By Chibisi Ohakah
Abuja
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has said that it is ready to submit to Nigeria an Industrial Skill Gaps Assessment which contains data on the supply and demand curve in industrial skill across the country. The assessment report will also aid in the identification of specific capacity building needs over the medium and long term.
Speaking during the inaugural lecture and induction ceremony of the Institute of Professional Industrialists ad Management Development (IPMD) in Abuja yesterday, the UNIDO country representative in Nigeria, Dr Patrick Kormawa, said the comprehensive data will be invaluable towards successful implementation of National Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP), the National Enterprise Development Plan (NEDEP) and National Industrial Skill Development Programme (NISDP).
In the lecture titled, ‘Bridging the Capacity Gaps in Nigerian Industrial Sector,’ Kormawa described the Institute of Professional Industrialists ad Management Development (IPMD) as an effective vehicle for the achievement of Nigeria’s NIRP, and expressed the willingness of UNIDO to partner with the Institute.
NIRP’s overarching objective is to increase industry’s contribution to GDP from 4% to 6% by 2015 and above 10% by 2017, “As articulated by President Goodluck Jonathan, NIRP’s goal is to add an extra N3.5 trillion to N5 trillion to annual manufacturing revenues in oil and gas, substitute imports, diversify exports and broaden the Nigerian government’s tax base.”
The UNIDO boss noted that the NIRP is built to intensify our efforts on industrialisation, which is why, according to him, the global body has given limited timeframe within which it will accelerate industrial capacity expansions and reforms in Nigeria “NIRP recognises and builds on national development policies, strategies, plans and master plans that are already being implemented: Vision 2020, the Transformation Agenda, Agriculture Transformation Agenda, Infrastructure Master Plan, Gas Master Plan, National Asset Mapping Exercise, Transport Strategy, Solid Minerals Strategy and the National Industrial Policy and so on,” he said
In his address, the secretary of the board of trustees, Dr Pascal Harry, said the IPIMD is the foremost institute for the promotion of professionalism and regulation of industrial operations and management. “The institute is dedicated to the recognition and certification of industrialists, entrepreneurs and industrial managers who have distinguished themselves in practice and achievements,” Dr Harry said, pointing out that IPIMD is not a business membership organisation or an organised private sector group, but a “purely professional and development institute.
“We also admit students who want to become industrialists, entrepreneurs or supervisors in factories, provided they will pass through the Institute’s qualifying examinations as approved by the federal ministry of education.”
