President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday in New York urged African countries, development partners and the organised private sector to ensure collaboration for Africa to achieve full industrialisation by 2030.
Mr. Buhari made the call while delivering his remarks at a high-level side event ahead of the General Assembly Debate, organised by the UN Industrial Development Organisation, UNIDO, entitled: Operationalisation of the Post-2015 Development Agenda for African Industrialisation.
“Africa is determined to achieve a set of actions for the sustainable industrialisation of the continent, taking full advantage of its rich endowment of natural resources.
“Of great significance is the long standing commitment of African Leaders to advance regional integration in Africa as an overriding vision.
“To this effect, Nigeria is strongly committed to advancing the accelerated implementation of the African Union Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa as a vehicle to deliver industrialisation to our continent.
“For us in Nigeria, we are placing emphasis on diversification of our economy using Small and Medium Enterprises, energy and mining sectors and agro-allied industries.
“Specifically, we can attest to the viability of small businesses to boost growth and create more jobs for the youth and serve as the precursor of full industrialisation,” he said.
He said that Nigeria and many other African countries, were facing power shortages which have impacted negatively on our growth potential.
Industrialisation, he said, could not take place without reliable energy infrastructure.
“We are, therefore, working on a comprehensive overhaul of our power industry.
“For industrialisation to be attained, Africa must adopt practical policies and strategies.
“We need to safeguard the interest of local production in an era of rampant globalisation. We also need to enhance regional and cross border cooperation.”
He commended the good work of UNIDO through its Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development Plan for developing countries and providing a framework for implementing decisions.