparable to tax reliefs, credit score assist, and tariff safety to boost the competitiveness of Nigerian producers.
Yusuf emphasised that the initiative’s success will rely on robust political will, public–personal collaboration, and coordinated motion throughout all authorities tiers.
