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Manufacturers target 18% contribution to GDP

By on November 6, 2013

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has set a target of 15 to 18 per cent contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product by in the next seven years.

The President, MAN, Chief Kola Jamodu, said this in a keynote address delivered at the valedictory ceremony for the outgoing Director-General of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council, Prof. Peter Onwualu, in Abuja on Monday.

Jamodu also said that MAN had presented a blueprint to the government for the accelerated development of the manufacturing sector.

The MAN boss said manufacturing needed to occupy a prominent place in the nation’s post-petroleum economy as oil had pushed Nigeria to a mono-product economy over the years.

He said, “Experiences of the leading industrialised world have shown how small businesses have led their economies. In the United States, for instance, an estimated 22.4 million small businesses produce about 85 per cent of her private sector goods and services, which are about 96 per cent of the country’s exports.

“In a similar vein, the Chinese economic miracle was led by an army of about 50 million small businesses, creating about 500 million jobs between 1980 and 2012; and these businesses mostly account for the amazing Chinese economic growth rate.

“Therefore, preparing a post-petroleum economy in Nigeria will require a deliberate empowerment of our army of small businesses. In this regard, all the governments across the federation should come up with small business promotion and incentive-based policies for SMEs.”

Jamodu said a healthy manufacturing sector would make substantial contribution to the GDP, employment generation, and provide a stable source of revenue to the government for the financing of socioeconomic programmes.

He added that through backward linkage, the manufacturing sector was contributing to the production of agricultural tools and machinery, which enhanced efficiency in agricultural production and added value to outputs.

The Chairman, RMRDC, Senator Jibrin Walid, said in preparing for a post-petroleum economy, the researches that had been conducted on the nation’s raw materials were ready tools that could be tapped into.

The ceremony also witnessed the presentation of 11 books on the work of the RMRDC under the leadership of Onwualu.

 

 

[Punch]