The leadership of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, has approached the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to consider direct sale of dollars to its member, following the impact of forex scarcity on trade activities.
The request, if approved would require the apex bank by-passing the commercial lenders by selling foreign-currency directly to the end users as a last ditch effort to keep the manufacturing firms afloat and safeguard jobs in the system .
MAN, which has about 2,700 members, proposed weekly auctions of dollars to manufacturing businesses at a meeting with CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele in Abuja, the capital, during the week of February 22, according to Ali Madugu, a Vice President at the lobby group.
He said:“We’re calling for the central bank to start giving to us directly, hand-to-hand, rather than through the banks,” Madugu, who is also managing director of Kano-based Dala Foods Ltd., a food processor, said in an interview in the northern Nigerian city on March 3.
“Some of our member companies will run out of raw materials next month. Without restocking, what will happen? Thousands of jobs are on the line.”
