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Tag: MAN

  • Man, daughter ‘steal’ two-month old baby

    Man, daughter ‘steal’ two-month old baby

    •’I found baby under Oyingbo bridge’

    The police have arrested a house painter, Jamiu Jimoh, and his birth attendant daughter, Yetunde Osin, for allegedly stealing a two-month old baby girl from its mother.
    Jimoh, a 65-year-old divorcée, and Osin, a 35-year-old spinster, were arrested in possession of the baby by a team of police detectives from the Igbgbo Police Station, Ikorodu, Lagos following a tip off.
    The police source said the suspects are part of a child stealing and selling syndicate.
    The Nation learnt that Osin practices her birth attendant trade at her 4, Kadara Street residence in Oyingbo.
    It was learnt that on November 9, Osin helped a 28-year-old woman, Stella to deliver a baby girl at her home. She was said to have told the woman that the child was dead and even showed the mother a dead child. She then brought the baby to her father in Ikorodu.
    But Osin disputed the story, saying she found the baby under a bridge near her Oyingbo home.
    She said: “On November 9, I was walking along the road in Oyingbo. I found a baby on the ground. It was a female child, so I took it. That was the mistake I made. I should have gone to report to the police, but because it was a female baby, I liked it. That was how I took the baby home. But when I saw how everyone was behaving, gossiping, I brought the baby to my father in Ikorodu, so that I could be taking care of her from there. Even when I couldn’t come to Ikorodu from Oyingbo, my father was there to take care of her. On Sunday after leaving his home, someone called me at night that my father had been arrested.
    “I am a hairdresser, but I am also a traditional birth attendant. The baby wasn’t born at my place. I wasn’t the one that helped the mother of the child deliver the baby. But when the police heard that I was a traditional birth attendant and questioned me about whether I assisted the baby’s mother during delivery, I said yes.
    “I found the baby under the bridge on Apapa Road, Oyingbo. The baby has been with me since November.”
    Jimoh, who lives on 4, Aro Street, Ikorodu, also denied having knowledge that the baby was stolen.
    He confirmed to Lateef Akinborode, Executive Director, Community Women’s Rights Foundation (CWRF), Igbogbo, Ikorodu that the baby was found in his possession.
    In an audio interview with Akinborode, made available to The Nation, Jimoh said: “She (Osin) is not the baby’s mother. She was not pregnant. I don’t know the baby’s mother. My daughter has never brought children to me to take care of before.”

  • When did God become man?

    When did God become man?

    Not many expected the sort of headline that arrested the front pages of the newspapers on Sunday. Pastor Enoch Adeboye retires. He seemed, for many, eternal on that holy couch. Every household has become accustomed to the even keel of his voice, his equable temperament, his resonance as a raconteur, his unruffled visage, his “let somebody shout hallelujah”…

    For lay and faithful, Christian and Muslim, atheist and agnostics, it is first the surprise and later the why. The why because he did not step down of his own freewill. This is not the sort of retirement that swished the former Pope out of our holy ken. Or the sort that made Apostle Paul to declare to his mentee Timothy that he had finished his work and awaited the “crown of righteousness.” It is also not the example of Prophet Samuel who poked any of his flock to say it if he erred in any way during his stewardship or whether he gave or obtained bribe.

    This was the case of a state coercing a bishop to step down. The state versus the church. Adeboye stepped down, but only in the Nigerian church. We are still left with a cloud of ambiguity. He becomes spiritual leader. Does it make him also the spiritual leader of his successor in Nigeria? The church will unfold that dynamic in due course, or it will unfold itself in the relations between the two persons.

    The matter is just beginning to brew. How come a law comes into place to determine how spiritual authorities determine their leaders and how long they are permitted to lead the flock? The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is the source of all this. It categorises churches with all non-profits and requires the leaders to stay in office for a specific period and step aside.

    It is a case of man playing god with its institutions. It calls to mind the question asked by famous theologian and philosopher in the Medieval Age: “When did God become man?” Peter Abelard, the castrated upstart of that age, was not referring to the friction of church and state directly, but the echoes are not mistakable. The FRC may say an Adeboye, Oyedepo, Kumuyi, et al, have come to the end of the tether as leaders of the organisation they founded. But a feeling creeps in that the state is playing god over God.

