- Safiu Kehinde
Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, has called for the promotion of made-in-Nigeria products to boost in order to expand job opportunities in the country.
Soludo made the call while speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Delta State Economic and Investment Summit on Monday.
Using the outfits of the summit attendees as example, the Anambra governor held that most of the otufits are foreign-made.
He noted that if made-in-Nigeria products can equally be embraced and promoted, over 10million jobs will be created across the country.
‘We cannot create the kind of job that we want with all of us patronising foreign or imported goods. I look in this room, and I see the suits from Europe, America, and China.
‘If all of us, 247 million Nigerians, wear only made-in-Nigeria. More than 10 million jobs will be created. I wish therefore that maybe in the next summit, Delta state’ He said.
While commending the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General, Dr. Ngoi Okonjo-Iweala, for wearing her signature native outfit to the summit, Soludo narrated how he had also adopted Akwete as his official dress.
This, according to him, had seen the artisan weaving the material record increase in income and manpower.
He also noted their empowerment by the First Lady of Nigeria, Oluremi Tinubu, who donated N2 billion to the business.
‘If you look at me, I am wearing Akwete. Akwete is the name of a village in Abia.
‘My daughter introduced it to me in 2019 and I have made it my daily uniform and I understand that the women in Akwete, their income has gone up; employment has increased, and two weeks or three weeks ago, the First Lady announced the donation of N2 billion for them to scale it up. She even promised to wear it at inauguration.’ He said.
Also in attendance at the summit were Vice President Kashim Shettima; Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori; and former Director of Kenya’s Anti-Corruption Commission, Prof. Patrick Lumumba, who was the guest speaker of the event.