Employers in the chemical sector of the economy has charged the Federal Government to urgently come up with more favourable policies to scale up performance and inclusive growth of the economy.
President of the Chemical and Non-Metallic Products Employer’s Federation (CANMPEF), Devakumar Edwin, in his address at the the 40th annual general meeting (AGM) of the federation, said, in spite of the efforts of the Federal Government to support the organised private sector (OPS), the challenges have been overwhelming.
He noted that preceding the 2019 election, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) release had shown that Nigeria’s economy continued to recover, expanded by 1.93% in 2018, higher than 0.82% recorded in the previous year.
“While we are appreciative of the steady recovery in the economy, its yet fragile state is a clear indication that additional policies that support existing efforts should be implemented urgently to scale up performance and inclusive growth of the economy,” he said.
He lamented that impediments, whether in the area of policies, infrastructural problems in road and others have continued to stall the progress of the manufacturing sector of the country.
He enumerated current challenges confronting the sector among others to include, “Unscheduled/frequent visit to member companies work premises by the Ogun State Environmental Protective Agency.
“Introduction of payment on imported containers by NESREA as environmental imported clearance charge. The Federation considers this synonymous to payment made to SON and NAFDAC on the same transaction.
“Land Use Charge review – the OPS engaged with the Lagos State Government, so far, there has been a downward review of the charge.”
Edwin, who was re-elected as the president of the federation, said the leadership would make a representation to the Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, whom he said was a businessman and optimistic that he would give them a listening hear.
“The problem we are facing is enormous, within a year, we paid N24 billion on demurrage all because of bad roads leading to the ports,” he added
He reiterated that all these challenges were the reasons why members of the OPS kicked against Nigeria signing the African Free Trade Agreement (AFCTFA).
“So far the ECOWAS treaty has not been successful, reason why we are afraid of AFCTFA agreement initially. We are the one operating in Nigeria, for us to move products from Ghana, we paid phenomenal taxation in form of road tax to Togo and other countries within the region,” he said.
Guest speaker, Dr. Joshua Bamfo, who spoke on “Government Policies: Enhancing the Manufacturing Sector,” warned that the AFCTFA would not be beneficial to Nigeria if the nation’s infrastructure remains in its present state: “Power supply has to be resolved, if Nigeria is going to compete favourably in AFCTFA; if not, other countries will take over the benefits.”
The executive secretary of the federation, Femi Oke, also explained that the nation’s economy has remained challenging in the last five years, as private sector lending remains low and foreign exchange inflows are mostly short term.
He said, record shows that the manufacturing sector is one of the worst hit sectors in the economy with a marginal growth in GDP of 0.81%.
“The slow economic growth rate is worsened by poor infrastructure; low consumer purchasing power; restriction to Forex for importation of certain raw materials by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); multiple taxation by federal, state and local government agencies. The situation is further deteriorated by the recent spate of insecurity challenges in the country.
“The effect on the manufacturing companies amongst others include, reduction in capacity utilisation, closure, staff reduction or lay off etc.”