KADUNA (Sundiata Post) – A Coalition of the Northern States Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (CONSCCIMA) is seeking partnership with the Indian Government in order to boost agriculture in the region.
A statement from the chamber made available to journalists in Kaduna indicated that the chairman of CONSCCIMA, Alhaji Abdullahi Suleiman made this known in an address while meeting with the Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. B.N, Reddy.
Suleiman said seeking partnership with India has been part of the submissions the chamber made at the end of the 1st Edition of our Northern Nigeria Economic and Investment Summit (NEIS) that took place in Abuja in 2008.
He said the chamber needs collaboration with the Indian government in “agricultural Production and processing that involves seeds multiplications as well as creation and establishment of Agro-Allied processing centres in Northern Nigeria in line with the Federal Government focus and desire to make the Country attain the food sufficiency status within the shortest possible time.”
The CONSCCIMA chairman said the cooperation should extend to building skills and capacity for staff of its secretariat and that of states chambers of commerce in the areas of entrepreneurship, writing of business proposals/feasibility studies for SMEs, digital business record keeping and making in-depth analysis of the economy and business environment.
He said the collaboration would require India to provide leadership and executive training for our executive council members as well as presidents of state chambers saying they believe that such provisions are available in the ITEC training scheme that is anchored by the Indian Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
“While we await the kind approval of Your Excellency in this regard, we sincerely hope that this ongoing relationship between CONSCCIMA and the High Commission will continue to achieve the desired objective of strengthening the political, cultural, social and economic ties between the two countries,” he stated.