My government will not tolerate importation of sub-standard drugs, foods – Buhari warns Indians

President Buhari has warned business executives in India that his government will not tolerate the importation of fake and sub-standard foods and medicines from Indian.

Buhari gave the warning in New Delhi during an interactive session with Chief Executives of Indian companies with interests in Nigeria.

He maintained that Nigeria’s economy was doing well in spite of the fall in oil prices. The President also expressed hope that with its abundance of human and material resources, the Nigerian economy does not have to suffer unduly from low oil prices, despite its severe impact on government revenues.

According to Buhari, his administration remains fully committed to maintaining macro-economic stability and improving investor confidence in Nigeria.

He said, “What is required of us, which we are strongly committed, is the implementation of tight expenditure controls, effective fiscal and monetary policies, including the husbandry of scarce resources which our introduction of the Single Treasury Account has began to address.

“We are aware some of these measures may hurt operations of some businesses in the short term, but we believe they are right for a sustainable economy.”

President Buhari who observed that Nigeria and India have over the years enjoyed a cordial relationship urged the Chief Executives to expand their companies’ investments in Nigeria “so that we can, together, turn our engagements into a win-win situation for our two countries.”

Buhari further called India to boost its trade volumes with Nigeria in the areas of agriculture; green technologies in power generation; infrastructure; information and communications technologies; education amongst others to grow beyond the current US$16.36 billion.

“We can increase and diversify the current volume of our bilateral trade beyond US$16.36 billion, and diversify to other critical sectors such as agriculture; green technologies in power generation; infrastructure; information and communications technologies; the services sector; education; industry, especially textiles and solid minerals among others,” he urged them.

He appealed to Indian CEOs with interests in Nigeria, to accept the changes in policy being introduced by his administration and observe all extant Nigerian laws while operating their businesses in the country.