Mansur Ahmed, President of the Nigerian Manufacturers Association (MAN), claims that over-dependence on imported raw materials has severely harmed Nigeria’s manufacturing sector. He addressed at the association’s Apapa branch’s annual general meeting.
In order to increase manufacturing activity in the nation, he also urged enterprises to strengthen their ties with the public sector.
He said, “Our manufacturing sector is weak because it is dependent on imported materials that we then process. We must therefore scale up or scale down. Our manufacturers have to go back and do the transformation. We in manufacturing need to focus on this issue. We need to build infrastructure. I was in a meeting where the Vice President inaugurated the National Council on Infrastructure.
“That is a very positive development. In our engagements and advocacy, we need to work with the government and indeed other stakeholders to ensure that the overall long-term transaction is for us to move our manufacturing sector from where we are today to where we should be, which is less dependence on imported materials, on foreign exchange issues, on machinery and spare parts. We have the capacity; we have the resources; we have the basic inputs we need. If we focus on this, the government will be a very willing partner.”
The Director-General of the Standards Organization of Nigeria, Mallam Farouk Salim, stressed the importance of manufacturing practitioners adhering to the highest industry standards in his keynote address.
He maintained that norms assured the protection of consumer interests, ensured trust in commercial transactions, and also hastened a country’s economic progress.
For his part, Mr Frank Onyebu, chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria’s Apapa branch, claimed that a number of manufacturing-related obstacles have increased the sector’s mortality rate.
Onyebu said, “Our commitment to building a competitive manufacturing sector in 2021 remained unrealistic due to a plethora of challenges, including dilapidated infrastructure, inadequate electricity supply, forex liquidity, overregulation, insecurity, dysfunctional port system, low consumer demand, poor operating environment, to mention a few. With AfCFTA at implementation stage, the ability of manufacturers to compete with other African countries is obviously in doubt.”
