it was disheartening to see many manufacturing companies either winding up or moving their operations overseas. Therefore, he called on the federal government to introduce policy reforms that would improve the ease of doing business in the West African nation.
According to Onyebu, there are several factors, including high interest rates, overbearing bureaucracy, multiple taxation and social unrest, which are attributable to the poor performance of Nigeria’s manufacturing sector. However, the single most devastating challenge faced by the industry is the poor state if infrastructure in Nigeria. The MAN chief pointed out that badly-maintained road networks, decrepit port infrastructure and the unstable supply of electricity have escalated cost of production by exorbitant rates, making products manufactured in Nigeria mostly un-competitive in the global market.
“These problems, which have been in existence for decades, needs to be addressed urgently to enable the manufacturing sector contribute its quota to national development,” he said.
Meanwhile, Onyebu also acknowledged that the pandemic-induced lockdowns and other measures that were launched to contain the spread of COVID-19 also affected manufacturing activities in the African nation. He noted that despite the resumption of activities across most economies this year, the level of global GDP in 2021 is expected to decline by 3.2 per cent from pre-pandemic projections, while the per capita GDP of many developing economies are also anticipated to remain below pre-COVID peaks for a lengthy period.
Nevertheless, he assured that his Association hopes to address the challenges that are being encountered by its members and to offer practical solutions in order to improve the performance of Nigeria’s manufacturing industry.
