… Blames Unemployment On Industrial Crisis

The Chairman of FBN Capital, an investment firm, Mrs Ibukun Awosika,on Tuesday attributed the high unemployment rate in the country to the challenges in the manufacturing sector.

Awosika said in Lagos that the manufacturing sector had always provided high numbers of employment in any economy.

She said that the crisis in the manufacturing sector had also impacted negatively on the insurance industry.

According to her, the country has not given adequate support to the manufacturing sector.

“Many factors are destroying the manufacturing sector in Nigeria and this has affected the insurance industry.

“This is the time to create a sinking fund to enable the sector apply resources to compete with the Chinese.

“Even in the agricultural sector, the agro-allied industry has a value chain,” she said.

She said that attention should be focused on the development of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), especially in areas where the nation had comparative advantage.

Awosika said that Nigeria must invest in the training and tooling of the sector to develop its manpower.

According to her, there cannot be industrialisation without skills acquisition.

The FBN?capital chairman said that there was the need to create industrial clusters and communities such as fashion village, farmers market and furniture village, among others.

She said that with the creation of clusters and with ?common facilities like electricity, water and heavy equipment, the cost of industrial production would be lower.

Awosika, who is the promoter of After School Graduate Development Centre, said that it was only after skills were acquired that they could be exported.

She said that insurance industry, on its part, had to think of new policies and products that would support it. ?