The Director General of SMEDAN, Dr Umaru Radda, stated this during the official launch of the Shade Tree Youth Empowerment Initiative (STYEI) at the Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria (PAN) in Kaduna, while answering questions from journalists, a statement from the agency said yesterday.
Radda, represented by the Director of Engineering, Technology, Innovation and Infrastructure, SMEDAN, Engr David Ozigi, said the issue of local content should be prioritized by industries operating within Nigeria as this was part of their responsibility in order to contribute in human resources development and job creation, which Nigeria has qualified manpower and large number of it.
“We have young and vibrant young people who have all the potentials but are yet to be tapped and harnessed for economic development and growth, most especially by the private sector, but we encourage them to upscale local content in their operations,” he said.
He said with the diversification move by President Muhammadu Buhari, there will be more local content space in most industries, which the government has shown commitment by doing the right thing to provide an enabling environment for it to thrive.
Meanwhile the agency has introduced the department of Agriculture and Extension service to boost the agency's capacity to provide business development service.
Dr. Radda at the recent three-day management retreat in Jos, Plateau state said the department has been approved by the Head of Service of the Federation and will take off soon.
“The country is driving towards agricultural production and most of the entrepreneurs are tailoring towards agricultural production with most of their production agric-based. So we see the need to establish a department that can cater for the needs of these categories of people in the country,” he said.
In his address, the state governor, Mr Simon Bako Lalong said with clear policy thrust, he introduced the employment, empowerment and engagement dimensional approach to wealth creation particularly for women, youth and people living with disabilities.
Lalong said his administration through the Plateau State Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (PLASMEDA) has yielded so many positive results and urged the stakeholders to work towards leveraging on the achievements of SMEDAN.
No comments: