January 26, 2017

By Barnabas Esiet

The manufacturers Association of Nigeria,  M. A. N, has  called for the abolition  of multiple taxation  in the country and the review  of the current foreign exchange  policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Which prohibits importation of 41items with funds sourced from the official Foreign exchange window.

President  of M. A. N,  Dr.  Frank Jacobs made known  the position of the  manufacturers  at a forum in Lagos on Thursday. He said M. A. N, last year, engaged government at all levels on many critical issues affecting the manufacturing sector and the nation’s economy that led to a number of  positive  changes including the stoppage of arbitrary electricity tariff hike,  CBN’s approval of, at least ,60 percent of available  foreign exchange  to manufacturers as well  as the rejection of the Economic Community  of  West  African  States and  European Union Economic  Partnership Agreement in its current form.

” last year the Association, in its usual  practice, engaged government  at all levels including : Ministries,  Departments and Agencies on a number  of  issues affecting the manufacturing sector in particular and the Nigerian economy in general”. He said.

In his words ” Quite a number of those issues were resolved while  others are  currently being addressed” noting that the Association recorded remarkable advocacy successes during the year in review as it help refocused  government’s attention on resource  based industrialization through  the office of the vice president,  Federal ministry of Science  & technology,  Research  Institutes  and Tertiary Institutions.

Dr.  Jacobs said M. A. N will continue  to push forward strategic issues for implementation  during the current year in line with the Association’s advocacy mandate.

” in the year 2017 M. A. N will continue to campaign for : patronage of  made in Nigeria products using multifarious platforms,  significant improvement in the business operating environment, including  abolition of multiple taxation and  unorthodox  mode of collection,  review of  CBN’s list of 41items not valid for Forex to enable manufacturers source critical raw materials that are not available  locally, enactment of relevant manufacturing friendly laws and abrogation of adverse and obsolete business related legislation as well as establishment  of export friendly

Incentives  for manufacturers” He added.