Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo has given a run-down of how the Federal Government plans to industrialise Nigeria by first setting up Industrial Revolution Plan, which is a home grown initiative.
Namadi Sambo, who represented President Goodluck Jonathan at the 42nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in Lagos today said that the quest to diversify the economy and sources of revenue through industrialization has begun, with a unique pathway to Nigeria’s industrialization.
“Our industrialization plan includes interventions in access to affordable finance, industrial skills, quality and standards framework, provision of electricity and improving investment climate.”
The Vice President made it known that government initiated the nation’s first comprehensive real sector funding intervention under a programme called the
‘Financing Value Chain Initiative.
Namadi Sambo said that the initiative “is geared at addressing the structural and specific issues that have made it difficult for manufacturers to raise affordable funds in Nigeria and when fully implemented, will provide long term funding on reasonable terms to both large and small businesses In Nigeria.”
He said that sectorial policies will be backed by law to ensure that there is no policy somersault even as he said: “the Nigerian government, in conjunction with the European Union (EU) have embarked on our nation’s largest ever repositioning of Quality Management for made in Nigeria goods with the aim of creating Nigeria’s first ever National Quality Policy.” According to him, the world has taken cognizance of Nigeria’s industrial agenda which is evidenced by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) selecting Nigeria as one of the two countries in Africa with the potential for rapid industrialization in the coming years. “Government has made transformational progress in specific sectors of automobiles, petrochemicals, infrastructure, power, cement etc. and can only support a trade agreement that does not threaten the ongoing industrialization agenda.”
The Vice President commended members of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and advised that Nigeria should move towards boosting its industrial capacity.
“We must manufacture goods; we must create more jobs and wealth for our people.”
Earlier, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga had said that the administration had identified the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) as critical to the transformation of the nations’ economy, adding that the agenda of the MAN has been at the centre of national discourse since the sector is capable of generating employment, empowering the youths and changing their destinies.
He said that the need for competitiveness is crucial to the attainment of the desired industrial revolution plan.
The President of the MAN, Kola Jamodu expressed appreciation to President Goodluck Jonathan for the numerous fiscal and monetary measured introduced by this administration to ensure the positive repositioning of the manufacturing sector which in turn translates into increased productivity of the sector.
According to him, MAN has become the voice of the manufacturing sector in Nigeria and is playing a leading role in the industrialization of Nigeria, adding that it has also partnered with government over the years in providing a platform for the government to leverage on matters affecting the development of the manufacturing as well as other key industrial sectors in Nigeria.
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