The President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria’s Chemical and Pharmaceutical sector, Rotimi Aluko, has stated that the challenging business climate in the country has compelled certain manufacturers to cease operations, while others have been forced to reduce procurement orders.
According to The Punch, he revealed this during the group’s Tuesday annual general meeting in Lagos.
Aluko claimed that the real sector of the economy has been challenged by the various classes and categories of economic storms that manufacturers have had to weather.
He claimed that the storms had severely damaged the industry and brought it dangerously close to collapse.
He declared, “Many manufacturers and companies were forced to close their doors, and others had to deal with severe procurement orders.
“Anxieties surrounding the most recent general elections, from early pre-election activities to the actual elections earlier in the year and the ongoing post-election resolution issues, have also posed another major challenge to economic and manufacturing activities in the form of a major blow to business, from which many economic sectors nationwide are still reeling.”
Aluko continued, lamenting the catastrophic impact on the manufacturing sector of the new government’s removal of fuel subsidies and unification of exchange rates.
The CEO and Managing Director of Tropical NaturaIs Ltd., Abiola Ogunrinde, stated in his keynote address titled “Overcoming Skills Shortages and Optimising Supply Chains” that Nigeria was not producing enough workers with the skills that businesses require.
He stated, “We have too many young people without technical ability. In Nigeria, we prefer degrees over technical and vocational skills. Another problem is the mass exodus of skilled people, which we call japa.”
