Sen calls for more budgetary allocation to enhance operations of IDCs

Sen

Egwu stated this on Thursday when members of the committee visited IDC in Owerri.

He expressed displeasure over the poor state of infrastructure in most of the industrial centres visited by the committee.

Egwu noted that the committee was in the Owerri centre of IDC for oversight function and to ascertain how the funds appropriated for the centres were utilised.

He, however, commended the Owerri centre for being little active, compared to some other centres visited.

Sen. Barnabas Gemade, a member of the Committee, also noted that the centres when functional had the capacity to promote industrialisation and increase the gross domestic product of Nigerians.

He said that reviving the moribund centres was in line with the diversification policy of the present administration.

“IDCs are meant to give foundation for producing the middle level staff for industrialisation of the nation.

‘’Because they are not working very well and have remained moribund in most of the centres, 23 of them in the country, our level of industrialisation is the way it is.

“This is part of the reason for the recession which has come to this nation,’’ Gemade said.

The Director-General, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Dr Dikko Radda, said the nation’s quest for industrialisation would remain a mirage if adequate attention was not paid to the revitalisation of the centres.

“I believe we are going to get it right this time because the lawmakers are here and they are the people that appropriate funds for the development of these centres.

“They are really worried about it. Government will put more priorities on IDCs because we are in the process of diversification of the economy.

‘’There is no way you can diversify the economy without industrialisation,” he said.

Mr Matthew Mbanu, the IDC Coordinator in Owerri, who conducted the committee members round both the old and new offices of the centre, identified inadequate power supply as the major problem facing the centre.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the centre, meant to serve the industrial needs of the people of the South-East has not been function for decades due to obsolete equipment.