The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has lamented that the closure of Nigeria’s land borders is affecting many of its members
The President of MAN, Engineer Mansur Ahmed, who said this in a chat last week in Lagos also said that the association has engaged the federal government on how to make the closure less painful for it members.
Explaining the plight of manufacturers, he said: “Many of our members have been negatively affected by the border closure particularly those who engage in the legitimate import and exports, and import raw materials or exports of their products, we have made this very clear to the government and indeed the customs has listened to us”
“We have a very serious interaction with the management of the NCS about two weeks ago and I believe that whatever happens, the government is looking at how; even if they are not going to open the borders, how can they make the closure a little less painful to manufacturers. We know there are others sectors like agricultural sectors are very small, we do not necessarily want to kill that initiative for the sector, but we want to make sure that our own sector is not negatively affected”
He however harped on the need for the government to improve on infrastructure even as he added that they are engaging the federal government on the way forward.
“I think infrastructure has been the major challenge and we are talking about a whole lot of infrastructure for production and for trade. The ports infrastructure and also the road network; these are critical for effective production for competitiveness and I believe that we must emphasis that the government must continue to improve on these infrastructures if indeed we are going to improve our competitiveness”
“We are indeed working with the government, we are discussing some strategies for improving infrastructure. For instance, you are aware that currently there are schemes whereby the private sector is involved in the development of road network”
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