MAN president tasks manufacturers’ resilience for economic growth

COMFORT EKELEME

President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Engr. Mansur Ahmed, has called on manufacturers to continue to build the resilience that the country needs to scale through the present economic challenges.

Engr. Mansur made the call in Lagos at the Manufacturer Association of Nigeria Export Group (MANEG) fourth Annual General Meeting with the theme:” The implication of Impository and Retaliatory Tariffs and Nontariff Barriers on Trade.

He said, “We must also prepare the economy for the headwinds that are still ahead to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the challenges.

“We are already witnessing the emergence of new ways of organising our businesses arising from the impositions of the constraints of COVID-19. This is through the emergence of digital and virtual ways of engaging and connecting businesses,” Ahmed said.

He, however, acknowledged the opportunities coming from the efforts of companies in Africa to build a stronger, deeper, and wider prosperous market.

Chairman, MANEG, Chief Ede Dafinone, said since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, exporters had been struggling with reduced international demands coupled with domestic economic challenges.

Dafinone lamented the increasing exchange rates, high cost of energy, dwindling international demands, multiple levies, and taxes hindering exporters’ activities at the global market.

He maintained that port congestion, unending Apapa gridlock, infrastructural deficiencies, and smuggling still caused untold constraints on manufacturing operations.

“According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the value of manufactured goods exports fell by 3.1 per cent in Q4 2020, compared to the value recorded in Q3 2020 and 74.7 per cent compared to Q4 2019 and in 2020.

“The value of manufactured exports was 53.7 per cent lower than the value recorded in 2019. Besides the pandemic, domestic policies of government on non-oil export incentives and exchange rate policy affected the prosperity of the manufactured products export sector,” he said.

On the macro-economic environment of the non-oil export business, Dafinone expressed hope that the Federal Government would support the exporters with the payment of the backlog of Export Expansion Grant (EEG) through the promissory note programme.