The first Nigeria Industrialization Summit and Expo will open on Monday (November 15, 2021) at Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja as part of concerted plans to bolster national development.
The Summit and Expo are organized by the Federal Government of Nigeria (represented by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and Jesse Export Processing Zone and Anchors (JEPZA), leveraging AfDB’s initiative and Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones’ Programme (SAPZP).
With a theme: “How Nigeria can feed, clothe and house herself,” the four day-event, according to JEPZA anchorperson, Prince David Iweta who spoke on behalf of the organisers, “supports President Muhammadu Buhari’s desire and aspiration of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in ten years as a solution for unemployment, hunger, poverty and insecurity.”
The summit and expo will also, among several other missions, sensitize the thirty-six states and the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria to embrace industrialization plan modelled after AfDB’s Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs).
Some of the overarching objectives of the summit and expo, among others, according to the organisers, were to promote the generation of 4,000MW Captive Renewable Power across six SAPZs; creation of over 100 million construction work force to build factories and workers’ residential apartments in ten years; creation of 25 million permanent jobs in ten years.
A public announcement by the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning listed President Muhammadu Buhari as the Chief Host of the Summit and Expo while keynote speakers are Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, Cross River State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade, Kano State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun, Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba and President of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina.
