The Raw Materials
Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Edo State has called for the establishment of cottage industries in the state in order to boost the economy.
The coordinator of the council in the state, Mr Andrew Oloton, who made this known in an interview with newsmen in Benin, said that the establishment  of such cottage industries would improved living standards of  the people and generate more revenue for the state government.
“We are encouraging people to go into cottage industries because the rate which big industries are folding up due to irregular power supply and lack of infrastructure is alarming Cottage level industrialisation is the only way to boost business activities in the state, he said.
According to him, when you have many people going into production on a small scale such as fruit juice production, it leads to employment of persons and industrialisation.
The coordinator also called for clustering of industries to ensure productivity, innovation and competition, adding that the clustering of industries would help to generate employment.
“You do not have to wait for one Juice Processing Industry, it doesn’t work like that. When we have little clusters doing that, at the end of the day, a lot of people will be employed and productivity will increase” he said.
Oloton urged banks to provide soft loans for small scale businesses, stressing that high interest rate was a problem to the development of such businesses.
He also advocated for the introduction of tax relief for small business operators in order to encourage the growth of the Small and Medium Enterprises  for development of the economy.

New NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr Joseph Dawah (left) with Group Executive Director, Finance and Accounts, Mr Bernard Otti, at a news conference on Inter-Agency Collaboration on Gas-Power in Abuja, recently.