Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria is about to embark on another means of boosting her industrial sector. This plan intends to build production hubs across the nation with help from funds from African banks. This 6-year plan is expected to generate $30billion and create 1.5 million jobs by 2025. Leading to a bold 60 percent of Nigeria’s GDP. An ambitious move from the current 10 percent which the sector earns mostly from India and China.
Project MINE, short for ‘Made in Nigeria for Export’ will involve production hubs or industrial parks in West Africa’s Economic Capital Lagos, Eastern Nigerian city of Abia and Katsina in the nations North West. Nigeria Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Investment Company charged to make this a reality.
The project has an initial capital base of $250 million with a planned scale up with $500 million over four years according to Nigeria’s Ministry of Trade and Investment. More investment partnership has been agreed on with the African Development Bank, Afreximbank, African Finance Corporation and Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority. All seems set for success. However, the need for better infrastructure such as roads, electricity and improved healthcare facilities still exists.