The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi on Friday said embracing locally made goods and services is one of the panaceas to realise Nigeria’s potential and the surest way out of the current economic dependency and poverty.
Oba Ogunwusi who stated this at unveiling of Ojaja Mini City Park, a luxurious city situated in the heart of Akure, the Ondo state capital highlighted that patronizing made-in-Nigeria goods should not be regarded as only a patriotic scheme; it should also be viewed as a call for a nationwide partnership to develop the kind of collective commerce pattern that would have a positive bearing on Nigeria’s national development.
“We won’t continue to cry over spilled milk. We know that we have housing deficits in the country but we need to make do with what we have to get results. We need to buy Nigeria, we need to produce in Nigeria, including our housing needs.
O”ur project here is a city on its own. It is 100,000 square meters, and we are trying to showcase what is possible in Nigeria. Practically, everything you see here, we know where it came from in Nigeria. So, our own mantra is at least 90% of things that are made in Nigeria will be used, because a lot of people probably think we do things that are of inferior quality. No, it’s not true and today is the official showcasing of Ojaja City to the world.”
The monarch said “the official showcasing is to actually let everybody that matters in this country to know that whenever there is a will, there is a way. A lot of good things can happen in our country and if we believe in ourselves, like this typical project, if we believe that Nigeria and Nigerians can do it, then our deficit of housing will continue to reduce gradually.
“Here is an integrated city that you don’t even need to go out. We have everything here, we have a five-star hotel here, game center, children’s park, we have a shopping mall here, we have park, we have school, we have residential estates.
“So for us, it’s just to model something that has never been done in Nigeria. A lot of people are always very skeptical of our products, that homemade goods, Nigerian made products aren’t good but we are not skeptical. We went all the way.
“Everything you are seeing here, we know the manufacturer. So, going forward, we will now display it at the mall. We have a mall here that basically let us be very proud of our home. This is the only way we can grow the economy. We don’t need to leave government to do everything and this is the why I invited General Abdusalam Abubakar and Bishop Mathew Kukah to come and bless this place, because they believe in peace, and they believe in youth engagement, because for us here, it’s all about youth engagement and I believe Nigeria will be a better place.”
Oba Ogunwusi who revealed that over 1,000 youths are expected to work at the park noted that creating a more equitable society is his priority, stressing that young people are creative, adaptable, and idealistic, and they can challenge the status quo.
“They are in thousands. We can’t even count because it’s a lot. You can see they are all working. It’s over a hundred thousand square meter land that was condemned. It was a condemned land. We had to sand field first. It took us almost two years to even reclaim the land back and we have a lot of youths here that have actually shown their strength, things they can do and how they can make it happen.
“And all the products here, the beauty is they are made here. So this is what can actually engage youth, and that is what I stand for on this throne.”
Speaking on the financial cost of the project, the monarch said, “we are working by faith here. We are not talking of numbers. If we talk of numbers, it’s passion for us. It’s all about money. We are not driven by money. When you are driven by money, you can’t do such a project, it’s not possible, but for me, on the throne, I just want to see a lot of youth and their lives being turned around.
“And I’m happy, I’m fulfilled. I have thousands of youth that, from nothing, they are something today. So, that’s my objective. The numbers, you can’t even count, they are into billions. But, we don’t want to talk about number here. It’s about passion. What can we do for our dear country? We always blame government but what are we all doing individually?
“The person that wants to acquire should believe in our dream. We are doing for different categories. The poor, the middle class and the lowest class, the middle, and the high end. So we are doing for every category. So, it encompasses all people in this society”, he added.