One of the cardinal programmes of the Yar’Adua administration is to make Nigeria one of the top 20 global economies by 2020.
Tagged Vision 2020, the programme is being pursued with vigour as the government and its agencies brace to attain the target.
Some government institutions, including the Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry (FMCI), have been identified as critical to the realisation of the vision.
It was against this backdrop that the ministry recently organised a capacity building workshop for its senior officials in collaboration with the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).
The workshop was aimed at meeting the ministry’s objective of generating and disseminating knowledge relating to industrial matters in a developing economy. It also strove to build the capacity of the staff to cope with the rapidly changing industrial realities in the world.
Besides, the workshop was designed to identify the training needs of the staff to enable them to design programmes and action plans.
Setting the ball rolling, Mr. Jenamalai Vinanchiarachi, the Principal Adviser to UNIDO’s Director-General, said that the workshop would add value to the staff. For the Vision 2020 to be achieved, he said there must be a unique blend of vision and action, especially among the staff.
Vinanchiarachi, therefore, urged the ministry not only to adopt the bottom-up approach to tackling challenges, but also a middle-up and down approach. ‘‘It is not a question of bottom-up, but middle-up and down. It is the manager who gets the work done and implements all government policies.
But some stakeholders say there is a need to restructure and re-organise the ministry first if it is to serve as a catalyst in the attainment of Vision 2020.
It will be recalled that the Federal Ministry of Commerce and its Industry counterpart were merged in 2007.
Expert; say that the merger is in line with international best practice aimed at meeting the challenges of a rapidly globalising economy.
But to what extent has the merger impacted on the output and performance of the staff of the ministry?
Critics say the question is relevant considering the aim of the repositioning exercise since the performance of the economy depends on the ministry. They also argue that government expectations may be a mirage unless the staff are adequately exposed to the leading role of the FMCI in a rapidly industrialising economy.
It is, therefore, not out of tune when Commerce and Industry Minister Charles Ugwuh harps on the leading role of the ministry in the realisation of Vision 2020.
He says the ministry holds the key to the progress and development of the nation, hence the staff should see themselves as the arrowheads. Ugwuh envisages the ministry’s budget to increase from N15 billion to about N60 billion following its repositioning and vital role in the development of the economy. ‘‘It is only a motivated workforce that will make this happen and when the ministry begins to become more relevant in the scheme of things, the staff will benefit from it, ‘‘ he says. The implementation of Vision 2020, he notes, rests more on his ministry than any other.
It is the manufacturing sector that drives the economy through conductive ventures with value addition. But for the participants, the manager of the ministries has not enhanced the execution of government policies.
Rather, it has caused an overlapping and duplication of functions, they say. To address the observation, the minister says the ministry will be restructured in line with the recommendations of the workshop and report by a firm of management consultants hired for that purpose.
Ugwuh says that a new logo and acronym will be introduced to outline the new functions of the ministry.
‘This should be done by the end of the year.
Let us re-brand our ministry, and together create a new image and a new structure in line with the seven-point agenda, ‘‘ he says.
Besides being unanimous on the need to streamline the functions of the staff and departments, the workshop, attended by officers in the directorate cadre, expressed concern about the inconsistency in government policies.
According to them such inconsistencies impede the implementation of programmes. For Alhaji Abdulahi Mohammed, an Assistant Director, the seven-point agenda is a good policy pronouncement.
He, however, urges the Federal Government to draw up a road map, an action plan and an implementation strategy for achieving the agenda.
On his part, Alhaji Naibbi Ibrahim, a Director, wants the private sector to share in the blame for policy reversals because of the way it influences government decisions.
‘Because of their own agenda, they will constantly influence government for one form of concession or the other, and for tax holidays. ‘‘Even the dumping of goods by countries such as China is encouraged by the private sector,’‘ he says.
Another Assistant Director, Mrs. Mary Ejembi, echoes the views of her colleagues by saying that the overlap in functions is hindering the ministry from achieving its mandate.
She identifies other challenges as bureaucracy, inadequate funding of the departments and the lack of modern facilities to work with.
Ejembi emphasises the need to redeploy the staff to relevant departments and train them, as well as ensure adequate funding of the departments. Identifying the role of the ministry in other parts of the world, especially Japan, the participants observe that the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) contributes enormously to the growth of that country’ s economy.
According to UNIDO Country Representative Masayoshi Matsushita, the MITI is responsible for creating an enabling environment for the optimal performance of Japan’s manufacturing sector.
‘For instance, in Japan the manufacturing sector contributes 20 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product, while commerce contributes 70 per cent. ‘‘This is done mostly through the Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SME5); that is about 99.7 per cent, while the large-scale industrial sub-sector is only 0.3 per cent in Japan, ‘‘ he says.
Matsushita attributes the gains to the role which the MITI is playing owing to its ‘‘high calibre staff who are well positioned to ensure the implementation of government policies in the industrial sector. Being an MITI official is the most honourable position in Japan.
The entrance examination to the ministry is highly competitive and everyone wants to work there.
The workshop came up with recommendations which included the need to revamp the existing Trade and Industrial Information Centre of the ministry with the 100,000 dollars (about N12.6 million) contributed by UNIDO.
Other recommendations are the establishment of a Trade and Industrial Database in the ministry and training of its statisticians and staff of the National Bureau of Statistics.
The evolution of a programme on Trade and Industrial Policy Management on patents, trade marks and anti-dumping investigation as well as the training of the ministry s staff and officials of the Industrial Training Fund in collaboration with relevant institutions in India were also suggested.
The participants further agreed on the need to train officials of the ministry on public-private partnership, as well as the development of industrial clusters and special economic zones.
As the nation marches forward in realising the goal of being one of the worlds 20 top economies, observers agreed that the FMCI should be in the vanguard.
It should live up to expectation and provide the necessary impetus.
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