    The theory of the Two Luminaries in the Middle Ages bears example. The Catholic Church was the sun and the Holy Roman Empire was the moon, although it was cited then that the “holy Roman Empire was neither Roman nor Holy.” In our case, the church is the sun, the brighter light, and the Church the moon, the lower illumination.

    But the Romish Church then abided in an era of ecclesiastical dominance. Today, the secular outweighs everything, including the spiritual. The church leaders have also quite often quoted Paul’s epistle to the Romans that everyone should be subjected to the “higher powers.” Even Jesus in addressing the question of loyalty to state asked his followers to see Caesar’s coin. But he said, rather enigmatically, “give unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and unto God that which is God’s.” what is Caesar’s and what God’s?

    I have also been rather uncomfortable when our pastors cite Paul almost uncritically. The same Paul asserted that we would rather obey God than man. So, if one of these mainstays says that they would not step down and God had not spoken to them, what shall we say? Some may want to wring their arms with their assertions about subjection to state.

    But Christ was clear: “Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and unto God that which is God’s.” Now, a conundrum brews. How that will play out is still in the womb.

    But this FRC law seems peculiar to Nigeria. No one forces the Pope to step down. Nor any of the big church leaders in Europe or the United States. John Hagee has led his church for over 20 years. So did Graham, etc. The archbishop of Canterbury steps down at 70 years.

    Some have argued that the problem with our churches is that they are run like monarchies. The overseer is the accountant, chief security officer, chief educationist, contractor, et al. His is part businessman, part prelate. When he sets up a board, it is no more than a sea of rubberstamp heads, eager to bow to the visions or orders of the leader.

    This is different from the story of the counterparts in Europe or U.S. Even if they founded, they are subjected to a rule of law. And if they overplay their hands, they will face great revolt, even when they sin a sin unto death. The society also rises in righteous anger and the church leader cedes authority.

    Those checks are not here in Nigeria. But is that the business of state? If the blind leads the blind, Jesus says, both shall fall into the ditch.

    But when we look the Bible, not many of the men of God lived so long as stewards. Moses did, but he started late, and died with his vitals still intact. God took Enoch, ferreted Elijah away, allowed Paul, Peter and others to be killed in their prime.

    These people were also working against the law of the land. Jesus was crucified because he was a revolutionary, calling his followers to place family lower than God’s people and naming himself the saviour with all its implication for revolution. Yet he declared that his kingdom is not of this world. If it were, his servants would have prevented him from the axe of the crucifixion.

    So, the tension abounds. Where does the church fight and where obey?

    That matter stands in the middle of the FRC rule. Many will miss these church leaders. The dapper Oyakhilome and his epistle of the sovereignty of grace. Part political, part evangelical Okotie. The prudish sobriety of Kumuyi. The apostolic brio of Oyedepo. The pugilist in Bakare. The genteel flow of Adeyemi’s sermons.

    This will imply the birth of a new generation. Will they rise up to their founders? That is to be seen. On a secular plane, historians have said that the layer below the American founding fathers was peopled by far lesser men. They had nothing of sublimity and heroism of Adams, Washington, Jefferson, Henry, Madison, etc.

    The classes of Adeboye havemade their followers acclaim them, at times, like some followers said of Paul: “The gods have come down in the likeness of men.”

    We look forward to whether and how the leaders comply with the FRC. Will they accept the church as the better luminary or the lower? Whatever the answer, they will be haunted by Abelard’s question: When did God become man to determine when a pastor should quit the pulpit. Or when did man become God to do same!

  • Man arrested for alleged arson

    The police in Ondo State have arrested a man, Oladapo Alaba, for allegedly attempting to burn a popular supermarket, Ceci, in Akure, the state capital.

    Police spokesman Femi Joseph said the suspect was apprehended about 3am last Friday by officers on patrol.

    It was gathered that Alaba was about pouring petrol on the building before he was apprehended.

    The police spokesman said Alaba was suspected to be among those yet to be arrested for burning public places in Akure.

    His words: “Our men, while on patrol at about 3am, saw the suspect in the premises of the supermarket.

    “Immediately, he saw our men he ran away and our men chased him until he was arrested.

    “We have begun investigation and in our preliminary report; we discovered that he wanted to set the supermarket on fire.

    “We are still interrogating the suspect to know his intentions.”

    The PPRO added that the suspect will be charged to court after the investigation.

