The National Orientation Agency (NOA) on Saturday in Abakaliki urged Nigerians to increase their patronage of Made-in-Nigeria goods and services to support national economic growth.

Speaking with your journalists, Desmond Onwo, NOA’s director in Ebonyi, said increased patronage of locally-made goods and services would encourage Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and create more jobs.

“We can conserve scarce Foreign Exchange used to import goods and services when we patronise Made-in-Nigeria products,” he said.

Mr Onwo said the agency was working with stakeholders at the grassroots to ensure increased patronage of local products.

He added that NOA would launch a programme in a few days to facilitate the patronage of such products.

“We have been meeting with religious organisations, markets, schools and various stakeholders at the grassroots to ensure that Nigerians patronised locally-made goods.

“NOA has the plan to launch the programme “Patronise Made-in-Nigeria Goods’’ in Ebonyi on May 17.

“The campaign focuses on the patronage of agro-allied products, textiles and leatherwork among others,’’ he said.

He added, “Nigerians are of the impression that imported goods and services are superior to their locally-made substitutes.’’

(NAN)