By Elizabeth ADENUGA
Former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr Obadiah Mailafia, on Thursday, said new generation of
Nigerian leaders could industrialise the country for economic growth.
Mailafia said this at the 5th edition of Enterprises Summit organised by International Institute for Training, Research and Economic Development
(IITRED) in Abuja with the theme “Manufacturing, Finance and Policy Imperatives for Nigeria’s Industrialisation: From Plan to Action”.
Mailafia, who spoke on “Financing Options, Public-Private Equity and Policy Interventions for Industrial Development”, said that the country was
moving at a slow pace in the area of industrialisation.
He added that “the train of industrialisation in Nigeria is slow and the country does not have a development strategy, hence the need to have a comprehensive
plan to move the country forward.”
The former CBN deputy governor said that the country must operate along global trends in technology, develop infrastructure to ensure industrialisation
and strengthen financial policies.
The President of IITRED, Dr Sani Dawop, said Nigeria should focus on empowering Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) for industries to grow.
Dawop added that there should be more focus on locally-made products to make the country self- reliant.
The ECOWAS Representative and Regional Director of UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) , Mr Jean Bankole, said that
the organisation was committed to help Nigeria to build its industrial sector.
Bankole noted that UNIDO was set to commence a four-year country programme in partnership with Federal Government with an estimated
budget of 60 million U.S. dollars aimed at driving inclusive sustainable industrialisation.
According to Bankole, industrialisation and manufacturing cannot take place without a strong, vibrant MSME sector which is the largest employer of labour.
He, therefore, stressed the need to formalise and grow the large micro enterprises estimated to be 84.2 per cent of the total labour force, as stated by
National Bureau of Statistics.
