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By Merit Ibe
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has urged the Federal Government to be deliberate in promoting Nigeria’s manufacturing sector as theimplementation of the African Continental Free Trade Areas (AfCFTA) has capacity to either expand the Nigeria economy for good or limit and jeopardise it.
The Director General, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, who made the remark in Lagos, said there was no doubt that manufacturing remained key to national development and now that the country has entered the AfCFTA, it was important that manufacturing leads the process of ensuring that we produce what we trade in the continental market.
Ajayi-Kadir also warned that the government should be deliberate in promoting Nigeria’s manufacturing sector because the operation of the African Continental Free Trade Area’s (AfCFTA) has the capacity to either expand the Nigeria economy for good or limit and jeopardise it.
“Otherwise we will unwittingly create a 1.4 billion people market only for Asia, America and Europe to take advantage of it. That will not be good for our national development and continental integration economically.
“It is very important to talk about the AfCFTA because it promises to open opportunities for our economy and at the same time it can even limit, if not jeopardise our economy.”
He lamented that the complaints that the association was getting from its members showed that manufacturing is becoming an endangered sector.
“We are boldly saying that manufacturing is not like ordinary business endeavour. It is a deliberate choice that every country has to make since there is no country in the world that has become prosperous and developed without a virile manufacturing sector.
“The service sectors have limitation in the number of people they can engage. So, manufacturing needs to be prioritised and for us, it is a decision that Nigeria has to make.
“There is the need to develop a strong infrastructural base, as extensive, cheap and affordable infrastructure is vital for the success of our economy.”
To be really globally competitive we must produce very high quality products and we have to produce it at the cheapest cost possible.
He pointed out that manufacturing in Nigeria should first of all focus on meeting the domestic need for manufactured goods and then begin to export.
But this could not happen without government supporting manufacturers with stable policy environment and mustering the political will to remove certain encumbrances to effective industrialisation.”
