The President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Chief Francis Meshioye, has called for the domestication of executive order 003 mandating Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government to patronise Made-in-Nigeria goods.
Meshioye made the call in Ibadan yesterday at the 41st Annual General Meeting of Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti states branches of MAN.
The president, represented by the Director-General of MAN, Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadir, said domesticating the order would encourage local manufacturers and create more jobs.
“In addition, all states Government should work in partnership with the Federal Ministry of works to ensure that the Federal roads within the states and the ones linking them are rehabilitated and reconstructed to ease the movement of goods and persons,” he said.
The MAN president also urged Oyo State government to quickly rehabilitate road networks in Oluyole and Egbeda Industrial Estates.
He lamented the issue of epileptic power supply and called on state governments to prioritise the extension of the supply of electricity from the State Independent Power Plants to manufacturing companies.
Meshioye noted that doing this would ameliorate the current challenge of power supply, high cost of power which would reduce cost of production.
He said that the theme of the AGM “Re-igniting Industrialization and Promote the Tenet of AfCFTA in the Southwest Region” was apt and timely.
“The theme was in a bid to resolve challenges militating against the performance of the manufacturing sector including removal of fuel subsidy, floating of the Naira, excahnge rate policies and increase in monetary rates, the president said.
The Chairman, MAN, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti States Branch, Mr Lanre Popoola, said Nigeria’s government must take proactive measures to promote non-oil exports and secure foreign direct investment and remittance inflows.
Popoola recommended that efforts should be geared toward promoting and prioritising consumption of locally produced goods and overlapping regulatory mandates should be checked.
“The government should declare manufacturing a priority sector by providing loans at one digit to bonafide manufacturers verified by Manufacturers Association of Nigeria,” Popoola said.
In his address, Gov. Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, represented by Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Co-operative, Mr Bunmi Jenyo, urged other state governments to diversify to non-oil driven economy.
Adeleke stated that such efforts should go toward tourism, ICT, agriculture, mining, textile among others.
Also, the Guest Lecturer, Mr Olusegun Awolowo, Executive Secretary of National Action Committee, Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), said AfCFTA would continue to work closely with MAN.
He said that it would connect its businesses with counterparts in other AfCFTA member states, facilitating new market opportunities and fostering productive partnerships.
Awolowo, represented by Dr Fatima Bello, Deputy Lead, Trade Enablement and Coordinator, Policies Regulations and Laws, Nigeria AfCFTA Coordination Office, spoke on ways to leverage sub-national comparative advantages under AfCFTA.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that at the event, Dr Segun Olawoye emerged as the Chairman-elect of MAN, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti States Branch. (NAN)
