Lagos — The Federal Government yesterday hinted that it would continue to ban products for which indigenous manufacturers have the capacity to produce. Such move is to revamp the manufacturing sector and the economy in general.

Special Adviser to the President on Manufacturing and Private Sectors, Alhaji Ahmed Abdulkadir, disclosed this in Lagos yesterday while advising the Customs and the Ministry of Finance not to close their books as more products are definitely going to find their way to the prohibition list soon.

Speaking at a workshop on the Role of Government Agencies in the Manufacturing and Marketing of Petroleum Products in Nigeria, Abdulkadir said as long as it can be established that certain items can be sufficiently and satisfactorily produced in Nigeria, such items will be banned.

"About the banning of products that we produce locally, I can assure you that my pen is always ready to ban more items as long as they are available in Nigeria.

"I advise the Customs and Finance Ministry not to close their books because we will be bringing more lists of items as long as we know that these goods are made in Nigeria and that a ban will help us to reduce pressure on our scarce foreign exchange. We will make sure that the items are either banned completely and where we have doubts, we will impose high tariffs," said Abdulkadir.

He explained that the government does not have any bias against trading but according to him, the administration will do everything possible to protect the investment of local manufacturers in the country.

He said it is more helpful to the economy if the government encourage manufacturers to use up their capacity and enhance the economic activities in the country by producing more with the assurance that there will be market for their products.

He said people have spent hundreds of billions investing in manufacturing and these people must be protected. He added that many people who are interested in manufacturing will be encouraged when they see that policies are in place that will protect their investments.

He, however, charged petroleum products' firms to ensure that they add value to their products instead of selling products in their crude state.