  • Man ‘defiles’ girl in bathroom

    Man ‘defiles’ girl in bathroom

    A 21-year-old man, Ugochukwu Kingsley, will on January 26, know whether he will be tried for allegedly defiling an 11-year-old girl.

    Kingsley, from Abia State, was arrested last November 28 by the police following a complaint by the girl’s parents that he had had unlawful sexual intercourse with her.

    The Nation learnt that the suspect and the victim are neighbours in Oriwu along Igbogbo Road, Ikorodu.

    He was accused of entering the bathroom while she was taking her bath. The girl was said to have started bleeding after the act.

    But, before his arraignment, Kingsley told The Nation that he had no sexual relations with the girl.

    He said: “I didn’t force myself on her. I asked her, she was aware of everything. I didn’t sleep with her but I made an attempt. I didn’t know she was bleeding.”

    The suspect was arraigned by the police on December 5 on Charge No: IKD/A/116/IKD/2016 before Chief Magistrate O. Oshoniyi on one-count of “unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl child aged 11 years.”

    Chief Magistrate Oshoniyi barred the public from the proceedings because victim in a minor. The Nation learnt that Kingsley pleaded guilty to the charge.

    Mrs Oshoniyi ordered that the case file be transferred to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for advice. She remanded Kingsley in Kirikiri.

    The case was adjourned till January 26.

  • Man docked for ‘fraud’

    A 30-year-old man, Sunday Ogundipe has been arraigned before an Ado Ekiti Magistrate’s Court over alleged fraud.

    Police prosecutor, Inspector Bayo  Ajiboye told the court that the accused committed the offence  sometime in the month of  September  at Ado-Ekiti.

    He alleged that the accused fraudulently collected the sum of N350, 000 from one Remi Oguntuase with intent to get him a bus which  he refused to do.

    Ajiboye said the accused was a serial fraudster, saying he has a similar case at other courts.

    According to him, the offence contravened Section 419 of the Criminal Code, Cap C 16 Laws of Ekiti State 2012.

    The accused pleaded not guilty while his counsel, Opeyemi Ogunremi, prayed the court to grant bail to his client, with a promise that he would not jump bail.

    The Magistrate, Mrs. Modupe Afeniforo, consequently granted bail to the accused in the sum of N100, 000 and two sureties  in like sum.

  • SPAR partners BoI, MAN on SMEs development

    SPAR partners BoI, MAN on SMEs development

    SPAR Nigeria, the Bank of Industry (BoI), Manufacturers Resource Centre (MRC) of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and the Retail Council of Nigeria (RCN), have organised a workshop for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Lagos.

    The workshop offered over 70 SMEs comprising consumer goods, clothing and merchandise, cosmetics, and others  extensive insight into the dynamics of modern day retail business. The five-part series was facilitated by leading members of industrial and retail associations in the country.

    BoI Regional Head, SME Division, Mr. Adetokunbo Akinsola, who facilitated the session entitled: “Small businesses and the Bank of Industry,” unfolded several financing opportunities and options for small businesses some of which were yet to be explored by businesses due to lack of information on BoI’s fund offerings.

    MRC Managing Director, Ms Doris Onwugamba, addressed the topic: “Growth and sustainability of the manufacturing business’’, said small businesses needed to take advantage of the pool of resources the association had to offer.

    According to her, “trends are changing rapidly”. “Many things we used to travel out to China and other parts of the world to produce can now be done effectively and efficiently here in Nigeria, from quality and affordable printing to labelling and other complex production processes,” she said.

    Onwugamba said factories are beginning to work and if Nigeria must grow, “we must begin to patronise Nigeria.”

    Participants were delighted by the testimonials of two business owners, who have been supplying their locally produced goods to SPAR Nigeria for years. They were Executive Director, Amel International Services Limited, Akan Peter Nsek and Executive Director, Ashley and Michaels, Emmanuel Obiorah Anyaralu, whose businesses have grown from ‘trading’ to ‘manufacturing’ and their products have had the opportunity to compete favourably with foreign products in stores nationwide.

    On the various benefits of embracing standardisation, SPAR Nigeria Group Managing Director,  Mr. Haresh Keswani, said SMEs workshops would continue to give small businesses the opportunity to rebrand and target a larger market.

    The workshop, he said, was expected to encourage participants to undergo the test to qualify to exhibit their products in a bazaar to be held at SPAR in Ilupeju, Lagos, where shoppers can see and buy their products.

