FG to Implement Industrial Revolution Plan to Rescue the Economy
To encourage investors, who are daily showing interest in Nigeria, despite the difficult macroeconomic environment the country is currently contending with, The federal government has identified four pillars of its vision to build a strong industrial base for the country. The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Okechukwu Enelamah, who disclosed this in Lagos, said the current administration was doing everything within its power to make sure the interest and attention of foreign investors are not taken for granted.
According to him, the administration has begun to create an enabling environment for Industry, Trade and Investment in Nigeria as well as implementing the country’s Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP). He also stated that the cause of Nigeria’s MSMEs, as a means of creating jobs and achieving inclusive growth, would be championed to boost entrepreneur in the years ahead.
Furthermore, he said that government would strive to attract proactively long-term local and foreign investment to grow the economy.
He said: “We are working to position the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment as an enabler and facilitator of business and investment in Nigeria. We would like Nigerians and the world to regard MITI as the ‘Ministry of Enabling Environment’.
“When we say ‘Enabling Environment’, we mean one in which it is progressively easier to do business, policies are predictable and consistent, the government acts as a partner to business and investment, not a competitor or adverse regulator, and in which there is macro-economic stability.”
While admitting that Nigeria is long overdue to make the shift from being primarily an exporter of commodities and raw materials, to being an industrial economy, Enelamah said manufacturing currently contributes only a tenth to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, which he claimed to be much lower than it does in other emerging market economies.
To arrest the situation, he said :“Our Industrial is at ion 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.
“We are focusing on identifying and supporting a select number of industrial sectors in which Nigeria has comparative advantage. We have seen success in our backward integration policies in the cement industry; and sugar is currently trying to replicate that success. In the Automotive, and Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) industries, we are continuing discussions with players and stakeholders to see how we can better implement an industrial policy that creates jobs, profits and prosperity.”
He expressed concern over the fact that MSMEs have for a long time remained the unsung heroes of the economy, adding that henceforth it would be a means of creating jobs and achieving inclusive growth in the country.
“MSMEs is currently contributing about half of Gross Domestic Product, and possessing the potential to be even more productive, given the right incentives.