Expect hard economic decisions -Jonathan

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday at Ota, Ogun State, hinted Nigerians on what to come, stating that his administration would take hard economic decisions

in the overall interest of the country. He, therefore, asked Nigerians to understand and bear with the government, as the decisions would not please some people at the initial stage.

He spoke at the inauguration of May & Baker’s World Health Organisation-standard pharmacentre, his first official engagement after the inauguration of his new administration. Commending May & Baker for embarking on the N4 billion project to address Africa’s disease burden, President Jonathan assured the company that the investment would not be a waste. “We’ll continue to protect local companies as we must produce a good percentage of what we need,” he added.

President Jonathan said there would not be waivers for companies that are importing products into the country, but “we’ll consider those that are manufacturing goods locally.”

While stating that Nigeria could no longer continue to be a dumping ground, he maintained that he was putting up a strong economic team in his much-awaited cabinet.

President Jonathan also said that industry-focused incentives and waivers would soon be unfolded in support of local firms.

He said the government was prepared to roll out policies, including waivers, that would ensure that local manufacturers that were in critical areas of need had an edge over foreign firms on importation of products.

The president said the government needed to protect local firms, despite globalisation, for Nigeria to really emerge a strong economy by 2020.

According to him, waivers and government patronage are two of the best mechanisms to support and protect indigenous manufacturing firms.

“The Federal Government will protect local industries, although no country is an island.

“However, at the same time, for us to claim leadership in Africa, we must be able to produce a certain percentage of what we need locally.”

Jonathan said that the new focus underscored government’s efforts at revamping the power sector and other infrastructure.

The president said that the government would soon be taking strong and harsh measures which might be painful at the beginning.

“Such measures may be tough and painful. These measures, which are definitely necessary, may appear painful to the ordinary people, but they are needed if we are to grow the economy,” he said.

He, however, promised that such decisions and policies would not be taken without consultation with the private sector.

Jonathan said the plant had the capacity to produce over 4.5 billion tablets and 37.5 million bottles of liquid preparation annually.

“Till date, the company has committed over N4 billion to the project, with a substantial part of it coming from bank financing and shareholders’ fund,” he said, adding that the project was the first of its kind in West and Central Africa.

According to him, it would also help conserve the country’s foreign exchange.

“Both local and international medicine procuring companies currently buying from Western and Asian suppliers will now begin to look towards the pharmacentre for their medicines,” he said.

The president said Nigerian and foreign brand owners could also take advantage of the facility in manufacturing their pharmaceutical products.

He said the brand owners could avail themselves of third party manufacturing, loan license production and other forms of partnership and collaboration with the company.

Leutenant-General T. Y. Danjuma, chairman of the company, said the N4 billion plant was the decision of the management decision to support the Vision 20:2020.

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