UNIDO: How Nigerian products can be internationally competitive

Dr Patrick Kormawa, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Country Representative, on Tuesday urged Nigerian manufacturers to improve on the quality of their products.

Kormawa explained that this would make Made-in-Nigeria products to compete favourably in the international market.

He said UNIDO would continue to assist Nigeria to ensure that its products remained competitive in the global market.

He said the UNIDO could help Nigeria with laboratories for the testing of products for quality assurance, to meet specific global standards as it had done in many countries.

“If your quality is superior then the competition is good for you because that is what most consumers are looking for today.

“Consumers are not only looking at price competitiveness but they are looking at quality and standard,” he said.

Kormawa said that in partnership with Ebonyi Government, UNIDO had designed a programme to ensure the use of rice husk in energy generation.

“You put the rice husk there; incinerate it and it produces gas that goes through the process that produces energy to a comic plant that generates 45 KW, ” he said.

He said Ebonyi had been partnering investors to put a five Megawatt plant to general sufficient energy to power its rice cluster and surrounding communities.

“You can see the linkages between environment, energy and development. That is one area UNIDO is working on renewable energy.”

He said that in April, UNIDO collaborated with Taraba Government to commission a small hydro plant to power the tea factory in the Kakara area of the state.

He said that the plant could provide energy to dry the company’s products, run its machines and provide electricity.

“A development must be people centred and environment must be taken care of.

“Industrialisation means creating wealth and it must ensure that the environment is not depleted,’’ Kormawa said.

He said for Nigeria to move from a medium income group, a lot needed to be done in the power sector.

“We believe that the country is on the right way to have privatised its power sector. This country will be there and all of us will enjoy uninterrupted power.

“We have spoken about it; Power is the bedrock of industriliasation. The Privatisation programme is expected to bridge the gap in power supply in Nigeria,’’ he said. (NAN)