By Ladi Patrick
Director General, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda has disclosed plans by the federal government to established a world class furniture and wood cluster in Idu Industrial Centre located in Abuja.
Radda who stated this in Abuja noted that the federal government will convert Idu Industrial Centre to furniture and wood enterprise cluster to reduce foreign exchange leakages from furniture imports.
According to him, “A study was conducted to ascertain the viability of industrial centres in Nigeria and Idu Industrial Layout in Abuja was picked for the pilot project for 2020 on development of industrial clusters across the country.”
Radda said the proposed Furniture and Wood Cluster in Idu will stem import of furniture from Dubai, Turkey and other parts of the world as all the machinery will be in place to equip entrepreneurs with the best tools to manufacture what Nigerians need.
He said SMEDAN will ensure that the cluster meets all the standards required to have a world class cluster for furniture and wood production.
He said after the pilot stage, SMEDAN will go into Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements with interested parties to develop other industrial centres in Nigeria.
“The study recommended that the one in Idu should be converted into furniture and wood cluster, which will meet the global requirement. That is what we intend to achieve in 2020,” he said.
The SMEDAN boss said money has been budgeted for the project in 2020 budget and as soon as the funds are released, the project will be implemented and President Muhammadu Buhari will be invited to launch it.
He said the project will give people working in furniture and woodwork sector of the economy a place to work, meet regulatory agencies and have modern working equipment.
“The cluster will be where they will have their shops, and workshops will exist, and have independent power plant in the place so that whoever wants to do any work can go into our workshop, pay some money, do the work and go back to their shops,” he said.
