Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Senator John Owan Enoh, has expressed worry over non-promotion of Made In Nigeria goods.

He said this when met with the Organised Private Sector of Nigeria (OPSN) and floated an ‘Industrial Revolution Work Group’ as part of moves to address challenges confronting the country’s industrial sector.

“Promotion of made in Nigeria goods, we will be talking about it forever. We had Executive orders 3 and 5 that should give us the impetus to push it, but are we doing so?”

“Everybody is guilty. We’re all guilty even inside this room. Even as I stand before you I am guilty, but we need to push this. This kind of problem that’s confronting our country requires us to be dramatic and that is the only way we can achieve results,” he said at the meeting which held in Lagos.

Enoh also listened to the key players in the sector who spoke on the myriad of challenges in the manufacturing and industrial sectors.

The Minister said the challenges like energy crisis, multiple taxes, foreign exchange rate and high interest rate are “familiar matters and you don’t need to be an industry expert to understand them.”

He, however, said there is a need to be strategic in addressing those headwinds in order not “to make it a business as usual.”

He explained that the work group to be co-chaired by him and the President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Francis Meshioye, would serve as a ‘war team’ in tackling industry’s crisis.

Enoh also assured that the government would carry out legislative reviews and regulatory reforms to address the bottlenecks.

“An industrial revolution work group will be put in place. Industrial revolution work group provides multi – stakeholders that will be co-chaired by me and the President of MAN. The membership will cut across the strategic players within the sector.”

“You know Israel is presently at war and they have a war team or war group. This, for me, will become that war team, that war group,” Enoh said.

Earlier, the Chairman of OPSN, who doubles as President of MAN, Francis Meshioye, identified exchange rate and forex scarcity, energy crisis, multiple taxes, interest rate and low access to loan credit as the major challenges confronting the sector.

He said “As a catalyst for sustainable economic growth, the industrial sector is a core enabler of the economic development of any economy. Indeed, no other sector plays a more critical role in technological advancement, productivity growth, skill improvement, job creation and innovation.

“In spite of these potentials, there are inherent challenges that need to be addressed. These challenges are responsible for the lackluster performance of the industrial sector over the years.

“Clearly, the challenges are enormous, but we are confident that if we work together, we can co-create the solutions and place the sector on the path of sustainable growth,” he added. (Daily Trust)

• Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Senator John Owan Enoh,in a meeting with the Organised Private Sector of Nigeria (OPSN)