    Makers of products that are highly favoured and bought by shoppers will qualify to have their products displayed and distributed across SPAR stores nationwide.

    Michael Edemayibo of SPAR said the company would continue to support SMEs through free retail workshops, products bazaar and exhibitions to encourage patronage of locally produced goods in all its stores.

    Former Director, National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mrs. Ogochukwu N. Mainasara, presented  a paper on “Requirements for compliance with requisite standards of the NAFDAC CODEX.”

  • Man protests alleged plot to seize father’s farmland

    Crisis is brewing in Ise Ekiti, headquarters of Ise/Orun Local Government Area of Ekiti State where a farmer, Olomi Arogundade, is fighting hard to avoid being dispossessed of a farmland belonging to his late father.

    Arogundade, 52, is claiming that the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Owoseni Ajayi, is using his powers and position to support another party to take over the land.

    But Ajayi has denied the accusation, saying he was only exercising the constitutional powers bestowed on him by law to ensure that justice is done in the land case already before the court.

    Arogundade described the unfolding scenario as a ‘breach of law and order’ as he lamented the seizure of a farmland allegedly belonging to his father, Suberu Arogundade.

    He revealed that his father, Suberu Arogundade, of Omiomo Street, Ise Ekiti, owned a farm land at Edu village, Agbado Road, Ise Ekiti.

    According to him, Suberu filed a suit before the Magistrate’s Court against Sunday Ogunmuyite and Ojo Ogunmuyite (now deceased) in 2001 with the court delivering judgment on December 5, 2006 in his father’s favour.

    The defendants, according to Arogundade, were represented by Mr. E.K. Omosebi, a lawyer from the chambers of Owoseni Ajayi and Associates-the law firm of the  present Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Ekiti State.

    He claimed that Boyede Ogunmuyite and Toyin Ogunmuyite (the defendants’ children) still continued to trespass on the Edu farmland, unlawfully harvesting crops allegedly belonging to Arogundade, despite the court judgment.

    Counsel to Arogundade, Mr. M. A.   Daramola, explained that “the father of my client was the plaintiff in a land matter, Suit No. ISECC/24/2001:Suberu Arogundade v. Sunday Ogunmuyite and Ojo Ogunmuyite,  determined by the Customary Court, Ise Ekiti and in which judgment was delivered in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendants in 2006.”

    He noted that “the judgment specifically restrained the defendants, children, wives and whosoever from further trespass to the cocoa farm.

    “Our client, Olomi Arogundade assumed the management of the farm thereafter to take care of his father and family as his father took ill, but the children of the defendants in that case have since been disturbing the lawful enjoyment of the fruit of the judgment.

    “The defendants in that case (who are now late) were represented by Owoseni Ajayi and Associates. The judgment remains binding as there was no appeal against the decision of the court.”

    Daramola said subsequent to 2006 judgment, the children of the defendants of the case-Boyede Ogunmuyite and Toyin Ogunmuyite-still continued to trespass on the farm land, by harvesting crops, issue threat to the life of the child of the plaintiff (Olomi Arogundade).

    He further said: “Consequent upon this, the matter was reported to the police. The police took over the handling of the case with the Chief Magistrate’s Court.

    “Our client is the nominal complainant in the charges. The charges are MIS/25c/2016:C.O.P v. Boyede Ogunmuyite and others and MIS/42c/2016: C O P v. Toyin Ogunmuyite and othes.

    Daramola noted that “the accused persons in the first charge was charged for threat to life while the accused person in the second charge is arraigned for stealing cocoa seeds from the farm of the complainant.

    The lawyer expressed dismay that the state Ministry of Justice suddenly took over the case from police prosecutor “in order to serve the personal interest of the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice” whose chamber has been representing the accused persons”.

    Daramola further explained that for necessary interventions, his client has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Director, State Security Service (Ekiti State command), Governor Ayo Fayose, Chief Judge, Ekiti State Judiciary.

    He said his client had earlier forwarded a petition to the Attorney-General to hands off the case and desist from taking over the matter from the police prosecutors who, according to him, consists of lawyers who are capable to prosecute the case competently.

    In his reaction, Ajayi maintained that the position of law is supreme and therefore must be adhered to.

    Ajayi said:  ”The Attorney-General is constitutionally mandated to prosecute all cases and several lawyers do come to complain that their cases are badly handled by the police, and that the Ministry of Justice should take over.

