Nigerians face a tough choice, keep gobbling up foreign-made goods and services or looking inwards for the closest substitute. The obvious choice is getting clearer by the day as the exchange rate at the parallel market approaches N600/$1. It closed at about N557/$1 on Tuesday and at this rate, it could climb past N600/$1 by year’s end.
Even at N450/$1 the much in demand greenback was already far above the reach of most Nigerians. Anything, goods and services, that’s linked to the dollar is almost unaffordable for anyone with a legitimate cause. Importers have run out of options and face revolting consumers who just can’t afford to buy consumables at ever-increasing prices. Most traders are looking inwards for what to sell. There has to be local products that make sense.
Manufacturers are also under pressure to find more suitable options. To compete against foreign imports they must sell cheaper even if it’s at a weaker quality. But that competitive edge is under threat, everyday they rely on foreign inputs, which sucks out more dollars that they don’t even have. To survive they too are looking inwards. Some are funding middlemen skilled at providing local raw materials and input. Others tap into their foreign networks going beyond just technical partnerships based on knowledge and intellectual property transfer to actually setting up manufacturing plants.
