By Franklin Alli, with agency report

THE Federal Government and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) have agreed to extend their collaboration on initiatives to help create employment opportunities, encourage inclusive private sector development and promote environmentally sustainable industrial practices in Nigeria.

Welcoming the Managing Director of UNIDO Programme Development and Technical Cooperation Division, Philippe Scholtes, to a meeting with senior government officials, Aisha Abubakar, Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, said the Ministry is keen to key into sectors “where we recognize the importance of strategic collaboration with UNIDO.”

According to her: “Our expectation is for the speedy fulfilment of initiatives in Nigeria to deliver tangible outcomes. These programmes that provide for skills development, youth and women’s empowerment, agro-based processing industries and the policy on quality are very important.” Ongoing projects include the National Quality Infrastructure project that helps ensure local products comply to relevant international norms and standards; the Staple Crop Processing Zone programme that supports the export of Nigerian processed agro-products; and the newly-established Investment Technology Promotion Office in Nigeria that works to attract foreign investment to the country, as well as to disseminate best practices and best technologies.

The meeting also highlighted such areas for continued collaboration as supporting the implementation of the National Industrial Revolution Plan, which helps boost the contribution of the manufacturing sector to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, and the National Skills Gap Exercise, which aims to improve the labour market in Nigeria.

UNIDO’s Scholtes said, “UNIDO works to support inclusive and sustainable industrial development and one important aspect is to find a way to help countries build their technology and, through skills development, to innovate and continue progressing. The African Union’s Agenda 2063 has confirmed the importance of industrialization to drive development. This need to be done in an inclusive manner – not leaving women and children behind, and benefiting rural populations – and it should be sustainable in that we leave to our next generation a planet that is as good as we enjoyed it ourselves.”

Scholtes added that UNIDO is hoping to collaborate with the Ministry on hosting the 2016 International Food Safety Forum in Nigeria, participating in the Heineken Watershed Corporate Social Responsibility programme, and enhancing environmentally friendly cement production technologies.