    “We assign lawyers in the Ministry of Justice to take over such matters from the police.”

    On Arogundade’s issue, Ajayi explained that a lawyer from his chambers sought the take-over of the case by the Ministry of Justice “because they don’t have confidence in the way police are handling the matter.”

    Ajayi further explained: “I assigned Barristers Aderiye Yinka Martins and Femi Onipede from the Ministry of Justice to handle the matter based on the petition written by the lawyers to the accused persons.

    ”It was written in the petition that the accused was convicted over a land matter. The accused had earlier been convicted by the same prosecutor, by the same Magistrate over this land matter.

    “Another charge was brought again over the same land matter, where the accused have been convicted. They also brought the third one, by the same prosecutor, by the same Magistrate.

    “Do we say we should not look into the matter, when they consult the Ministry of Justice?”

    On the 2006 judgment that favoured the plaintiff, Ajayi explained that civil matters are different from criminal matters, saying:  ”The issue written on the petition is that the Magistrate went into purely civil matters, whereas no crime is alleged.

    “We have the right to look into the matter. The accused person is saying he did not commit a crime, and these people alleged crime out of civil matters over the same land matter.

    “The counsel to the accused said the Ministry of Justice, which the Constitution has given the power to look into criminal issues, should help them look into the matter. There is no sentiment attached to it.

    “No decision has been taken.  No conclusion has been made.  The only thing is that the Ministry of Justice has taken over the matter so as to look into the merits of it.”

    Ajayi said it is not out of place for a lawyer working in his chambers to write petition to the Ministry of Justice if they observed some lapses in the way police are handling their matters.

    He argued that Owoseni Ajayi and Associates is a law firm independent of Owoseni Ajayi who is Ekiti State Commissioner for Justice.

    However, Daramola and his client (Olomi Arogundade) have declared that “unless justice is allowed to be dispensed without the involvement of the people at the corridors of power, the state may soon start witnessing anarchy and a breakdown of law and order.”

    Arogundade, therefore, called on well-meaning Nigerians to “come to his rescue”, saying all the attempts are to illegally drive them out of the farmland.

     

  • MAN hails N2.24tr allocation to capital expenditure in 2017 budget

    MAN hails N2.24tr allocation to capital expenditure in 2017 budget

    The Manufacturers’Association of Nigeria (MAN) has appraised  the 2017 budget, concluding that if implemented religiously, it could help the economy to recover.

    Its President, Dr. Frank Udemba Jacobs, praised the importance accorded capital expenditure with the value of N2.24 trillion which accounts for 30.7 per cent of the total budget.

    According to him, MAN’s position is further reinforced by the emphasis placed on resource-based production and conscious patronage of made-in-Nigeria products by the government.

    He said: “Since the budget intends to generate a total of N1.373 trillion from CIT, VAT, Customs & Excise Duties and Federal Account Fees for the period, MAN is of the opinion that tax rate should not be increased and no new tax should be introduced; rather the government should reduce the current CIT and widen the tax net.”

    Besides, MAN is seeking the downward review of Company Income Tax (CIT) from  30 to 20 per cent to sustain  investments and encourage new ones.

    The group also wants President Muhammadu Buhari to widen the tax net to boost tax revenues.

    Jacobs said though the manufacturers support the budget assumptions, they believe some critical steps should be taken for the attainment of the budget objectives.

    He recommended increasing tax revenue by widening the tax net to capture more companies in the informal sector and in the formal sector.

    He urged the government to ensure Public-Private Partnership (PPP), through the establishment of concession agreements under Built-Operate-Transfer (BOT) in road and rail construction and maintenance, rather than expending the scarce resources on these projects alone.

    It would be recalled that transportation alone had N262 billion allocated to it.

    For a robust economy and growth in all sectors, Udemba canvassed timely release of capital expenditure funds to the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), effective evaluation and monitoring of capital projects so that the nation could obtain value for its money.

    The MAN chief also advised governments to, within the shortest possible time, fulfill its promise of resuscitating the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) scheme while ensuring the payment of the outstanding Negotiable Duty Credit Certificate (NDCC) value.

    “Given the current trend in the crude oil market, if sustained, the excess revenue should be specifically devoted for infrastructure development,” he added.

    Responding to the budget assumption of 2.2 million barrel per day (bpd), he warned that the crude oil production benchmark could only be achieved if the government ensures the faithful implementation of the peaceprogramme put in place for the Niger Delta as a means of ending militancy.

