ABUJA – The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) on Sunday, observed that Nigeria required the implementation of consistent workable development policies to become African industrial hub.
Dr Patrick Kormawa, the Country Representative of the organisation, made the observation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
He said that there would be no meaningful development if viable policies and programmes of previous government were often discarded by new administrations.
“Nigeria needs consistency and commitment in making its policies workable in order to become an enviable industrial hub in Africa.
“It will become a successful industrial location in Africa if all economic measures are followed diligently.
“Countries such as Taiwan, Malaysia and China implemented viable development policies consistently over a long period which developed their economies.
“It should not be that whenever a new minister or new government comes on board, it will introduce new programmes and policies.
“Nigeria needs to move consistently along with good policies over long period of time to reap the benefits of good policies.
“It took more than 50 years for China to get to where they are today; the same goes for Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea.
“If Nigeria continues on the development programmes it is pursuing, within 20 years, the impact will be seen.
“We can modify policies but we don’t stop them. If we are to move to the next stage, we have to continue along the path we have created and we will get there,’’ he said.
He assured Nigerian leaders of the commitment of UNIDO to developing institutions that would help governments to implement its programmes.
He also called on the authorities to fast track industrial evolution by voting credible Nigerians into power.
According to him, Nigeria remains one of the focus countries of UNIDO in the “light of its Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development (ISID)’’, aimed at promoting industrialisation.
He said that a country’s policies and industrial strategies should necessarily be geared towards promoting the well-being of the people.
He insisted that UNIDO looked at the needs of the country, its policies and development framework to design industrial policies and support them to facilitate investment flows.
Kormawa said that UNIDO cooperated with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment in drawing up industrial plan in 2013 when President Goodluck Jonathan inaugurated Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan.
“The plan is one of the best programmes of the government and in the last 10 years, investment flow in Nigeria has increased,’’ he said.(NAN)
