By Wandoo Sombo
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has urged the Federal Government to prioritise industrialisation, technical expertise improvement and native manufacturing to deal with unemployment and stimulate financial progress.
Jonathan made the decision on Wednesday in Abuja on the unveiling of a tricycle manufacturing facility operated by Zeetin Engineering Factory on the Idu Industrial Layout.
He urged the federal authorities to rework Nigeria into a significant manufacturing hub somewhat than rely closely on imported items.
Jonathan stated Nigeria’s giant inhabitants, notably its youth, offered a possibility to construct a productive economic system by way of investments in factories, expertise and technical schooling.
“With a population of over 200 million people, and young people above 65 per cent of the population, it is a huge number.
“We must convert the country into a factory,” Jonathan stated.
According to him, increasing native manufacturing would create jobs, increase financial exercise and strengthen Nigeria’s capability to fabricate items for home consumption and export.
Jonathan counseled Zeetin Engineering and its founder, Mr Robert Azibaola, for investing in native manufacturing, describing the initiative for instance of the technological entrepreneurship Nigeria wanted.
He stated the success of producing economies similar to China was pushed not solely by low cost labour but additionally by the supply of expert employees throughout totally different areas of manufacturing and expertise.
Jonathan urged Nigeria to spend money on growing comparable technical capabilities, noting that the worldwide economic system was more and more pushed by expertise and human ingenuity.
“The world is driven by technology. It is driven by the brains of human beings and we must develop our best brains,” he stated.
He known as for renewed funding in science, expertise and innovation, recalling the Presidential Scholarship for Innovation and Development programme launched throughout his administration to develop expert professionals in scientific and technological fields.
Jonathan expressed remorse that the programme had been discontinued after his administration left workplace, stressing the necessity for sustained insurance policies to develop Nigeria’s technical workforce and scale back dependence on imported merchandise.
He maintained that investing in native data and technological capability was important to strengthening the nation’s industrial base.
For his half, Azibaola known as for a shift in nationwide priorities in direction of investments that construct productive capability.
He stated Nigeria ought to concentrate on manufacturing equipment and industrial elements somewhat than spending excessively on imported luxurious items.
Azibaola stated investments in home manufacturing would create employment and strengthen the native economic system, whereas continued purchases of pricey foreign-made merchandise would help manufacturing and jobs in different nations.
“If you keep buying private jets from foreign countries, all you are doing is empowering those countries but if you establish a plant that produces a propeller engine in Nigeria, you are going to empower a lot of people,” he stated.
He additionally recognized steel processing and casting as crucial to industrial improvement, noting that metals had been important not just for building initiatives but additionally for producing engines, equipment and different industrial elements.
According to him, Nigeria should develop the capability to course of metals and manufacture the elements required by native industries.
Azibaola known as on Nigerian entrepreneurs to take a position extra of their sources in productive ventures at residence somewhat than switch capital overseas. (NAN)
Edited by Sadiya Hamza
