By Henry Umoru

ABUJA— THE Federal Government said yesterday that the nation’s industrial sector has been experiencing major set backs since 1970s because they were largely set up on ad-hoc basis without a clearly defined pathway with definite targets and timeliness.

The government also warned that if vision 20:2020 must be achieved and Nigeria would become one of the top world 20 economies, there was the urgent need to put in place a vibrant manufacturing sector capable of coping with the dynamic challenges of an increasingly globalizing world.

According to the government, the sector suffered from inefficiencies in the provision of public utilities and exacerbated by the energy crisis, excessive import dependence and poor sectoral linkages, adding that this has in turn led to low capacity utilization, depleted financial base, high production costs, unemployment and general economic decline in the country.