Abuja, Nigeria. March 7th, 2016 –Latest public opinion poll released by NOIPolls has revealed that 97 percent of Nigerians have expressed their willingness to buy locally made products in order to strengthen the country’s economy. Similarly, the poll indicated that about 98 percent of Nigerians are willing to support a “BuyNaija” campaign to encourage patronage of locally made products.
The poll which sought the opinion of Nigerians regarding their aptitude and preference for locally made products also showed that almost 6 in 10 Nigerians (59 percent) say they buy locally made products very often; followed by 37 percent who stated that they buy locally made products somewhat often. The list of products that they buy include food items (58 percent), clothing (50 percent), footwear (34 percent), and soap & detergent (12 percent) to mention a few. On the contrary, 4 percent of those interviewed stated that they do not buy locally made products because they are mostly of sub-standard quality (49 percent).
On the issue of comparing the quality of locally made versus foreign products, more than half of the respondents (54 percent) were of the opinion that locally made products are of good quality, while 21 percent ranked the products poorly, and 25 percent were indifferent. These are the key findings from the recently conducted BuyNaija Poll conducted by NOIPolls in the week of February 22nd 2016.
In conclusion, while it is cheering news that Nigerians express willingness to patronize locally made products and support a campaign to “Buy Naija”, a lot needs to be done to improve the economic climate for local manufacturers. Power remains a major issue crippling activities within the country’s manufacturing sector, and limited access to credit or high cost of funds remain a daunting challenge faced by manufacturers. However, with concerted efforts on policies targeted towards the power sector, access to finance and currency stability, the manufacturing sector may be able to bounce back from the woods.
Brief Background
One of the important economic goals of any country is to ensure that its export margin is higher than its import as this not only boosts foreign reserves; it also solidifies the strength of the nation’s currency as it will not be overly influenced by market determinants such as prices and exchange rates. However, in 2013, Nigeria’s international trade was 92 percent import and 8 percent export[1]. The Nigerian economy is currently under-utilized and undiversified with several business prospects for investors due to the availability of a ready market and labor (due to population size) as well as good investment policies but investors are nonetheless hesitant to invest in the country due to the host of problems plaguing the manufacturing sector with the continuous lack of electricity at the top of the list.
Although some goods are manufactured locally, most Nigerians are not aware of this fact because of the high dependency on imported or foreign products. What influences an average Nigerian consumer’s perception of product quality is the product’s country of origin. Most Nigerians prefer foreign products to their indigenous counterparts due to the perceived quality and this is in line with international marketing strategies[2]. Some manufacturers often produce locally made goods and package them along with foreign prototypes in same containers with same label of country of origin and sell these at even higher prices. The demand for indigenous products will increase when market mechanics such as quality assurance, product awareness, and price regulation and consumer protection are ensured[3].
Most locally made product categories include: food items, kitchen utensils, plastic, detergent, furniture, pharmaceutical products, clothing and textile, building materials, electronics, automobiles, books and stationeries, etc. However, there is a need to produce them in exporting quantities to accommodate both local and international demand. The recent World Bank report on global consumption of goods and services revealed some of the items Nigerian households spend most of their incomes on with food and beverages (56.81 percent), clothing and foot wear (3.78 percent) topping the list.
Locally made products accounted for 89.2 percent contribution toward Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product in 2014, as against 68.9 percent contribution recorded in 2011. Amongst the challenges faced by consumers in Nigeria is the conflicting choice of choosing between imported products and local products. The consumption of foreign products in the Nigerian market is still prevalent, despite government policies over the years to encourage consumption of locally manufactured products. In recent times, a new campaign to #BuyNaijaGrowNaira by a serving parliamentarian has gained significant media traction as part of his common sense ideology.
To this end, ongoing discussion in the media and social space have attributed the recent slide of the Naira against other major currencies like the dollar, as being partly due to the Nigeria’s appetite for foreign made products and poor demand of locally made products. It has been argued that economic diversification and industrialization cannot be achieved without indigenous demand[4]. In view of this background, NOIPolls conducted a poll to seek the perceptions of Nigerians regarding their aptitude and preference for locally made products.
