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By Bimbola Oysola and Isaac Anumihe
Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), at the weekend, lambasted President Muhammadu Buhari’s economic progrmme of giving N5,000 stipend to indigent Nigerians, saying that the citizens need an economy that provides jobs and supports manufacturing.
In a statement by the spokesman to Vice-President, Laolu Akande, the government said the programme is being implemented through the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) component of the government’s Social Investment Programmes (SIP).
He said that the first batch, which commenced two weeks ago, covered nine states, and that many of the beneficiaries reportedly received their first payments by Friday, December 30. Those states are: Borno, Kwara, Bauchi, Cross River, Niger, Kogi, Oyo, Ogun and Ekiti.
But the statement elicited a number of reactions from Nigerians with some asking the Federal Government to release the names and account numbers of the beneficiaries.
For instance, the Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, through his press secretary, Idowu Adelusi, said that there was no evidence of the payment in his state which is one of the states the Federal Government claimed the exercise had started.
The MAN president, Frank Jacobs, who spoke in an interview, also said that apart from providing jobs, Nigerians need the economy that can support the manufacturing sector as well as export.
“What we need is not N5, 000 stipend, but an economy that would provide enduring job, support manufacturing as well as the export sector.
Our silos are empty, when a country like Malaysia of lesser population can shore up its economy with $30 billion from agriculture” he said.
According to him, Nigeria in so many areas could be self-sufficient like Malaysia, Kenya and Ghana in agriculture and export, but for lack of planning, proper co-ordination and over-dependence on importation and oil, it became a failure.
“We based our budget on oil, which I considered slippery. If the price goes up there would be windfall. How do we manage the windfall and the shortage? How do we shore it up?
He said that the 2017 Budget could bring succour to the economy if the Federal Government remained faithful to its implementation, adding that going by the budget presentation and new year message of President Muhammadu Buhari, the manufacturing sector, Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) and trade may perform better this year, especially with the improvement in the crude oil price.
For instance, recapitalization of Bank of Industry (BoI), resuscitation of Export Expansion Grant (EEG), development of local inputs for manufacturers and the emphasis on infrastructure are some of the pronouncements made in the budget presentation that tend towards the development of SME, manufacturing and trade.The expected improvement would, however, depend on the effective implementation of the proposals highlighted above. If they are effectively implemented, my answer would be YES.”he said.
Recall that the 2017 Budget proposal has indicated that Nigeria’s dependence on importation would be reduced.
During the presentation, Buhari lamented that: “We wasted our large foreign exchange reserves to import nearly everything we consume.
“Our food, our clothing, our manufacturing inputs, our fuel and much more. In the past 18 months when we experienced low oil prices, we saw our foreign exchange earnings cut by about 60 per cent” he said, adding that small scale businessmen and women would be encouraged by creating enabling environment for their products to be patronised.
Jacobs, however, advised that government should increase the quantum of forex allocated to the manufacturing sector as this would determine the productivity level in the sector.
“While we commend CBN for the policy of 60 per cent allocation of all available forex to the manufacturing sector for importation of raw materials and machinery, we demand the effective enforcement and monitoring of the policy”, he said.
The MAN boss regretted that the paltry 30 per cent allocated to capital infrastructure was not good enough to galvanise the country’s economy from the current position.
This same view was shared by the Director General of the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Olusegun Oshinowo, who stated that infrastructure development remains paramount to the resuscitation of the economy from recession.
According to him, a budget of less than 35 per cent will be inadequate in the restructuring of the economy.
Buhari, had said that N2.24 trillion, representing 30.7 per cent of the 2017 budget, will be committed to capital expenditure aimed at pulling the economy out of recession.
Oshinowo called on government to pay the domestic debt owed to the local contractors, stating that would go a long way to boost recovery.
“For the budget to deliver growth to the economy, government has to embark on prudent spending and be faithful to its implementation. By October, last year, only 40 per cent of the budget was implemented.
That is not faithfulness. But now that it has started pretty early, I hope the National Assembly will support because any delay will affect faithful implementation and spending.”he noted.
The NECA Director General equally advised the government to ensure that the foreign exchange coming from the rebound in oil revenue is allocated to the key sector of the economy for speedy rejuvenation of the country.
But the former Director General of Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, John Isemede, said government should give prominence to how the budget would be funded in order to have a balance of payment.
Recall that on January 3, this year, the Federal Government, announced that it has begun the payment of a monthly stipend of N5000 to 1,000000 Nigeria’s poorest and most vulnerable.
FG urged to unveil criteria for disbursing N30bn mining intervention fund
National Secretary, Miners Association of Nigeria, Mr Dele Ayanleke,, has called on the Federal Government to unveil to miners how it will disburse the N30 billion mining intervention fund released in 2016 for exploration.
Ayanleke told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that government would release criteria and that miners would be involved in the disbursement of the fund.
He noted that some years back, the World Bank released funds for the mining sector but it was used for other purposes. He said that the 2016 was a year full of challenges for miners; some of the members were attacked, killed during mining and illegal miners also hampered mining activities.
He said the Mines Inspectorate Department of the Ministry of Solid Minerals saddled with the responsibility to monitor mining activities at every mine site was incapacitated by lack of fund.
According to him, the department is willing to work, but lacked empowerment to conduct their oversight functions and to monitor mining sites to know what challenges the miners are facing on fields. He called on government to provide infrastructure such as access roads and electricity to all mining sites to lessen burden on miners.
“Government is meant to construct roads to all mining sites across the country because it is their primary responsibility to do so and miners are to provide educational and health facilities to their host communities,” he said.
On achievement, he said the association achieved a huge success on its maiden mining week organised last year.
Mr Patrick Odiegwu, a barite miner also called on government to support miners with mining equipment to ease minerals exploration, adding that lack of equipment had made miners to operate on small scale.
He said if mining continues on small scale, government would not be able to achieve its diversification plan through the sector.
“We need world class mining equipment if government wants to diversify the economy through mining sector; no miner can afford to buy one equipment worth N600 millions.
“Government can buy the equipment and we can hire them for exploration.
“Last year, I spent huge amount of money on construction of access road to a mining site. This is government primary responsibility not miners’,” he said
Bauchi seeks end to ghost workers syndrome
Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State, has sought the support of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to end ghost workers syndrome in the state.
Abubakar made this appeal when he hosted some NLC national leaders, who paid him a visit in Bauchi.
He said the government believed that a notable number out of the 106,000 names on the payroll were ghost workers.
The governor described the situation as worrisome and as such, all hands must be on deck to end the menace.
“Bauchi State has a population of about 7.6 million with 20 Local Government Areas and 106,000 civil servants, more than that of other states that are more populous than the state.
“So I am requesting for the support of NLC to end the ghost workers syndrome in the state,’’ Abubakar said.
On the welfare of civil servants, the governor promised that his administration would provide accommodation for the lower cadre of civil servants in the state.
“The present administration has started talking with estate developers that started a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement with the last administration.
“The last administration did not fulfill its obligation to the PPP arrangement.
“As such, the present administration sought to renegotiate with the developers in order to provide housing for civil servants in the state,’’ he said.
He also said that government would give priority attention to the payment of travel allowance to civil servants on official assignment.
Speaking earlier, the NLC National President, Mr Ayuba Waba, lauded the state government for settling all the salary arrears of its civil servants.
Waba opined that a timely payment of salaries could contribute positively to the economic development of any state.
“Payment of salaries has great impact on the economy through monetary transactions involving individuals, small and medium enterprises,’’ he told NAN.
