The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), has said that no fewer than Four Hundred and Fifteen companies in Nigeria, have been shut down in the last one year, owing to the depreciating value of Naira to hard currencies as a result of Covid-19 Pandemic.
The association said the account of foreign exchange restriction by the Central Bank of Nigeria has also played a big role in this regard.
The Director-General, MAN, Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadir, who disclosed this at the cake-cutting event organised to mark MAN’s 50th anniversary,complained that traffic logjam at the ports slowing down access to imported raw materials, had severely affected the growth of manufacturing in the country.
Power transportation acquisition of lands, multiplicity of taxes and levies from different tiers of government, and inconsistent government policies are other ills of the manufacturers,which he said they would be able to thrive if the constraints were nipped in the bud.
He said:“However, on our own, we are doing a lot to improve the bottom line of our members. We are linking up with manufacturers across Africa so that we can create a cross-border value chain to develop areas where we have comparative and competitive advantage.
“We are also assisting them with the provision of information about the availability of raw materials. We are partnering with different organisations, both within and outside the country.We are signing MoU with parastatals of government like SON and NAFDAC. All of these is to improve the quality and delivery of our members’ products.”H
He said association would be more focused on creating resilience in the next 50years
‘‘We want to boost our capacity so that in spite of all these debilitating factors surrounding us, we should be able to thrive as a sector.We have made some progress in terms of manufacturing; it has not all been tales of woes.”
The MAN boss said he was looking forward to legislation on the patronage of made-in-Nigeria products.
