FG to establish raw material-based clusters in 774 LGAs – Minister

The Federal Government said on Friday that it would soon establish a raw material-based cluster project in each of the 774 local government areas to accelerate the country’s industrial activities. The Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Abdu Bulama, disclosed this in Abuja on Friday.
“The ministry through RMRD and other agencies, has over the years, charted a new course for industrial development and to transform the nation’s economic growth. The ministry has developed technologies capable of transforming the nation’s economy through the provision of affordable houses, stable power supply; value added products and increase production of natural resources, among others.The ministry is working towards deploying plantain, fish, oil palm, cassava and okra grain processing technologies, among others, to the pilot sites,’’ he said.
Bulama stated that the federal government was working towards developing more local industries to reduce poverty and joblessness in the country. He said plans had reached an advanced stage to complete and inaugurate some of these pilots’ sites within the first quarter of 2015 in the nine wards. He said the programme was on agriculture like, cashew nut process and cashew bread production in Kogi, vegetable dried and fresh packaging in Plateau, cocoa butter extraction in Ondo state and cotton seed oil in Sokoto.
He said that the project would promote the development of innovation clusters and advance upgrades in high technologies in order to foster the growth of tech-based Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
He said the programme was to perfect the support system for high-tech industrialisation, focusing on promoting indigenous innovation and boost technological innovation in enterprises. He noted that there was an increase in awareness on the need for cooperation, collaboration, synergy, joint and mutual support among industries, government and academia. The minister pointed out that this could be facilitated by practical and effective cluster initiative. The development of the cluster programme, he said, is one of the core programmes of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC). (NAN)