Manufacturers seeks end to Nigeria’s energy crises

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), has urged the federal government to urgently address the lingering energy crises in the country so as to help reposition the manufacturing sector and put the economy on path of growth.
The Director-General of MAN,Mr Ajayi-Kadri, who made this call at the 46th Annual General Meeting of the association tagged: “Mainstreaming.
Policies to Catalyse Industrial Renaissance in Lagos’’, 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.
Kadri 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 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 said.
He said there is need 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 DG 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).
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,’’ he said.
President of MAN, 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.

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