The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, has assured Nigerians that the ministry will soon become an engine room of the economy.

He said it is ready to embark on intense economic diversification from oil to non-oil as well as job creation for teeming Nigerian youths.

Adebayo said President Muhammadu Buhari had given the ministry a marching order to drive economic growth, diversify the economy, create jobs and boost export.

The minister spoke at a meeting with the leadership of the four unions under the ministry in Abuja while resolving their differences. He formed a team to support the ministry in achieving its mandate.

Adebayo explained that the ministry was contributing to the promise President Buhari made on lifting 100 million people out of poverty in the next 10 years.

The minister assured Nigerians that the ministry was working assiduously towards achieving the mandate.

Full diversification of the economy is key as this will not only generate revenue but woo investors from different parts of the world to the country, thereby making Nigeria a hub for different businesses, Adebayo said. The minister noted that nothing would be achieved if the four unions refused to resolve their differences and work as a team.

The four unions are: Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Nigeria Civil Service Union (NCSU), Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations Civil Service Technical and Recreational Service (AUPCTRE), as well as Nigerian Union of Public Service Reportorial Secretarial, Data Processors and Allied Workers (NUPSRAW).

Adebayo assured the unions of his support and urged them to work with the Permanent Secretary, Nasir Sani Gwarzo, to promote staff welfare as well as general wellbeing of other categories of workers in the ministry. Sani-Gwarzo promised to create an enabling working environment by investing in the welfare and general wellbeing of all workers.