Mr Tunde Olatunji, a member of the Osun House of Assembly, has called on the Federal Government to initiate policies that would promote locally produced goods in the country.

Olatunji, who is the House Committee Chairman on Commerce, Cooperatives and Youth Empowerment, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Osogbo.

According to him, it is only a massive investment in the production of made-in-Nigeria goods that can grow the country’s economy and bring it out of recession.

He said with the fall in crude oil prices, there was need for the government to diversify the economy through the promotion of locally produced items.


 
“Our foreign reserve as of today is less than $300 billion to a population of over 170 million.

“We need to invest massively in locally produced goods, especially in the area of agriculture for us as a nation to come out from this recession,” he said.

The lawmaker added that promoting locally produced goods would also help the government and the private sector in creating jobs for youths in the country.

He, however, said that it was regrettable that though the country was blessed with abundant natural resources, it was poor because of its over reliance on crude oil and foreign goods.

“As a nation, we have to cut down on our taste for foreign goods because any nation that depends on foreign goods rather than producing its own cannot move forward,’’ he said.