A member of Osun House of Assembly, Mr Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, has called on Nigerians to “cut their appetite” for foreign goods to fast-track the growth of the nation’s economy.
Oyintiloye, who is the Chairman of the House Committee on Information and Strategy, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Osogbo.
He said Nigeria as a nation must also cut its dependence on foreign goods, increase local production and enhance entrepreneurship.
He said these would help to strengthen the Naira which was under too much pressure.
The lawmaker said that Nigeria had failed to take advantage of the huge opportunities in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
“We need to cut our appetite for foreign goods; we should also cut the importation of food to 25 per cent of the current volume.
“It is really shameful that in spite of our endowments in natural resources, we are still dependent on imported food items as a nation.
“By importing, we are simply developing the economies of the countries we buy from through job creation, value chain maintenance, capacity for product development and other spin-off effects of production.
“We have to feed our population and depend less on importation to fast-track development of our country,” Oyintiloye said. (NAN)