By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
THE management of National Productivity Centre, NPC, has rolled out a five-year strategic plan to serve as roadmap in repositioning and refocusing the Centre’s policies, programmes and activities.
The strategic plan primarily focuses on the development of the private sector, especially Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs, to grow the economy, create employment, generate revenue and improve the standard of living of the populace.
The plan according to a statement by the Director, Corporate Affairs of the Centre, Gbenga Bamiduro, also took a holistic view of the programmes and contributions of the Centre to the Nigerian economy in the next five years.
The statement noted that at an in-house official launch of the plan, the Director-General, of the NPC, Dr. Kashim Akor, said the plan had become necessary to draw up a new strategic plan to replace the old plan which ended in 2012.
Dr. Alor who is also Chairman of the Strategic Plan Committee of the Centre, said henceforth programmes of the Centre would be drawn up to meet the goals and objectives of the 2016-2020 strategic plan.
The plan which covers 2016-2020 was primarily designed to review important aspects of the Centre’s programmes and activities in consonance with Nigeria’s present peculiar economic challenges and prevailing international best practices.
The main focus of the plan is the development of the private sector, especially Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to grow the economy, create employment, generate revenue and improve the standard of living of the populace.
The Director-General stressed the need to achieve a planned target of raising national productivity levels by four percent annually during the plan period. He said, “In order to achieve this objective, the Centre has developed well articulated Action Plans and Strategies for the implementation of the plan. The Director-General enjoined staff and management of the Centre to be fully committed to diligent and painstaking implementation of the plan document so us to enable the Centre achieve its mandate and reposition it as the apex Productivity Organization in Africa.”
Also speaking, the Vice Chairman of the Strategic Plan Committee and Director of Planning & Policy Analysis Department of the Centre, Mr. Samuel Oyibo, said the strategic plan was developed to address the inherent weaknesses identified in the maiden NPC strategic plan which spanned the period 2003-2012.
He said it was with a view to overhauling the Centre taking cognizance of new developments in the country, and reposition the Centre as a result-oriented Federal Government Parastatal.
He further stated that the strategic plan document is expected to serve as a roadmap for successful implementation of the Centre’s programmes and activities in order to meet the needs of its clients.
Some of goals and objectives of the strategic plan document are the repositioning of NPC to become an institution that drives productivity agenda of government by the end of 2020 and a globally acclaimed NPO that promote organizational excellence and best practices to enhance profitability and growth.