The Nigerian government says it is deploying strategies to positioning Nigeria as a leading hub of industrialisation and business growth in Africa.

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Senator John Enoh, affirmed this during the inauguration of seven planning committees for the forthcoming National Industrial Manpower Summit.

He revealed that the move became necessary to ensure that Nigeria’s industrial rise is not only powered by infrastructure and policy but also by people who are skilled, equipped, and globally competitive.

“This initiative marks a defining step toward unlocking the full potential of Nigeria’s industrial transformation through one of its most vital levers: human capital development, and this summit is not just an event —it is a declaration of intent,” the Minister stated.

“The Summit we are convening will serve as a strategic convergence point—where government, industry, the academia, and international partners will collectively reimagine Nigeria’s industrial skills architecture,” he said

Also speaking, the Director-General of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Dr Oluwatoyin Ogun, said it is time for Nigeria to put an end to importation of manpower, hence the need for the National Industrial Manpower Summit, addinf that the (ITF) would continue to strengthen human capacity development in the country through its training programmes nationwide.

“We, in the ITF, have been given the mandate by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to retrain Nigerian artisans towards meeting international standards and we have started that in a programme named SUPA,” he added.