Manufacturers Set To Roll Out Nigeria’s 10-Year Industrialisation Plan At AGM
- Condemn Kogi Govt threat on closure of Dangote Cement plant
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) said it is set to roll out a 10-year industrialisation plan for the country at its forthcoming 50th annual general meeting (AGM) scheduled to hold in Lagos from 17-19 October, 2022 with the theme “An Agenda for Nigeria’s Industrialization for the Next Decade”.
President of MAN, Engr. Mansur Ahmed, while speaking at a media briefing with journalists on Thursday at its Corporate Headquarters in Lagos, declared that the theme of the AGM “is borne out of the need to take stock of the nation’s journey to industrialization; to ascertain the pains and pain-points; to highlight the performance limiters; recognize the gains and growth milestones; and to identify the learning curves and hurdles ahead, all these with a view to crafting a robust agenda for resetting industrialization, albeit manufacturing in Nigeria”.
Engr Ahmed bemoaned that many policies of the government have compounded the already challenging operating environment for manufacturers in the country.
President of MAN said “It is indeed a matter of great concern to our members that even as our economy continue to experience very slow growth, our policy makers at all levels continue to compound the situation by introducing new taxes, further worsening the difficult and high-cost operating environment. In some climes, when the economy slows down Government reduce taxes to encourage businesses to expand, create more jobs and increase economic activities. What we are seeing in Nigeria today is not only increasing tax rate but introducing new taxes and turning every public agency into a revenue collector.”
He lamented that in the last 30 years, peer countries have overtaken Nigeria in the area of industrialisation while the country has stagnated and even gone backwards industrially.
Engr Ahmed hinted the Alhaji Aliko Dangote will be the Guest Speaker at this year’s AGM to share his wealth of experience and insight in the manufacturing sector, while President Mohammadu Buhari will be the Special Guest of Honour, while the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment of Nigeria, Otunba Niyi Adebayo will be the guest of Honour.
According to him, the three day event will witness the Annual Adeola Odutola Lecture and the exhibitions of locally manufactured goods.
The MAN president, Engr Mansur Ahmed while fielding questions from newsmen condemned the threat for the closure of Dangote Cement plant in Obajana by the Kogi State government, describing the action as worrisome and unwarranted.
In his words: “The action of the Kogi State government at shutting down Dangote Cement plant is very worrisome. It is shocking that government will shut down a plant that provides jobs and economic activities on a very large scale to the people of Kogi State”.
