The umbrella bodies of industrialists have formed an alliance with the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Lagos State, with the aim of providing necessary education that will be the benchmark of helping the industrialists to achieve excellence in the various sectors of the country’s economy.

The move, announced at a mega conference, led by the NAPPS President, Chief (Dr) Alaka Yusuf Lukman, at the state Secretariat of NAPPS, Okota, Lagos, will contribute to strengthening the work of the Federal Government in boosting the country’s economic performance, for a more effective performance that will boost quality of work performance of individual industrialist in Nigeria.

In his opening speech, the NAPPS President, Chief (Dr) Alaka Yusuf Lukman, said NAPPS Lagos, being the umbrella body of private schools in the state, is fully geared towards working with Nigerian industrialists, with the hope of providing necessary education, that will be the benchmark of helping the industrialists, to ensure success in their effort, to achieve excellence in the various sectors of the economy.

During his lecture, the Vice President of the National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industries Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Chief Kola Akosile, highlighted that the roles of the organised private sector, are indeed crucial, in ensuring that a strong platform is made available for small -scale enterprises to succeed in their operations.

Akosile emphasised that combining the resources of the individual industrialist would in the long run help the country achieve better economic output and accelerated growth.

He further explained that one of the major problems that the alliance with NAPPS will resolve is the challenge industrialists are facing while trying to access funds from institutions such as banks and government agencies.

The NACCIMA boss, who previously served as the Chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), as well as the Chairman of NACCIMA, Ekiti State, said: “good education will go a long way to equip the industrialists to achieve success in their various endeavours and overall output in the industry,” adding that working with the executives of NAPPS, Lagos State, is indeed a welcome development.

While delivering his keynote lecture, the Director General, Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI), OputaIfeanyin, recognised that the alliance with NAPPS is indeed the panacea for promoting and enhancing the work of the industrialists in Nigeria.

In his analysis, he said: “Good education will contribute tremendously to helping the small scale industrialists to improve their level of growth, by combining resources of the various industries that will achieve a holistic unit.”

He said the function of NASSI would provide a stronger platform required to approach the relevant authorities, which will facilitate their access to needed resources that includes financial assistance

Oputa said if such an important assignment was handled by an individual, it may be difficult to achieve the required result because of the encumbrances the individual would encounter.

He expressed appreciation for the professional values so far demonstrated by the executives of NAPPS, especially in their drive to working with industrialists, in the area of providing education to help consolidate the quality of production process of the Nigerian industrialists.

The NASSI DG explained: “we operate in all the 36 states of Nigeria, with headquarters in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja…With the existing structure of NAPPS, our collaboration can help us to create a scheme that will enable our combined effort to help industrialists gain access to funds as much as N100b.”

Oputa is particularly concerned about the need to intimate all business organisations in Nigeria, to understand the purpose of NASSI, especially on how industrialists can benefit from its functions

He said that NASSI emerged in 1978, following the visit of the then Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo, who visited India, then realised that the encumbrances that prevailed in the business community in Nigeria, could be attributed to the fact that every small scale business owner was approaching the government for assistance.

“It was cumbersome and lacked professionalism. General Obasanjo, then directed that small scale industrialists in Nigeria, should, ideally belong to an umbrella organisation, that would represent their interests, with a united and single voice. This gave birth to the Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists, in 1978. The central purpose of NASSI therefore is to represent all the small -scale industrialists in Nigeria.

“NASSI’s original and key function is to act on behalf of the small scale industrialists, providing advocacy, communicating the interest of the industrialists to appropriate authorities in the country, considering that the single industrialist may not be able to achieve needed help as an individual approaching the established institutions of government or those in the private sector.”

“An industry is not necessarily the perception that the generality of Nigerians have, that industrialists are the manufacturers who produce goods or services in the factory. Conversely, the true description of an industry is every organisation that has an investor. Such an investor could be described as an industrialist. In other words, there is the beauty industry, educational, health care, hotel, kola nut merchant, and other small organisations.

“NASSI is concerned about what affects their business interest, such as measures needed to ensure adequate security, legal matters, and the like. We provide the members with details of government policies that will affect business operations, either positively or otherwise, which includes ensuring that members gain access to government grants.

“We are inviting all people who can benefit from NASSI to join the group, not necessarily on the basis of their ability to pay members subscription or not.”He said NASSI could easily reach the presidency or state governors, to communicate needs of members to the appropriate authorities.