Lagos State government has promised support for the rubber industry in the country.
Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa disclosed this at the inauguration and swearing-in of officers of the Lagos chapter of the National Rubber Producers Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (NARPPMAN) held at LTV event center, Ikeja, Lagos on Saturday.
The Speaker who was represented by the Chairman House Committee on Lands, Adedamola Richard Kasunmu, said: “The Lagos State House of Assembly will do everything possible in supporting the rubber industry through the formulation of policies that would make the industry thrive.”
Delivering his lecture, Vice Chairman of NARPPMAN Osun State Chapter, Prince Adeyokunnu Adeniyi, described natural rubber as a panacea for Nigeria’s socio-economic and environmental challenges. “With the rate of unemployment and underemployment increasing by the day, the increasing rate of poverty and joblessness induced insecurity and a dwindling internally generated revenue accruing to governments, it’s time governments and people of Nigeria looked in the direction of rubber to tame this hydra-headed and social-economic monster.
“Paying due attention and committing huge resources to the cultivation of natural rubber, currently being spearheaded by NARPPMAN is one sure way to erase the unenviable report of the National Bureau of Statistics of 2021 which put the nation’s unemployment rate at 33.30% and youth unemployment rate at 55.40%, underemployment at 22.8% and youth underemployment at 42.50%.”
The newly elected Chairman of the Lagos State Chapter, Mr Adejuyigbe Alo, said membership of the association is not restricted, adding: “One can be in any part of the globe and still be a member of NARPPMAN Lagos State. Membership is open to all categories of persons: youngsters and adults; salary earners, retirees,, self-employed and unemployed. A member does not necessarily need to be on the farm.”