Business magnate and president of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote has identified priority investments in infrastructure and core industries among other recommendations, as vital panacea to boost Nigeria’s economy to its desired level among contemporary nations in the world.
Against the background of declining fortune of the manufacturing sector, Africa’s wealthiest man urged the federal government to employ strategic prioritise investments in infrastructure, thereby, reversing the trend and boost Nigeria’s economy to its desired level among contemporary nations and in the world over.
He stated this at the 50th Annual General Meeting(AGM) of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and the second Adeola Odutola Lecture held yesterday in Lagos.
Dangote expressed optimism, saying, with the collective effort of all stakeholders, it is feasible to move Nigeria from developing nation to newly industrialised nation status within the next 10 years.
Dangote said, it is imperative that the familiar challenges limiting the pace of industrialisation are frontally addressed while setting a clear-cut agenda for the next 10 years.
He identified priority investments in infrastructure and core industries among other recommendations, as vital panaceas to boost Nigeria’s economy to its desired level among contemporary nations and in the world overall.
Dangote identified various measures which needed to be put in place to allow Nigeria speed up its industrialisation process and development growth. These measures, he listed, included; investment in infrastructure; creation of business-enabling Policy Framework; development of core industries; macroeconomic stability; facilitation of sectoral linkages and sustaining of the federal government’s recent efforts at ensuring security of lives, properties and investments across the nation.
The business titan examined the performance of the industrial sector in Nigeria; identified the nexus between industrialisation and economic development with Nigeria and China as case study; analyzed the manufacturing sector in the country with focus on its growth trajectory, current status and challenges, and set an agenda for the next 10 years with an implementation roadmap.
According to him, the experience in various parts of the world has shown that industrialisation drives economic growth and development, which improves living standards as evident by the high output and per capita income in industrialized countries.
President of MAN, Engr. Mansur Ahmed said: “the theme of the AGM ‘An Agenda for Nigeria’s Industrialisation in the next decade’ is necessitated by the need to take stock of our journey into industrialization so far to ascertain the pains and pain-points, highlight performance limiters, recognise the gains and milestones, and to identify learning curves and hurdles for the journey ahead.”
He added that these will enable the association to craft a robust agenda for resetting industrialisation, albeit manufacturing in Nigeria for the next 10 years, believing that, this time, horizon is congenial to sustainable industrial development of the country, resonates with the government extant National Development Plan (2021-2025) and of course easier to monitor.
He said: “I am confident that this lecture and our collective contributions to this discourse will point the government and the Association to priority policy areas, potent strategies and custom-made incentives capable of ramping up production massively for domestic consumption and export, while sustainably addressing the economic and social challenges confronting every Nigerian daily.”
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