Oduwole, Enoh Rally Agencies Amid Efforts to Diversify Economy

James Emejo in Abuja

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, yesterday charged all heads of agencies under her supervision to double their efforts towards achieving President Bola Tinubu’s agenda on accelerating diversification and increasing industrialisation in the country.

Speaking at the opening of the top management retreat for the presentation of the ministry’s 2025 roadmap in Abuja, Oduwole, alongside the Minister of State for Industry, Senator John Owan Enoh, harped on the need to boost services exports and adopt innovative ideas to diversify the economic base from crude oil.

The minister, who is also expected to sign a performance bond with all the 19 departments and agencies under the ministry at the end of the meeting, further maintained that the country can earn Foreign Exchange (FX) from Nigerian youth who are currently tech-savvy.

She said through business outsourcing, youths can generate jobs in Nigeria and earn FX for the country.

She told THISDAY, “So, we’re prioritising outsourcing of business services. Young Nigerians can be retooled…that means they can have a laptop or a device, and they can be on a job, and not just customer care jobs. They can have technology jobs. They can have paralegal jobs. They can have accounting jobs. They can have agribusiness jobs. They can have health consulting jobs. A lot of jobs in services, hospitality, creative sector, and sports.

“That makes it conducive for them to earn money, and for the Nigerian economy to record exports of services for the economy.”

Oduwole further explained that the annual retreat became necessary to help agencies strategise and align their programmes with Mr. President’s eight-point agenda, adding that achieving this would require team work.

She signalled the commencement of a new chapter in driving the country’s economic diversification agenda by implementing targeted policies and reforms to accelerate industrialisation, digitisation, creative arts, manufacturing and innovation, adding that the quick wins are already being accomplished by ensuring coordination and synergy in the administration’s fiscal and monetary policies.

Oduwole said the ministry will prioritise the creation of a dynamic, resilient and sustainable economy by positioning the private sector for productivity and competitiveness and enabling businesses to take full advantage of the vast opportunities available in domestic, regional and global markets.

She said the goal of the ministry was to facilitate the creation of wealth, productive jobs and share prosperity for all Nigerians.

The minister said, “We have repositioned ourselves to deliver empirically verifiable policies and reforms based on transparently laid down goals.”

She also promised to create an environment where private sector stakeholders and businesses operating in the country would find it progressively easier to start and grow their businesses and return on investment.

She said the ministry remained committed to delivering measurable impact with renewed energy and determination.

She declared, “Following the strategic retreat that we’re commencing now with our agencies, and overviewing, reviewing our target for 2025 as set out by Mr President, we’ll continue to deliver and achieve what will also be shared.

“Together, we’ll advance our shared goals and drive sustainable growth. As we continue our strategic communications and stakeholder engagement, we will continue to commit to ongoing dialogue.”

On his part, Enoh pointed out that the overall goal was to diversify the economy, adding “we need to move from stagnation to innovation”.

He said, “We need to deliver within the industry. I mean, we need to build industries. We need to expand trade. We need to also promote investments. All of these will come in handy to get to deliverables that we’re looking for as an industry.

“So, we’re hoping that the internal control and metrics that we’re adopting at the ministry level is going to assist us be competitive enough in terms of those various quarterly reviews and evaluations that the ministry is going to be exposed to.”