Nigeria’s agricultural, industrialisation policies suffer from weak linkages, says Ghana President Akufo-Addo

Nigeria’s agricultural and industrialisation policies are suffering from weak linkages, says Ghana President Addo Akufo-Addo and if it wants to jerk up its stake in the global value of commodities production, the country must amend these weak linkages, he charged in Lagos on Thursday at the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) annual lecture and presidential luncheon of the 46th annual general meeting.

Akufo-Addo said agricultural policies must fit into the industrialisation agenda of the country to effectively sustain domestic production and tackle unhealthy reliance on food importation.

The president, who was represented by Yaw Osafo-Maafo, a senior minister in his government, regretted that Ghana and Cote D-Ivoire produce over 60 percent of the world’s cocoa beans but earn less than six percent of the global value chain activities of the cocoa industry estimated at $120 billion.

“Why should Nigeria find it difficult to maximize the fruit of their oil industry for the benefit of her people? Our policies must of necessity move in the direction of value addition. It is all a function of how defective we have developed the appropriate policy framework to support institutionalization of mechanisms that effectively trigger a more holistic and functional industrialization policy and drive,” he said.

At the AGM themed: “Mainstreaming Policies to Catalyze Industrial Renaissance”, MAN and the Association of Ghanaian Industry (AGI), signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to facilitate exchanges and joint actions for enabling the operation of manufacturing businesses in both countries.

Frank Jacobs, outgoing president of MAN and Yau Agyei Gyamfi, president Association of Ghanaian Industry signed the MoU to form a coalition of manufacturers across West Africa.

Segun Ajayi-Kadri, the director-general, MAN, said both associations would together embark on collaborative efforts such as experience sharing, exchange of business initiatives and technical assistance.
“It promises to engage government to encourage policies that will promote trade relations between the two countries and remove barrier of trade first between the two and thereafter across the West African sub-region,” he said.

Ajayi-Kadri revealed that the decision was arrived at after series of meetings in Lagos and Accra, saying that it has the full support and mandate of the entire membership of the two associations.

Meanwhile, the financial statement of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria showed that it recorded an income of N1.35 billion for the financial year ended in Dec. 31, 2017, against N1.15 billion in 2016, reflecting an increase of 17 percent for the December 2017 financial year.