‘GEM’s mission is to enhance growth in light manufacturing industry’
The last few decades have given birth to the rise of light manufacturing and this has in turn resulted in a dramatic rise to the country’s national income.
It is not news that labor-intensive industries provide growth opportunities and have become key economic drivers of many nations, this is why it is key to capture the opportunities arising from the relocation of light manufacturing from higher-income countries to lower income nations.
To support this effort, GEM Project said it is investing in a number of initiatives including: Leather: Recognizing the important role of the leather sector to the Nigerian economy, the GEM Project said it is providing huge support in the development of the first Nigerian leather policy.
“In line with Government’s commitment to diversifying the economy from oil to non-oil economy, and the position of leather as both domestic industrial raw material and export commodity, the GEM Project provided some expertise and funding to the multi-stakeholders’ effort to produce the much overdue policy that will govern the operation of the leather industry in Nigeria. The draft policy, which was validated in Sokoto and Aba by relevant stakeholders has been submitted to relevant Ministries and awaits presentation at the Federal Executive Council for consideration and approval.
Automotive Industry: One of the key sectors of development is transportation; GEM, in a statement said it provided support to this industry due to its huge potential for growth and job creation. “The current intervention is restricted to the automobile spare parts sub-sector, to assist the ever-growing need for vehicle spare parts across the country and government’s drive for import substitution responsibility. In a bid to start up the intervention with clear understanding of the value chain, GEM implemented an industry mapping of Nnewi automobile spare parts hubs, concluded a study on legality/licensing of replacement auto parts manufacturing in Nigeria (using Anambra and Kaduna as key areas of field research). The result of the survey reveals that most of the replacement parts produced by MSMEs in the Nigeria automobile spare parts industry are generic and do not infringe on the Original Equipment Manufacture’s (OEMs) Intellectual Property.
In addition, GEM further said that it commissioned additional study in some other sub-sectors within the light manufacturing industry, aimed to spur investments and enhance their performance. The key objectives of the studies is to identify opportunities and market failure(s) for each sector with the focus of uncovering the potential areas for development through public and private sector investments. The study is therefore, expected to produce a market assessment report for the automotive /spare parts sector, the renewable energy industry and six (6) value chains in the Agro-processing industry, which includes; Cocoa, Citrus, Cassava, Sugarcane, Tomatoes and Sesames.
Daniel Obi