The Federal Government has said it will expand the productive capacity of the manufacturing and other key relevant sector’s to boost the economy which has been adversely affected by Covid-19 pandemic.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Otunba Richard Adeniyi Adebayo gave the assurance in Abuja while giving awards to members of the Emergency Operations Centre of the Committee on Sustainable Production and Delivery of Essential Commodities during COVID-19.

The EOC was responsible for monitoring the live status of  transportation and delivery of essential goods during the period of interstate travel ban through which government was able to cut down on the difficulties that was faced by manufacturers, transporters, and distributors of essential commodities.

The minister commended the committee for effectively discharging its mandate, adding that Nigeria now has the capacity to produce some of the products it needed.

“For the first time in our nation, we all have to come together to tackle the vulnerability that the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed

“As you all acknowledge, the lockdown that we had instituted to curb the spread of the virus resulted in a number of casualties across board as jobs were lost and supply was disrupted and led to shortfall in movement of goods and services.

“Our manufacturing sector continue to be our key focus as our economy continue to grow.

“From the market intelligence findings, more than ever before, we need to boost local production of key commodities required.

“Therefore, moving forward, our efforts as a response team at the Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment has been recognised and we have been mandated to lead the Presidential Task Force responsible to deliver increased capacity in local manufacturing” he said.

The Minister of State for Industry Trade and Investment, Mrs Mariam Katagum said the pandemic had created a consciousness among Nigerians on the need for all stakeholders to look inward in solving the economic challenges.

“From what happened during the pandemic, everyone was either producing a facemask or sanitisers.

“So what stops us after the pandemic to produce anything that we want to produce that we have the talent to do. This covid period has shown us we can achieve whatever we set out to do as a nation.”

The Permanent Secretary, FMITI, Nasir Sani-Gwarzo said that the government would do all it could to ensure that the impact of the pandemic does not cripple the economy.

“We must ensure that the Covid-19 pandemic does not cripple the economy and we must continue to produce and manufacture our products in a sustainable manner.

“The ministry has set a pace because we made sure livelihood was eased during the lockdown period” he said.

Chairman of the EOC, Tijani Inuwa, the Manager Engr. Battah Ndirpaya and the Lead, Abimbola Olufore commended the ministry for the support  given to the team during the assignment.

“By your support and encouragement, you really supported us to perform our task during the covid 19 pandemic.

“Under your leadership, we ve been able to make available the essential items needed by Nigerians to survive the crisis” They said.

During the period of the inter state travel ban, the committee received and resolved 121 cases of complains.

Out of this 121 cases, about 76 per cent of the challenges were related to movement of manufacturing and pharmaceutical products.

Also, about ten ventilators companies, 46 producers of hand sanitizer, among others were assisted to boost their current capacity during the period of the lockdown.