President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration has plans to
introduce policies that will encourage higher patronage of
Made-in-Nigeria products.
He said this on Thursday at the 44th Annual General Meeting of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in Abuja.
With the theme, ‘Diversifying the Nigerian Economy: The Role of Government in Manufacturing’,
the President noted that the manufacturing sector was well positioned
to be a major driver of Nigeria’s economic growth because of the
nation’s immense natural resources and the entrepreneurial spirit of
Nigerians.
“We are working on improving the patronage of locally-made goods,
bridging the gap between skills required by industry and those provided
by our educational institutions and access to finance for our Small and
Medium-Scale Enterprises (SMEs).
“We recognise that MAN and the other Organised Private Sector (OPS)
groups are our key stakeholders in this journey and we will continue our
engagement with you”, the President said.
He explained that his government’s strategic plan to boost
manufacturing activities in the country was supported by the Nigeria
Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) and the National Enterprises
Development Programme (NEDEP).
According to him, “Government is therefore focused on implementing
necessary policies and strategies aimed at unleashing the full
potentials of manufacturing in Nigeria.
“A strong manufacturing sector will create more jobs and wealth for our
people. It will usher in sustainable economic prosperity because we
will produce what we consume as a nation and generate foreign exchange
by exporting any surplus.”
He further assured his audience that government would partner with MAN
in the task of charting a brighter future for the nation.
At the event, Chairman of Dangote Group of Companies, Aliko Dangote,
lamented the decline in the contribution of the manufacturing sector to
the country’s economy.
He told the gathering that recent figures indicate that the
manufacturing sector contracted by -2.9 per cent in 2015 as against
growth rates of 21.8 per cent and 14.7 per cent in 2013 and 2014,
respectively.
“The aggregate manufacturing jobs created in 2014 and 2015 were 20,535
jobs as against 53,340 jobs created in the sector in 2013 alone.
“These figures merely confirm what we already knew which is that the
manufacturing sector in Nigeria is currently under very serious
strain”, he disclosed.
He explained that it has now become very evident for the country to
urgently develop other income streams by diversifying its economy since
it can no longer depend solely on crude oil exports to fund its
economy.
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