Abuja -The Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ltd. (ABUCCI), has called on the Federal Government to make the development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector, a top priority in government policies.
This is contained in a statement by the President of the Chamber, Mr Tony Ejikonyem, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday.
Ejikonyem said that SMEs over the years had been identified as the life wire of any economy in the world.
He said that it was important for the current administration to pay more attention to developing the domestic oriented industries in the country.
“The government should continue to provide support to strengthen the SMEs by introducing new measures and rationalising existing efforts to further develop resilient SMEs.“
He said that in a bid to ensure the growth of SMEs, efforts should be intensified to improve the institutional support system.
Ejikonyem said that the presence of an institutional support system would facilitate access to financing through a market driven strategy.
He said that in a bid to development the SMEs sector, efforts should also be made on the promotion of greater usage of information technology.
This, according to him will lead to an increase in the awareness of product branding and protection of intellectual property rights.
“To enable SMEs in rural industries to penetrate world markets, efforts to enhance their competitiveness should be intensified.
“SMEs will have to adopt innovative approaches including benchmarking against international standards to meet the requirements of the increasingly competitive business environment.’’
He called for the development of a well-articulated Industrial Revolution Plan (IRP) and enterprise development programme aimed at ushering in a new era for industrial sector development in Nigeria.
Ejikonyem also called on the manufacturing sector to strengthen its competitiveness and capacity.
This, according to him, will position the sector to take advantage of the opportunities and challenges arising from global and regional developments in trade and investment.
He said that encouraging the local production of goods and exports would reposition the manufacturing sector in the country.
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“The government should place emphasis on improving intermediate goods so as to provide a range of economic benefits such as improvements in the balance of payments and foreign reserves.
“New approaches and initiatives should be developed to promote exports, ’’ he said.
Ejikonyem also advocated for an increased attention on the develpoment of the mining sector.
“It is time or never for the Nigeria government to diversify from crude oil to non-oil as a robust, fast growing economy and visible development across the zones in the country.
“Imagine mining activities contributing or accounting for just 0.3 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP),
“This does not speak well for a country that wants to liberate her people from poverty, unemployment and better economy.
On agriculture, he called for an improved formulation and implementation of agricultural policies.
He said that would improve competiveness of the sector in the domestic and international markets.
“ The National Agriculture Policy should contain an overriding goal of income maximisation through optimal utilisation of the sector’s resources.
“Effective agricultural policy should anchor on enhancing of food security, increase in productivity and competitiveness.
“Strengthening linkages with other sectors, particularly the agro-based industry and the related services sector, explore and develop new sources of growth, conserve and utilise natural resources on a sustainable basis.“(NAN)
