Manufacturers react to President Tinubu's Nigeria-first policy, call for legal backing

• Nigerian manufacturers are calling connected the national authorities to enactment their businesses with the close kinds of policies
• They lamented that caller reforms from the authorities person made concern hard for them, starring to the closure of astir 800 manufacturing businesses successful 1 year
• In the Nigerian manufacturing assemblage alone, implicit 18,000 jobs were mislaid successful 2024, owed to aggregate concern challenges and debased purchasing powerfulness among Nigerians

Legit.ng writer Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon has implicit a decennary of acquisition successful business reporting crossed integer and mainstream media.

Nigerian manufacturers person called connected the national authorities to marque a instrumentality prioritising locally-made products successful budgetary allocations and procurements.

The manufacturers enactment that specified a instrumentality would guarantee implementation crossed each national authorities ministries, departments, and agencies and would besides widen to the backstage sector.

Speaking done their umbrella group, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), they noted that the manufacturing concern is already plagued with galore challenges, including the high involvement rates, and that having a unified argumentation to enactment the assemblage would beryllium beneficial.

The authorities has said it volition lone acquisition imported goods during procurements if determination are nary section manufacturers producing the aforesaid products. Photo credit: Vithun Khamsong
Source: Getty Images

Manufacturers impulse FG to marque a caller law

The Nigeria-First argumentation was precocious introduced by President Bola Tinubu to promote enactment for section contented successful authorities contracts and procurements.

MAN Director-General, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, successful his keynote code connected Thursday astatine the 2025 BusinessDay Manufacturing Conference held successful Lagos, commended the authorities for instituting the “Nigeria-First” policy.

He added that determination was a request to gazette the Nigeria-First Procurement Policy and marque it a law, the PUNCH reports.

He said:

“Make the Nigeria First Policy a binding law, and punitive measures should beryllium enactment successful spot for violators. This is captious to springiness the argumentation ineligible standing, ensuring transparency, nationalist awareness, and enforceability crossed authorities institutions and the backstage sector.”

He warned that if not fixed a ceremonial ineligible framework, the argumentation could extremity up similar past Executive Orders 003 and 005, which failed to person the desired interaction contempt the champion intentions.

Ajayi-Kadir added that legislating the argumentation could alteration Nigeria’s manufacturing sector, and stressed:

“If we neglect to nurture our own, we volition everlastingly beryllium astatine the mercy of others.”

Manufacturers impulse FG to resoluteness teething challenges

The radical lamented respective challenges its members person faced since 2023, which led to astir 767 manufacturers shutting down operations successful 2023 and astir 18,000 occupation losses successful 2024.

The MAN DG listed different challenges, including rising operational costs, currency depreciation, infrastructural decay, and argumentation inconsistencies.

He besides urged the authorities to follow the 2024 Manufacturers Summit Report arsenic a moving papers to make a nationalist concern argumentation that would thrust the manufacturing assemblage successful Nigeria.

Other issues raised see the solution of the $2.4 cardinal successful unsettled Foreign Exchange Forwards, and the fast-tracking of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano state pipeline to inject 3.6 GW into the nationalist grid and amended energy proviso to manufacturers.

The radical besides called for a reversal of the 15% summation successful larboard charges by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the removal of the 4% Free connected Board (FOB) levy connected exports.

Manufacturers extremity up with N1.4 trillion unsold goods

In a erstwhile report, Legit.ng stated that Nigerian manufacturers ended 2024 with ample quantities of unsold goods amounting to over N1.4 trillion.

President Bola Tinubu's caller argumentation states that section manufacturers would beryllium patronised archetypal successful each authorities procurements. Photo credit: State House
Source: Twitter

They complained that the economical concern successful the state mostly impacted their sales, starring to an summation successful unsold inventories.

Manufacturers telephone for FG enactment arsenic substance expenses transcend N1 trillion

In related news, Nigerian manufacturers person called connected the authorities to code powerfulness problems successful the look of their rising energy costs.

Legit.ng reported that substance expenses and different alternate vigor sources outgo Nigerian manufacturers over N1 trillion in 2024.

This was mostly triggered by the crisp summation successful substance prices pursuing the deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector.

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Source: Legit.ng