Former President Goodluck Jonathan has urged the federal government to prioritise industrialisation, technical skills development and local manufacturing to tackle unemployment and stimulate economic growth.

Mr Jonathan made the call on Wednesday in Abuja at the unveiling of a tricycle production facility operated by Zeetin Engineering Factory at the Idu Industrial Layout.

He urged the federal government to transform Nigeria into a major production hub rather than rely heavily on imported goods.

Mr Jonathan said Nigeria’s large population, particularly its youth, presented an opportunity to build a productive economy through investments in factories, technology and technical education.

“With a population of over 200 million people, and young people above 65 per cent of the population, it is a huge number.

“We must convert the country into a factory,” Mr Jonathan said.

According to him, expanding local production would create jobs, boost economic activity and strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to manufacture goods for domestic consumption and export.

Mr Jonathan commended Zeetin Engineering and its founder, Robert Azibaola, for investing in local manufacturing, describing the initiative as an example of the technological entrepreneurship Nigeria needed.

He said the success of manufacturing economies such as China was driven not only by cheap labour but also by the availability of skilled workers across different areas of production and technology.

Mr Jonathan urged Nigeria to invest in developing similar technical capabilities, noting that the global economy was increasingly driven by technology and human ingenuity.

“The world is driven by technology. It is driven by the brains of human beings, and we must develop our best brains,” he said.

He called for renewed investment in science, technology and innovation, recalling the Presidential Scholarship for Innovation and Development programme introduced during his administration to develop skilled professionals in scientific and technological fields.

Mr Jonathan expressed regret that the programme had been discontinued after his administration left office, stressing the need for sustained policies to develop Nigeria’s technical workforce and reduce dependence on imported products.

He maintained that investing in local knowledge and technological capacity was essential to strengthening the country’s industrial base.

For his part, Mr Azibaola called for a shift in national priorities towards investments that build productive capacity.

He said Nigeria should focus on manufacturing machinery and industrial components rather than spending excessively on imported luxury goods.

Mr Azibaola said investments in domestic manufacturing would create employment and strengthen the local economy, while continued purchases of expensive foreign-made products would support production and jobs in other countries.

“If you keep buying private jets from foreign countries, all you are doing is empowering those countries, but if you establish a plant that produces a propeller engine in Nigeria, you are going to empower a lot of people,” he said.

He also identified metal processing and casting as critical to industrial development, noting that metals were essential not only for construction projects but also for producing engines, machinery and other industrial components.

According to him, Nigeria must develop the capacity to process metals and manufacture the components required by local industries.

Mr Azibaola called on Nigerian entrepreneurs to invest more of their resources in productive ventures at home rather than transfer capital abroad. 

(NAN)