Photo: Alhaji Bashir Borodo (President, MAN).
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has said that 2010 will be a defining one for the manufacturing sector in Nigeria if the Federal Government can work harder and deliver on the promise to raise electricity generation to 6,000 megawatts by April.
The Director-General of the association, Mr. Jide Mike, while speaking on the outlook of the nation‘s economy during the year in a telephone interview in Lagos on Monday, said the optimism of the manufacturers was hinged on a number of factors.
These include the ongoing re-engineering in the banking sector and the government‘s seeming seriousness with the promise to raise the level of power generation in the country.
According to him, some positive signals have already been given in the recent activities of the government and some of its key agencies, especially with regards to economic direction.
He, however, cautioned the Federal Government against rushing into the signing the Economic Partnership Agreement,
stressing that it would only make Nigeria a dumping ground for European-manufactured goods to the detriment of local manufacturing firms.
He said, ”The banking sector, as a driver of the finance system, is being empowered to play its expected role in the economy. Besides, the power sector, if improved upon, will do a lot to make locally produced goods competitive in the sub-regional and international markets.”
Mike also described the government‘s allocation of N249bn to infrastructure development as a positive signal, if it could be well utilised.
In the budget presentation to the National Assembly performed by the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Mohammed Abba Aji, on behalf of the President in November 2009, Yar‘Adua had described the 2010 budget as one with the ”the purpose…to accelerate economic recovery through targeted fiscal interventions intended to further stimulate the economy and support private sector growth.”
In pursuit of the goal of achieving infrastructure turnaround, the power sector got N156.8bn as budget allocation for the year.
MAN said the developments had far reaching implications on the manufacturing sector and the economy as a whole if they were faithfully pursued and implemented.
The MAN DG said, ”With power and other infrastructural facilities revived, there would be more jobs for the youths. Manufacturing companies would produce competitive products, even for the international markets. At the end of the day, the economy stands to gain more. We remain optimistic that the year holds a positive outlook.”