Findings
A major challenge in emergent economies is the development of successful domestic enterprises that provides its people with needed products and thus contributes significantly in the economic development of the country and the current trend of persuading Nigerians to purchase locally made goods prompted this poll.To this end, respondents to this poll were asked 6 specific questions and this section presents the findings.[5]
The poll sought to measure the degree to which Nigerians patronise locally made products and the result revealed that about 96 percent of respondents said that they buy the products ‘often’, with 59 percent and 37 percent stating that they patronise made in Nigeria products ‘very often’ and ‘somewhat often’. On the other hand, 4 percentstated that they simply ‘do not buy made in Nigeria products at all’. Following further probing, the 4 percent of respondents who said they do not buy locally made products ascribed this to the alleged sub-standard quality of Nigeria made products, amongst others.
The findings also showed that respondents who buy made in nigeria products listed the following items: food items (58 percent), clothing (50 percent) and footwear (34 percent) as the top locally made products which they buy. This finding corroborates the global consumption of goods & services report of the World Bank, which revealed that most household income in Nigeria is spent on food and beverages.
Similarly, in comparing the quality of locally made products with foreign products, more than half of the respondents (54 percent) were of the opinion that locally made products are of good quality, while 21 percent ranked the products poorly, and 25 percent remained indifferent. Interestingly, more male (60 percent) than female (48 percent) respondents believe Nigeria made products are of good quality; while the South-West region accounted for the highest proportion of respondents (61 percent) who believe that locally made products are of good quality.
In addition, 97 percent of respondents were of the opinion that buying made in Nigeria products would help improve the economy of the country, and this finding cuts across gender, geo-political zone and age.
The poll also sought to measure the perception of Nigerians towards supporting a campaign to patronize made in Nigeria products. Interesting, over 9 in 10 respondents, a whopping 98 percent firmly affirmed that they would be willing to support such a campaign while a meagre 2 percent indicated otherwise.
In conclusion, this poll has clearly revealed some cheering findings indicating the willingness of Nigerians to buy made in Nigeria products and support a campaign to BuyNaija; particularly in the light of recent economic headwinds. In spite of this cheering finding, a lot needs to be done to improve the economic climate for local manufacturers. Power remains a major issue crippling activities within the country’s manufacturing sector, and limited access to credit or high cost of funds remain a daunting challenge faced by manufacturers. However, with concerted efforts on policies targeted towards the power sector, access to finance and currency stability, the manufacturing sector may be able to bounce back from the woods.
Polling Methods
The opinion poll was conducted in the week of February 22nd 2016. It involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample. 1,000 randomly selected phone-owning Nigerians aged 18 years and above, representing the six geopolitical zones in the country, were interviewed. With a sample of this size, we can say with 95% confidence that the results obtained are statistically precise – within a range of plus or minus 3%. NOIPolls Limited is the No1 for country specific polling services in West Africa. We conduct periodic opinion polls and studies on various socio-economic and political issues in Nigeria. More information is available at www.noi-polls.com
Disclaimer
This press release has been produced by NOIPolls Limited to provide information on all issues which form the subject matter of the document. Kindly note that while we are willing to share results from our polls with the general public, we only request that NOIPolls be acknowledged as author whenever and wherever our poll results are used, cited or published.
NOIPolls hereby certifies that all the views expressed in this document accurately reflect its views of respondents surveyed for the poll, and background information is based on information from various sources that it believes are reliable; however, no representation is made that it is accurate or complete. Whilst reasonable care has been taken in preparing this document, no responsibility or liability is accepted for errors or fact or for any views expressed herein by NOIPolls for actions taken as a result of information provided in this report. Any ratings, forecasts, estimates, opinions or views herein constitute a judgment as at the date of this document. If the date of this document is not current, the views and content may not reflect NOIPolls’ current findings and/or thinking.
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[1] http://businessdayonline.com/2013/09/nigerias-international-trade-remains-at-92-import-8-export-in-six-months/
[2] http://www.upg-bulletin-se.ro/archive/2009-3/3.%20Oyeniyi.pdf/analysis-of-Nigerian-consumer’s-perceiption-on-foriegn-products.
[3] https://www.easyprojectmaterial.com/the-role-of-consumer-protection-council-in-the-protection-of-consumers-rights-in-nigeria/
[5] http://venturesafrica.com/patronage-of-made-in-nigeria-goods-set-to-gain-legal-backing/
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