Min. of Trade, Industry & Investment
According to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enalamah, the policy document which was launched by the previous administration in 2014, will serve as the plan on which the nation’s industrialisation ambition will be hinged.
Besides, the Minister noted that while domestic capacity will be developed for manufacturing, new export markets would be explored to understand their needs while challenges with existing markets would be addressed.
Similarly, Enalamah stated that the Federal Government, having identified its infrastructural challenges, seeks to attract investments through a public-private partnership (PPP) agenda by searching for preferred partners who show evidence of commitment to a long-term partnership, especially in financing industrial growth.
Enalamah, while addressing journalists in Lagos, recently, explained that the present economic challenges offer the nation an opportunity to break free from its traditional dependence on oil and gas and in its place develop a diversified export base and a solid base of domestic manufacturing.
Worried about sustaining the financing of its agenda, the Minister explained that partnering with private capital remains the most sensible approach to financing the administration’s substantial ambitions, adding that the present challenges call for the deployment of innovative financing solutions, targeted at unlocking capital wherever it might be found.
He said: “Regarding Industrialisation, there is no doubt that Nigeria is long overdue to make the shift from being primarily an exporter of commodities and raw materials, to being an industrial economy. Manufacturing currently contributes only a tenth to our Gross Domestic Product, much lower than it does in other emerging market economies.
“Our Industrialisation ambition is hinged on the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP), launched by the previous government in 2014. It is now time to move that comprehensive document from Plan to Action. It is now our duty to implement that Plan in light of current realities, taking into consideration the lessons learnt in the two years since it was unveiled.
