By Meletus EZE
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to continue to address the challenges being encountered by manufacturers in the operating economy environment.
Thehe Director-General of MAN, Mr Ajayi-Kadri, made the appeal at the 46th Annual General Meeting of the association tagged: “Mainstreaming. Policies to Catalyse Industrial Renaissance in Lagos’’.
Ajayi-Kadri said action should be taken to resuscitate domestic refining of crude oil, support the efficiency of the generation, transmission and distribution companies and operability of independent power producers for on/off grid power generation.
He urged government to entrench better exchange rate management to tilt more to the industrial sector including SMEs, sustain priority forex allocation for raw materials, spare parts and machinery.
The director-general called for the commencement of the implementation of the harmonised taxes and levies to be monitored strictly by the Joint Tax Board (JTB) with a view to enforcing compliance by States and Local Governments.
He also called for the reduction of the Company Income Tax (CIT) from the prevailing 30 per cent to 20 per cent to promote higher productivity and employment in the economy.
“The tax net should be expanded to capture the non-tax paying firms, particularly those operating in the informal sector and not to increase tax burden on the already tax compliant businesses.
He called for the deployment of appropriate border surveillance technology, improved logistic arrangement at the borders and recruit, train and improve the welfare of customs personnel to guarantee efficient border monitoring.
The director-general also called for the monitoring and enforcement of the Executive Orders 003 and 005 by the Federal Government on the patronage of made in Nigerian goods by Ministries, Department and parastatal Agencies (MDAs).
The Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo had signed three Executive Orders giving specific instructions on a number of policy issues.
Ajayi-Kadri lauded the efforts of the government for the policies implemented for 2017 which resulted in a marginally better economic year when compared to 2016 which was bedeviled by recession.
“The foreign investment inflow into the country witnessed uptick in the fourth quarter of 2017 from 0.344 billion dollars to 0.378 billion dollars recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2016.
“It indicates a 9.8 per cent increase over the period.
“Manufacturing Sector FDI increased to 378 million dollars in the fourth quarter of 2017 from 314 million dollars of the corresponding period of 2016, indicating a 20.47 per cent increase over the period.
“Production in the manufacturing sector totalling 9.48 trillion in 2017 against the 8.78 trillion total of 2016 thereby indicating 8 per cent increase over the period.
“However, the value of manufacturing production in the second half of 2017 was estimated at 4.81 trillion as against 5.02 trillion recorded in the corresponding half of 3016 indicating a 4.2 per cent decline over the period,’’ he said.
Also, MAN President, Dr Frank Jacobs said the inventory of unsold finished products, inadequate electricity supply, frequent increase in electricity tariff and abnormally high interest rates were pointers to the challenges manifesting in the sector.
“Inventory of unsold finished goods increased to 161.53 billion in the second half of 2017 from 35.42 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2016.
“Inventory of unsold manufactured goods totalling 321.12 billion in 2017 against the 90.43 billion of 2016 thus indicating a 255.19 per cent increase over the period.
Jacobs called for the speedy actualisation of the recommendations provided by the association via their various advocacy submissions to the Federal Government to further improve performance of the sector.
He lauded the achievements of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) which improved the nation’s ranking on the World Bank EODB index.
