The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and the Raw Materials Research and Development Council are being urged to reintroduce their quarterly programmes – Sectorial Investments forum, and Technology Economic Surveys.
” In the past, the stakeholders inputs and findings from these programmes were used to drawing the attention of both the existing and prospective investors to invest in a specific industrial sectors of the economy ,” said Dr. Abubakar Aliyu, former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology.
He recalled: ” When we took up the Council in 1987, we introduced what we called investment Forum. It was done in collaboration with MAN. Every quarter, MAN and RMRDC invited all investors for particular projects and get them to talk to them to go into the Investment. I really hope the programme is still there and if not, it can be reintroduced.
▪︎Cover Picture (left- right): Segun Ajayi-Kadir, Director-General MAN; Otunba Francis Meshioye, President of MAN; Engr Mansur Ahmed, Interim President of PAMA; and Dr. Abubakar Aliyu, former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, at the NIRAM 2023 Expo.
” Another is the Technology Economic Survey. This is the Survey of all the 10- industrial sectors of MAN- Food and Beverages, Wood and Wood Products; Pulp and Paper, Textiles and Leathers; Rubber and Plastic; Motor Vehicles and Miscellaneous, etc.
” What usually happened at that time was that the Chairman of the Technology Survey is the Chairman of the MAN sub- Sectorial sectors while the Secretary is of RMRDC. Every month, they send teams to go round the country to profile the available raw materials for a particular sector , and identify the deficiencies and what are the recommendations, and at the end, MAN uses the information to make presentation to the entire review board.
I think it should be reintroduced so that we can continue meeting the raw materials needed by industries.”
In response, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, the Director-General of MAN , assured that the request will be given attention to by the stakeholders in the coming months.
By: Franklin Ocheneyi