Engr. Shehu Tijjani Abdullahi, the MD/CEO of Amal Technologies Limited, a leading hardware development and manufacturer of consumer electronics in Nigeria and Africa, says for Nigeria to be self-reliant and sufficient in manufacturing like China, there has to be enough skilled labour.
He spoke Friday in Abuja on the sidelines of an event organized by the African Organization for Standardization (ARSO).
The event also featured a tour of AMAL Tech, providing an opportunity to explore the state-of-the-art facilities and the factory’s technologies.
“If Nigeria really wants to be self-reliant and sufficient in terms of manufacturing products, we have to train more people; we need to have skilled labour in Nigeria.
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“We already have cheap labour. We need to have skilled labour. That is the advantage China has over other countries,” Abdullahi said.
Speaking further, he urged African countries to implement the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.
He said intracontinental trade could grow massively if steps are taken to remove trade barriers.
The technologist and innovator said: “We really need to push for the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement to be implemented because once we have that kind of flexibility, we will be able to produce things locally, and export to other African countries, because we already have things that are imported from China and India.
“Now, we can produce them locally. The next thing is to use this kind of platform to facilitate and to make it easy for Nigerian companies or other African companies to be able to trade and move these produced products.”