Nigeria’s joblessness headache is artificial –BOI boss

‘We need to propagate commodity-based industrialisation. We have unexplored natural resources that come in handy for this. Unless Nigeria gets it right, Africa cannot make it.’

 To say Nigeria is bedevilled with joblessness headache is artificial, Waheed Olagunju, acting managing director of Bank of Industry (BOI), told a gathering of media practitioners at a BoI parley with the media which held over the weekend at Orchid Hotel Lekki, Lagos.

Waheed argued if we add value to the litany of natural resources at our disposal we will have jobs in large number.

Said he: “The talk about huge unemployment rate in Nigeria is artificial. Nigeria must add value to its natural resource endowments. If we start adding value to our natural resources, we will not have enough manpower to operate in the Nigerian economy…

“We need to propagate commodity based industrialisation. We have unexplored natural resources that come in handy for this. Unless Nigeria gets it right, Africa cannot make it.”

For Waheed, “We do not need rocket science to transform the Nigerian economy. Other oil producing countries have diversified their economies. There is need to increase the contribution of the manufacturing sector to our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to double digits.”

The media, he said, has a role to play in economic transformation because it is one of the biggest change agents in all societies.  He argued: “The media has to partner the BoI to achieve this. We need your partnership, we need your collaboration. The only way we can achieve inclusive growth is if we embark on commodity based industrialisation strategy.”

He however, commended the present administration’s effort for adopting the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) and the Nigerian National Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP) established by the previous administration, saying that this move would go a long way to boost a commodity-based industrialisation strategy for Nigeria.

BoI, he said, is also collaborating with developmental partners, while encouraging state governments to establish industrial parks to localise industrialisation in order to reduce the start and operating expenses for entrepreneurs.

Speaking at the event, the Executive Director, Corporate Services and Commercials, Jonathan Tobin, said Africa currently spends $35.4 billion annually on food imports and that  Nigeria accounts for  $11 billion of this figure. He said rice is a top commodity where Nigeria currently spends huge amount of its foreign exchange to import, saying that BoI has plans to work with the 14 rice producing states in the country to reduce the nation’s import bill for rice, a feat to be carried out with Anchor Borrower Programme (ABP) aimed at linking small holders farmers to integrate rice millers in order to ramp up domestic rice production to replace imported rice.

Tobin said the programme has kicked off in Kebbi State  where  78,000 farmers are being trained  by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The Bank of Industry is the transformation of the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB) which was incorporated in 1964. The bank started operations with a total capitalisation of two million pounds 75 per cent of which forms a share owned by  the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Total reconstruction of NIDB in 2001 gave birth to BoI. This was a deliberate attempt by the Federal government to place the bank in a better position to discharge its duties in a more efficient, profitable and focused manner.

This was achieved through the capitalisation of BoI to the tune of N250 billion within a year. Later on, there was a further approval of N750 billion to capitalise the bank – a step taken to spearhead Nigeria’s re-industralisation goals.