Nigeria’s exports earning from made in Nigeria goods is expected to hit the $30b mark by 2025, on government export drive as President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday signed strategic partnership agreement for export of made in Nigeria goods.
The project is also expected to boast industrialization by 20% with capacity for annual jobs creation of 1.5m jobs, annually by 2025.
President Buhari stated this while signing the agreement, described as another landmark in the country’s journey to industrialization and jobs creation.
The export drive under Project MINE (Made in Nigeria for Export), is a Presidential initiative, supervised by Ministry of Industry, Trade & Investment, under Okechukwu Enelamah.
It is aimed to attracting substantial foreign and domestic investment for the development of world class Special Economic Zones (SEZs) dedicated to export-oriented manufacturing in a range of industries across Nigeria.
BusinessDay gathered that the Project MINE seeks to position Nigeria as the pre-eminent manufacturing hub in sub-Saharan Africa and as a major exporter of made in Nigeria goods and services regionally and globally.
The President said a Special Economic Zones SEZ has been set up by government to offer investor- friendly incentives, up-to-date infrastructure and ease of doing business in order to attract local and foreign investment and have been used as a catalyst for rapid and inclusive industrialisation, job creation and diversified export earnings in countries with exemplary development records.
“Under my direct supervision, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment is implementing Project MINE – Made in Nigeria for Exports – as a Presidential special priority intervention using Special Economic Zones to achieve the objectives of: boosting manufacturing’s share of GDP to 20%, generating $30bn in annual export earnings; and creating 1.5 million new jobs all by 2025.”
The government said it is committed to the implementation of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan and launched our Economic Recovery and Growth Plan to fast track implementation.
“we had a vision of Nigeria as the pre-eminent manufacturing hub in Sub-Saharan Africa and a major exporter to our immediate West African sub-region, the rest of Africa and indeed the World.
“We have set up the Nigeria SEZ Investment Company Limited as a vehicle for participating in Public Private Partnerships involving Federal and State governments and local and foreign private investors.
The company is also expected to develop new Special Economic Zones all over the country, offering advanced infrastructure and facilities at competitive costs. The projects in the pilot phase include Enyimba Economic City, Funtua Cotton Cluster and Lekki Model Industrial Park.
“We are inviting experienced Special Economic Zone developers and operators to partner with us to upgrade the Federal Government owned Free Trade Zones in Calabar and Kano, to offer first-class standards of infrastructure and facilities.
“Whilst we await the completion of the process of bringing in these investors, the Federal Executive Council has approved the award of contracts in excess of N19.45 billion for the needed investment in Calabar and Kano Free Trade Zones and work is currently ongoing. This is the highest amount of capital investment ever in the history of these zones.
He disclosed that government has allocated substantial funds to upgrade the capabilities of management and the systems in the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, to strengthen it as a regulator of our Special Economic Zones.
“We are allocating substantial resources to the provision of “outside the fence” infrastructure to ensure that our Special Economic Zones are connected to global, regional and domestic markets.
“We are reviewing our incentive framework to ensure competitiveness relative to the other countries with whom we are in the race to attract export oriented global manufacturing investment.
“We will extend the early successes we have achieved in Ease of Doing Business to the areas critical to globally competitive export-oriented manufacturing operations.
Minister of Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah , while speaking with BusinessDay after the event disclosed that the project has the full backing of the Africa Export and Import Bank (AFREXIM); Africa Finance Corporation (AFC); Bank of Industry (BOI); Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA); and the African Development Bank (AFDB)
“The significance is about creating an industrial revolution in Nigeria as part of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan and the Economic Recovery and Growth ERGP, and central to these is to provide world class industrial facilities to industries to the point of being competitive for exports.
The financial institutions are therefore providing strong backings for this important initiative “
Tony Ailemen, Abuja
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