MAN chief tasks Imo, Abia govts to support manufacturing, encourage investment

By Saby Elemba, Owerri

…says sector highest contributor to Nigeria’s economy

Less than a month to the end of his four-year tenure, Mansur Ahmed, president, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), has declared the manufacturing sector the biggest contributor to job and wealth creation, skill development and technology transfer. He has therefore asked the governments of Imo and Abia States to institute more effective and efficient consultative mechanism with MAN in order to ensure the sustenance of existing manufacturing companies, some of which are on the verge of collapse under the weight of overwhelming infrastructural and other challenges prevailing in the country, particularly in Imo and Abia States.

Speaking in Owerri, Imo State capital, during the 35th Annual General Meeting of Imo/Abia branch of MAN, Mansur urged the federal and state governments, together with their agencies, to work in synergy, and carry along relevant stakeholders in fashioning appropriate strategies to improve and stabilise the economy.

He also called for a partnership between the federal and state governments for a total rehabilitation of the roads to facilitate the movement of goods and services as well as to encourage industrial development in the two states.

“Your excellencies, we urge you to hearken to the need of businesses for appropriate incentives and infrastructure that would ameliorate the business constraints and encourage new investors,” said Mansur, who will be completing his tenure as MAN’s president at the association’s 50th Annual General Meeting in October.

“In this regard, we request that you carry out a system check on the regulatory functions of certain agencies and organs of government that negatively impact manufacturing and discourage would-be investors,” he said.

To this end, Mansur called on Hope Uzodinma and Okezie Ikpeazu, governors of Imo and Abia States, respectively, to help and encourage investments in manufacturing by facilitating the establishment of industrial parks and granting incentives such as tax holidays to manufacturers so as to promote industrial expansion and employment generation, harmonise taxes, especially local government and road-related levies to aid ease of compliance by MAN members, and remove the use of discretion and the possibility of exploitation and harassment by government officials.

The outgoing MAN president also urged the two governors to facilitate the harmonisation of national and state environmental laws to reduce the cost of compliance on MAN members, and to admit MAN members to serve on government boards, such as state environmental protection agencies.

He lamented that the manufacturing sector has suffered some setbacks in recent times, saying the major challenges include, among others, high cost of diesel and other petroleum products, acute shortage and high cost of forex, insecurity across the country, high cost of raw-materials, inconsistent government policies, high regulatory compliance cost, gridlock and inadequate infrastructure at the ports.

“Our more recent top advocacy item is our call on government to urgently convene a strategic meeting with key operators in the Nigerian economic space to deliberate and craft a national strategic response to the disruptive impact of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war on the global supply value chain and its debilitating impact on our economy,” Mansur said.

“We believe that this will help to identify viable options to ameliorate the impact of the disruption, agree on ways to assuage other pain points in the business environment, activate innovative solutions to familiar and emerging macro-economic and infrastructure challenges, and generally point the direction for resilience in the economic ecosystem,” he said.

According to Mansur, it is the opinion of MAN that the government should remove the 7.5 percent VAT on AGO pending the normalisation of the international supply system and quickly resolve the complexity surrounding the seamless implementation of the “Eligible Customer Initiative” to enable manufacturers to take advantage of the stranded electricity.

He argued that the government should prioritise allocation of forex to the manufacturing sector and that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should direct the commercial banks to transparently and diligently process forex applications by manufacturers.

He called on government to enforce, evaluate and monitor the implementation of the “Executive Order 003” to ensure compliance by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs)  and this should be cascaded to the local and state government levels.

“At the regional and continental levels, we are upscaling our advocacy radar by promoting industrialisation and integration in West Africa through the Federation of West African Manufacturers Association (FEWAMA),” Mansur said.

“We are also facilitating cooperation amongst African Manufacturers in the promotion and protection of interests of the manufacturing industry in Africa through the Pan-African Manufacturers Association (PAMA). We hope to achieve a cross-border value chain and scale production to ensure those African made products are traded in the continental market,” he said.