Okey Sampson,  Aba  

The Federal Government has said that the establishment of the Nigeria Competitiveness Project (NICOP) was meant to address the challenges industrialists in Nigeria are facing.

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Edet Sunday Akpan made this known in Aba, Abia State during the launch of NICOP for the South East zone.

Akpan, represented by the Ministry’s Deputy Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Aliyu Abubakar, said most non-oil sectors of the economy show very weak competitiveness due to unfriendly business environment and insufficient resources.

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He noted that NICOP, a four-year project enunciated by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (German BMZ) and co-founded by the European Union, was being implemented by the German GIZ (German Corporation for International Cooperation) Pro-Poor Growth and Promotion of Employment in Nigerian Programme (SEDIN).

Akpan posited said NICOP is working at the federal level and in seven focal states of Abia, Kano, Kaduna, Lagos, Ogun, Oyo and Plateau states; focusing on four value chains of tomato (including pepper and chilli), ginger, leather and garments.

He said the essence of the programme was to assist the adoption and introduction of appropriate financial services and supporting value chain actors to access funds for investment.