Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Jonathan has on Tuesday February 11, 2014 launched the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan and the National Enterprise Development Programme (NIRP) to bring a new era to industrial, micro, small and medium enterprises development in Nigeria.
Speaking during the launch in Abuja, President Jonathan described the NIRP as the most ambitious and comprehensive roadmap for transforming the nation’s industrial landscape, boosting skills development and enhancing job creation as well as conserving foreign exchange.
He said: “The NIRP is the flagship industrialisation programme ever embarked upon by this country. It will fast-track industrialisation, accelerate inclusive economic growth, job creation, transform Nigeria’s business environment and stop the drain on our foreign reserves caused by importing what we can locally produce.”
While describing the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan as the most ambitious and comprehensive industrialisation programme which focuses on the areas where Nigeria has competitive and comparative advantage such as agriculture and agro-products, metals and solid minerals, oil and gas, construction and light manufacturing services, he averred that it is based on the sectors where Nigeria can be first in Africa and top ten globally.
The President stressed that the NIRP would address all the major physical constraints towards industrialization, improve the nation’s investment climate and promote the patronage of made in Nigeria products.
He emphasized that it will address the physical constraints that have consistently inhibited the growth of manufacturing by building industrial infrastructure, prioritizing power for industrial use, reducing borrowing cost and mobilizing funds for the real sector; adding that it will help to build industrial skills, improve investment climates and raise product standards as well as link innovation to industry towards ensuring local patronage for made in Nigeria goods.
“The goal of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan is to increase contributions from the manufacturing sector to GDP from the present four percent to ten percent over the next five years. This will boost the annual revenue earnings of Nigerian manufacturers by up to N5trillion per annum,” he said.
According to the President, the National Enterprise Development Programme would help reposition the MSME sector as the major driver of job creation and inclusive economic growth just as the Federal Government sticks to promoting patronage for made-in-Nigeria products through the implementation of local patronage policies and programmes.
Goodluck Jonathan added that NEDEP is designed to develop and grow micro, small and medium enterprises the world over as the basic drivers of employment; stressing that with the successful implementation of the National Enterprise Development Programme, Nigeria will attain her dream of inclusive economic growth.
“A survey conducted by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria and the National Bureau of Statistics in 2010 indicates that there are seventeen million MSMEs employing over thirty million people. If each of these seventeen million MSMEs employs additional one person, we will create additional seventeen million jobs, thereby reducing employment in our country,” the President explained.
Speaking on the projected NIRP and NEDEP inputting of value addition, enterprise development and industrialisation in the Transformation Agenda, he indicated that the Nigerian Government will persist in its support to local manufacturers by buying vehicles that are made in Nigeria. “As long as the vehicles are produced in this country, the Federal Government will buy them. We also encourage the State governments to support the patronage of made in Nigeria products in their States,” he pointed.
In his welcome address, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga said that the holistic and integrated nature of the NIPR and NEDEP has provided synergy and necessary linkages with other development plans of diverse Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government as well as the private sector, adding that the ministry would partner with all stakeholders towards successful implementation of the programmes.
“The NIRP and NEDEP are holistic, integrated and conjoined with other MDAs as well as adopt inclusive structures which unite other government agencies and the private sector towards ensuring adequate policy synergies,” Aganga disclosed.
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