MAN, advocates for paradigm shift in some Govt policies in sector to boost growth

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), as part of its advocacy drive has strongly expressed concerns on some government policies which has become inimical to the growth of the domestic economy and has advocated for paradigm shift in some government policies in the sector in order to boost growth. This is a fall out from the interactive session by the President MAN, Otunba Francis Meshioye with members of the Commence Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria, (CICAN) at the 2024 edition of the MAN reporter of the year award/Presidential media luncheon in Lagos, writes Editor Gentechnews, Tony Nwakaegho.

 The President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Otunba Francis Meshioye harped on the need to mobilize our local resources and significantly take deliberate steps to overcome the binding constraints that confront the productive sector, stressing that this has to be through frank conversations, effective collaboration and bold decisions that radically depart from the norm that has bisect the sector that government should leverage to get away from its mono product economy-oil and focus on manufacturing sector to attract foreign exchange for the country.

President of MAN said while fielding questions from the news men said that Organised Private Sector (OPS) wants to be carried along in policy-formulation that would affect the wellbeing of the sector, noting that as a result, the leadership of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), advocated for a long-term single digit loan for manufacturers in order to fast track its planned industrialisation goal.

He urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to develop a sustainable framework to channel credit interventions into the manufacturing sector, outside the direct intervention as well as mobilize commercial banks to intentionally provide long term single digit interest loans to the manufacturing sector to fast-track the actualization of a $1 trillion dollar economy.

He declared that there should be no competition between the industrial banks and the commercial banks other than to provide long term single digit interest loans to the manufacturing sector to help in reducing the cost of production, because manufacturers are the helpers of the economy to leverage upon as they can produce at cheaper rate, export and bring in foreign exchange.

He urged the Apex Bank to maintain all measures to boost the level of liquidity and degree of transparency in the official forex window even as the backlog of $7 billion forex obligations is being cleared. “To manage the floating exchange rate system within an acceptable lower and upper bound, pending the actualization of a net-exporting economy aspirations and prioritize forex and credit allocation to the manufacturers and reduce the number of BDCs into large and well-established operators to curb their excesses and untowards operations through effective management and supervision,” he added.

The government, according to him, should encourage inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into pre-determined and domestic production-enhancing businesses, as well as to intentionally guide diaspora remittances into non-oil sectors, especially manufacturing to aid forex inflows and curb rising inflation.

Accordingly, the CBN, he said, should intensify its collaboration with the fiscal authority; Federal Ministry of Finance and by extension the Tariff Technical Committee (TTC) for proper policy alignment on the appropriate HS Codes for items that Nigeria has sufficient capacity to discourage importation and save scarce foreign exchange.

“MAN offers to be part of a monitoring and evaluation team to ensure that the government gets value for incentives offered to achieve this objective,” he assures.

Meshioye pointed out that manufacturers have moved from electricity to diesel which has now gone up and therefore called on the government to overhaul the power sector with incentive investment in renewables to boost electricity generation and promote energy-cost efficiency.

He stated further that the sub-national Governments and private investors should be encouraged to leverage the opportunities provided by the Electricity Act 2023 to improve energy security in Nigeria.

Commenting on whether the sector is engaging in profiteering, he explained that we are not in a system that checks price index, adding that profiteering is reacting to the dynamics of inflation.

“The Customs is engaging in profiteering and not supportive of the economy because it has a set target and throws the target at us. Each time the exchange rate goes up, your plan also changes. There is no way you will clear your goods at a high interest exchange rate and you will not factor it into your cost. In a space of three weeks Customs has changed the exchange rate knowing full well that the manufacturers have imported raw materials before the exchange rate was changed,” he explained.

When asked about the implementation of the Executive Order 003, the MAN president said the government should lead by example to enforce patronage of homemade goods.

“Government should lead by example and give priority to patronage of made-in-Nigeria products in all its purchases and for all government contracts and projects, the government should mandatorily upscale patronage of made in Nigeria products by deliberately reducing the excessive reliance of the country on imported products. And also, the three tiers of Government should enforce the implementation of the Executive Order 003 in the same for their ministries, departments and agencies,” he added.

Meshioye also harped on the need for government to encourage local sourcing of raw materials through comprehensive and backward integrated incentives to address the challenges of low productivity and imported inflation, as well as to utilize the 2024 Budget to sustain effort at improving infrastructural developments, especially in strategic industrial hubs to reduce operation and logistics cost and promote competitiveness.

Speaking on the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) ban on alcoholic beverages, he stated that the issues raised is not scientific on under aged children drinking it, adding “We have worked with NAFDAC, letting them know that the ban will be counterproductive and will encourage illicit production and businesses. They ban a small one as some see it as an elitist agenda that if you are not rich enough you cannot buy the big one.”

He explained that the small product is to reach the market as we are all concerned about the environment, hence we should look for a win-win situation because they are still licensing products.

He lamented that things are being dished out which contradicts the intention of the government through policy somersault, stressing that the government should be more engaging and not hand-picking people and banning, but to be pragmatic, innovative and improve on the processes.

In the aspect of waste management, he said it is a failure on the part of the government to help the people to have a transition in waste management and so it will become a win-win for the economy, the government and the people.