The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has said the scarcity of naira has disrupted the proper movement of goods which is adversely affecting businesses.
The Association’s president, Otunba Francis Meshioye, made this statement on Tuesday while he interacted with journalists in Lagos.
According to The Punch, Meshioye said the scarcity of naira and resultant traffic on online transactions have limited the free flow of business activities.
He further stated, “I want to assume that this is a very short-term problem. It is general. Even if you want to do e-banking, there are some things you cannot do at the moment. We have problems, PoS is not working.
“There is no way any scarcity of something that is essential to the consumer will not affect the producer. We feel it because it hinders the proper flow of our goods to the end user.
“What effect is that going to have? It means we will pile stock and when we pile stock, it means cash is trapped. We pay high interest rates and they won’t yield good returns and investments go to where returns come regularly.
“No investor wants to play with his money. This is a very big issue in the economy now. If you put all these together, you will agree with me that we are really facing a critical time as manufacturers.”
The President of MAN lamented about the lingering fuel scarcity and how it has affected the manufacturing industry and prices cannot be clearly estimated.
“Currently, we cannot budget effectively. You have to do a flex budget so that every month you have to review your budget. The prices cannot be determined because the day after things can go to the left or right with regard to forex.”
Meanwhile, MAN is being strategic on engaging with presidential candidates to know their plans for the sector.
He said “the association has engaged the presidential aspirants on the importance of having a virile and competitive manufacturing sector.
“We have equally pushed at different fora with major political contenders to incorporate the need to accelerate the growth and development of the manufacturing sector in their economic agenda.”
Meshioye said, “In this regard, we have availed all the political parties with our Blueprint for the Accelerated Development of Manufacturing in Nigeria as well as the agenda for manufacturing in Nigeria for the next 10 years.”
