High Foreign Exchange Amid Other Challenges Hurting Manufacturing Sector – MAN

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has said Nigeria’s wide foreign exchange when compared to global counterparts, unstable power sector, high borrowing cost, taxes and levies are some of the challenges impacting the productivity of the manufacturing sector.

Okwara Udensi, the Chairman of MAN, Edo/Delta branch stated this on Thursday during the 36th annual general meeting of the association, themed, ‘Nigeria’s struggling economy/unstable macroeconomic policies: Lessons and challenges for the manufacturing sector,’ in Benin City.

Udensi also identified weak demand for made-in-Nigeria products and traffic challenges at the Lagos ports as factors hurting the growth of the sector.

He, therefore, urged the federal government to decentralise power generation, adopt and implement Executive Order 003 so that Ministries, Departments and Agencies could give preference to local manufacturers in their procurement of goods and services.

“The major problems facing our members are shortage of foreign exchange,  poor electricity supply, high lending interest rates, multiple taxes and levies.

“The manufacturing sector is facing a lot of challenges and the Federal Government of Nigeria has not given the sector the needed support to provide economic growth and development.  The government urgently needs to provide adequate bailout for the manufacturing sector to avoid a total collapse of the sector.

“It is our expectation that these identified challenges be addressed by government to move the country from an import dependent to a self-sufficient and export-based one. This can only be made possible with consistency in government policies that will guarantee the required enabling environment so that manufacturing companies are able to operate at minimum capacity.”