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GILBERT EKUGBE
With the assent of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) by President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerian manufacturers are gearing to access the $5 million Afreximbank facility to create opportunities to scale up their operations and trade competitively.
Nigeria signed the trade agreement this year, joining other countries to create a single continental market for goods and services, with free movement of business persons and investments.
The Afreximbank facility if accessed according to Mansur Ahmed, the president, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) will enable Nigerian manufacturers to solve the financing problem which has been one of the major constraints to the sector, and assist in expanding their operations to be able to benefit from opportunities to be presented by AfCFTA,
“I think the support from Afreximbank of making available $5 million will be valuable and we are looking forward to execute this arrangement with the bank to create opportunities for manufacturers in Nigeria to scale up their operations while also trading competitively,” he said.
Ahmed spoke at the 47th Annual meeting of MAN where the federal government challenged manufacturers to collectively develop implementable strategies that supports value addition within Nigeria and indeed, Africa.
Buhari’s government had since its beginning clamoured for diversification of the economy which several initiatives such as PEBEC, ERGP have been geared towards its achievement.
“We cannot continue to rely on a single product, so therefore, we need to diversify urgently. We have already started seeing some positive results in agriculture and other sectors.
The manufacturing sector itself needs to be diversified. First of all diversify across each value chain so that we can begin to use local raw materials to strengthen our competitiveness. Just about four to five sectors are responsible for the contribution of manufacturing to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” he added.
Buhari, represented by the Minister, Industry, Trade and Investment, Richard Adebayo, assured that his government will do everything to assist, encourage and enable manufacturers open more plants to create more job opportunities for the nation’s teeming unemployed youths in linw with its industrialisation policy
To back the resource-based policy, the administration introduced various industrial incentives in priority sub-sectors, enhanced the ease of doing business, developed the capacities of entrepreneurs and initiated relevant Executive Orders to promote transparency in governance, enhance local content and improve patronage of products manufactured locally.
“We shall continue to do so in the coming years. We aim to consolidate on the achievements during our first term in office. You will agree with me that the government achieve its aspiration of shared prosperity without the support of key stakeholders such as MAN,” Buhari said.
BADEJO ADEMUYIWA has 23 years experience as a Finance Writer, specialising in Insurance and Investigative Reporting.
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