The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to prevail on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to give priority to productive sectors of the economy in its foreign exchange (FX) allocation as a strategic step towards boosting the nation’s economic growth.
The Director-General of the association, Mr. Segun Ajayi-Kadir, who made the appeal in reaction to the key economic policy agenda of the newly elected President in his inaugural address on Monday, noted that expectations from stakeholders in the economy from the new administration remained high and that MAN, as an advocacy group, looked forward to new policies and decisions to support the real sector.
He said: “Change in administration is usually greeted with expectations and as an advocacy group, we surely look forward to several policy changes and decisions.
“It is, therefore, highly commendable and an assurance of better days ahead to hear the President saying that his industrial policy will utilize the full range of fiscal measures to promote domestic manufacturing and lessen import dependency.
“For me, this is a positive development. It is an unmistakable indication of a far-sighted strategic choice. One that is borne out of a deep reflection on the current inclement manufacturing environment and the need to stop the drift into inglorious de-industrialization of the Nigerian economy”, Ajayi-Kadir added.
The industrialist pointed out that the MAN aligned its position with the President’s on issues relating to multiple taxation, poorly managed FX regime, conflicting fiscal and monetary policies and a long overdue end to the fuel subsidy resonated with Nigeria’s manufacturers.
Similarly, the Director-General canvassed the need for the President to also direct the CBN on the adoption of a unified exchange rate system and to give priority to productive sectors of the economy, particularly to manufacturers in FX allocation in order to support them on import raw materials, spares and machinery importation that cannot be locally sourced.
Ajayi-Kadir also charged the new administration to ensure that agencies at the nation’s ports adopt electronic call-up to address the problem of congestion as well as review the 2022 Finance Bill to ensure it contains input from the private sector.
