The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Bank of Industry (BOI) have agreed to help fast-track the development of the country’s industrial sector in line with President Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda.

Mr Patrick Kormawa, UNIDO Country Representative in Nigeria, said after a stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos that UNIDO would partner with Nigeria to assist the country to achieve its Vision 20:2020.

Kormawa said that the aim was to boost wealth creation and job opportunities.

UNIDO and BOI had earlier signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 1987 to develop the industrial sector in the country. The UNIDO chief said that power supply was very crucial to the nation’s development and for its products to be competitive at the global market. He said that UNIDO had concluded plans to set up two centres of excellence in the north and southwestern parts of Nigeria to promote the garment industry.

“Today’s meeting is not only to review the MoU, but also to expand areas of collaboration. This includes our activities in developing hydro-power generation for industrial activities,” he said. Kormawa said that UNIDO was also working on small hydro power plants in some states that were willing to promote industrialisation.

He said the partnership with BOI had also identified some small hydro power sites that could be developed for productive uses.

According to him, UNIDO is also working on the development of agro-businesses in conjunction with BOI. “The partnership has come up with an initiative called the “Africa Agribusiness and Agro Industry” which it launched early this year.

This shows that we are moving forward with the partnership and the MoU. We are also looking at areas where we have succeeded and have also marked new areas for development to achieve Vision 20:2020 target,” he said.

Kormawa said that in the last four years, UNIDO and BOI had trained BOI staff, developed the cotton, garment and textile industry and proposed ways the industry could be fully revitalised.

He said UNIDO was also working with some states to produce renewable energy from rice husks to run machines in the rice processing clusters. “This project is well advanced now. We are in the process of procuring the machines and once these machines are installed, power will be available for the rice processing clusters in the country,” he said.

Ms Evelyn Oputu , Managing Director of  Bank of Industry, said that the partnership, which started with the signing of an MoU in 2008, had brought about some level of improvement in the industrial sector.

According to Oputu, this is the reason the BOI is working tirelessly to make sure that the partnership with UNIDO achieves its objectives of reviving Nigeria’s industrial sector.

“With President Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda, the challenges of industrialisation will soon become a thing of the past because no nation can survive without a vibrant industrial sector,” she said.