  • Suspected cultists kill man, 22, in Osogbo

    A 22-year old man, Muyideen Olabode Ibidun, was shot dead on Saturday evening by members of a suspected cult group in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.

    An Ordinary Diploma graduate of the State College of Technology, Esa-Oke, Muyideen, who is popularly called by friends “Don Richiies”, “Agenda” and “Killer Boi”, was said to have been killed by six suspected cultists, who reportedly rode on two motorcyles.

    They accosted him at Ga Fulani around Sadiat in Osogbo at 6pm, where he had gone in company of his friend, simply called Skinny, to inspect a car he wanted to buy the following day.

    According to an eyewitness, Muyideen was planning a party for friends and family members yesterday to celebrate the car he wanted to buy.

    Muyideen, whose father is an iron/steel merchant and mother a nurse, last year travelled to Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia and Malaysia for two weeks to “launch” his new international passport with which he plans to travel to the United States next year.

    His remains were yesterday buried at the back of Nawarudeen Mosque at Sabo amid tears and wailing.

    A boy simply called “Omo Emi” was killed by suspected cultists at old Garage in Osogbo.

    The suspects were said to have broken the victim’s head with concrete interlocking blocks.

    The police used tear gas to disperse some boys protesting the spate of killings among rival cult groups in Osogbo at Oja Oba area as they attempted to draw the attention of the Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Olanipekun, to the development.

    There were also protests yesterday at Egbatedo Street and Sabo, where aggrieved boys erected bonfires.

    Police spokesperson Ms. Folasade Odoro said the police had begun investigations into the killing.

    She added that a suspect, Gbolahan Yusuf, has been arrested.

  • SPAR, MAN, others lead campaign for made in Nigeria goods

    SPAR, MAN, others lead campaign for made in Nigeria goods

    The campaign for made in Nigeria goods is further gathering momentum as SPAR Nigeria, which is part of the international restore stores chain has set machinery in motion to promote startups and small businesses across the country.

    SPAR Nigeria, in partnership with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Bank of Industry, Retail Council of Nigeria at the weekend hosted a SME Development Workshop Bazaar workshop which culminated in a sales bonanza tagged: SMEs Bazaar’, in which startups were given the opportunity to showcase the best of their products to prospective customers at SPAR’s outlet on Ilupeju Industrial Estate, Lagos.

    Justifying the need for the workshop, SPAR’s Deputy Managing Director, Prakash Keswani in an interview with journalists said his company appreciates the enterprise and industry that goes into the production of most of the local products, hence its decision to lend a helping hand towards promoting the brands.

    “We believe that these wonderful entrepreneurs are putting their sweat and blood into what they are doing so the workshop is just to let them know what they need to do differently in order to take their products to the next level,” he said.

    The SPAR boss further reiterated that the company decided to provide the platform for the SMEs because it is optimistic that they are potential big businesses of the future.

    Keswani who hinted of plans to promote the local brands across its retail outlets in Nigeria, Africa and beyond, however admitted that the first thing is to ensure that such products meet the necessary standards as that would open more opportunities for the local brands outside the shores of the country.

    Speaking earlier, an elated Ms Doris Onwugamba, Managing Director, MAN (Manufacturers Resource Centre), said this is the first time MAN is showcasing made in Nigeria products in a chain store. According to her, this is all part of buy made in Nigeria goods campaign being embarked upon by MAN and sister agencies across the country. “We’re taking this campaign all over Nigeria and hope to forge a synergy of cooperation with other major retail stores across the country,” she said.

    On Nigerians, who still have the notion that nothing good can come out of local products, the MAN boss had this to say: “Those who have the mindset that made in Nigeria goods are inferior are saying so out of ignorance. They should simply wake up and smell the coffee. Today, I can boldly say that made in Nigeria goods are well-made if not better than products overseas and that is why MAN has joined in the vanguard of those promoting these locally-made products.”

    Speaking with a cross-section of over 50 participating SMEs, including Olisa Amede-Achigale, MD/CEO, Bosaz Global Ventures, Posh International Ltd, the only indigenous company manufacturing hairdryers and other related equipment, Yetunde Ilesanmi, Director, La’becha Craft, and a host of others, they were full of thanks to the management of SPAR for affording them the opportunity to grow new clientele under their platform.