MAN, 2 Other Bodies Caution FG Against Border Closure
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry have called on the Federal Government not to allow the closure of the Nigeria-Benin border to jeopardise the business of entrepreneurs on that corridor.
Speaking at the pre-Annual General Meeting media briefing of the association in Lagos, the President MAN, Mansur Ahmed, said athough the government might have good intention of protecting the businesses in Nigeria, it must also ensure that the action did not affect Nigerian entrepreneurs operating genuine business on that axis.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday said that the exercise, code-named, ‘Ex-Swift Response’, which culminated in a partial closure of Nigeria’s border with Benin Republic, was undertaken, to curb the massive smuggling activities, especially of rice, taking place on that corridor.
The restriction at the Seme-Benin border followed the joint border security operation ordered by the government, being jointly being conducted by the personnel of Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Police Force and Nigerian Army. It is being coordinated by the Office of the National Security Adviser.
Ahmed said, “The Federal Government may have good intention for the partial closure of the Nigeria-Benin border, but it must be done in a that entrepreneurs and manufacturing concerns that carry out genuine business along that corridor are not adversely affected.
“If this is not well managed, it may lead to prices of some items hitting the rooftops. So, the exercise must be carried out with the necessary caution.”
On his own part, the Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Muda Yusuf, said the government should be more strategic and tactical in dealing with the problem so that Nigerians doing genuine business along that corridor would not suffer.
He said, “We should develop the culture of tackling the causes of problems, not fighting the symptoms. This is the way to solve a problem sustainably.
“One of the critical challenges we face as a nation is that of weak state institutions. This is what has manifested in the escalation of the phenomenon of smuggling. It is regrettable that innocent citizens that are struggling to make a living are now being made to pay the price for lapses of ineffectual institutions of state.”
Yusuf added that the government agencies at the borders had not lived up to their mandates.
He said, “It is impossible for the scale of smuggling being reported to take place without the connivance of state officials at the borders. The starting point in dealing with this problem is to get the state institutions to do their job. Border closure does not offer a sustainable solution. It only penalises small players in the informal sector. It also disrupts the supply chains and exports transactions of many big firms that do business across the sub-region. The cost of this closure to businesses is evidently phenomenal and would be in billions of naira. It also has implications on the confidence of investors as well.”
He called for the strengthening of the capacity of state institutions at the borders.
Also speaking on the border closure, the Director-General, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, Mr Timothy Olawale, stated businesses would suffer in the process.
He said, “ The sudden closure of the borders raises concern for legitimate business owners, especially those involved in perishable goods along the border areas that need to export through the land borders. These businesses will suffer in the name of a blanket closure of the borders with further consequences being job losses.
“ This will also affect the confidence of investors who might not be disposed to invest in an environment with high uncertainty as ours.”
Meanwhile, MAN has also said, “In order to give teeth to the backward integration advocacy, MAN will work with the Raw Material Research and Development Council ultimately to develop the local capacity of the local manufacturers.”
Lamenting that many Nigerians had yet to patronise made-in-Nigeria goods, Ahmed said if the government could take the first step by patronising the textile industries in the country to procure uniforms for the army, police and personnel of other para-military agencies, it would be a good way to boost the local economy.
He said there was a need for government’s commitment to the Executive Order 003, which made it mandatory for government agencies to patronise made-in-Nigeria goods.
He said was there was a need for the government to make more clarifications on the forex ban on food imports because there were some manufacturers that genuinely needed to import raw materials needed for the production of their products.
Giving more details about the AGM, he said over 100 exhibitors from 10 different sectors of the economy would be showcasing Nigeria-made goods.
While he said President Buhari would be expected to attend the association’s presidential luncheon, the President and Chairman, Board of Directors, Afreximbank, Prof Okey Oramah, would be a guest speaker at the event.
While he commended President Buhari for its intervention policies to boost local production of goods and improve the economy, the MAN leader urged the government not to stifle some businesses through some of its policies.
Ahmed said the union would continue to work with the relevant government agencies such as the Raw Materials Research and Development Council and the new minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, to push for harmonious policy formulation and implementation, as it concerned the manufacturing industry.
He said the theme of the AGM, ‘Improving value chain in the manufacturing sector for competitiveness and job creation’ was born out of the need to highlight the significance of improved manufacturing value chain linkages in the efforts “to make the sector competitive and to increase its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product.”
He said the association had always championed the advocacy for backward integration in making industries, the SMEs and large-scale firms to source their raw materials locally.
Ahmed noted that the manufacturing sector, which comprised the Small and Medium Enterprises and the large-scale companies, was a formidable sector that could contribute immensely to the Gross Domestic Product of the country.
