The Federal Government and the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria have mobilised $380m under the Industrial Revolution Work Group to drive Nigeria’s industrial agenda from policy to execution.
Deliberations at the IRWG Technical Session 2.0, themed ‘From Policy to Production: Financing Nigeria’s Industrial Take-off,’ were focused on a government-industry partnership to execute Nigeria’s industrial policy. It was held in Lagos on Thursday and hosted by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.
The IRWG, co-chaired by Minister of State for Industry, Sen. John Enoh and President of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Francis Meshioye, proposed to float a N350bn Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund, train 400 young Nigerians in mechatronics, and certify 131 companies and 220 products for access under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Minister Enoh said Nigeria now has a comprehensive, structured industrial policy for the first time in decades, and that the government has already delivered its first 90-day implementation report under the plan.
“We now have a structured plan; it’s comprehensive, and it is presently being executed,” Enoh said, outlining how the IRWG had partitioned Nigeria’s industrial constraints into five thematic areas covering power, energy, affordable long-term finance, skills and bureaucratic bottlenecks.
