Nigerian manufactures are seeking a 50 percent reduction in charges imposed by regulatory agencies on services rendered to them.
In particular, they are seeking a reduction in administrative charges from Standards Organizations of Nigeria (SON), National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration & Control (NAFDAC).
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) headed by Engr. Mansur Ahmed, made this plea on behalf of its members in its publication on the Bi-Annual Review Of The Economy.
The pandemic had a crushing impact on the manufacturing sector as the sector fell into economic recession in the third quarter of 2020.
This and other measures, according to MAN, will cushion the crushing impact of COVID-19 pandemic and rekindle significant productive activities in the sector.
They also called for improvement in the time taken to clear container/cargoes at the nation’s seaports and in the use of trade facilitation equipment at the ports such as scanners.
Other demands are “Reduce the various burdensome port charges and remove demurrage for delayed clearance due to logistics and administrative constraints;
“Resuscitate available rail tracks and construct new ones and linking them to industrial hubs.”
On unavailability of raw- materials, the group is asking the government to “select strategic product for backward integration and further drive the resource-based industrialization agenda;
“Develop the machine industry – iron and steel; petrochemical sectors – to support manufacturing.”
While lamenting the difficulty in accessing forex, MAN is also asking the Central Bank of Nigeria to grant concessional forex allocation at the official forex market to manufacturers for importation of productive inputs that are not locally available.
The manufacturers are also requesting for a swift approval of usage of forex on forex sources outside the official market for manufacturers and the unification of all forex windows in the country.
They implored the CBN to “intervene directly to ensure that manufacturers have access the funds, particularly the N1 trillion COVID-19 Stimulus Package;
“Sensitize manufacturers on the current feasibility of the N220 billion Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMED) and N300 billion Real Sector Support Facility (RSSF) and how they can be accessed.”
The manufacturers also want the government to carry out coordinated reduction in monetary policy rate and lending rate and provide a credit guarantee for industrial loans from commercial banks.
