The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) needs the 2,000 megawatts of electricity stranded at the national grid, but wants the federal government to relax requirements for the uptake.
In a review of 2018 economic performance, the association says the challenge with the slow uptake of the stranded electricity has to do with stiff conditions for accessing the stranded power, especially the one that expects that Eligible Customers should not owe any of the distribution companies.
MAN notes that there is already a legal dispute between the association and the some DISCOs over poor management of the Multi Year Tariff Orders, which led to the claim by the DISCOs that some manufacturers owe them.
“Manufacturers are expectant that government will not allow any increase in electricity tariff in the face of inadequate supply,” MAN says.
“We also expect that government will support stakeholders on the electricity value chain to improve generation, transmission and distribution,” MAN states, urging the federal government to intervene in the impasse between MAN, DIsCos and Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to resolve associated issues.
In the face of falling non-oil export proceeds, MAN says it believes that the starting point to increasing non-oil export is improving the productive capacity in the real sector, particularly the manufacturing sector.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report shows that the contribution of non-oil exports to total export in 2015 was 12.1 percent, falling to 4.0 percent in 2016 and 4.6 percent in 2017.
“We expect that in 2019, government would intensify the resource-based industrialisation programme, which involves the resourceful utilisation of the abundant natural resources in the country for domestic production,” the association says.
“We also expect development of key selected mineral resources through backward integration, especially those with high inter-industry linkages such as iron ore, zinc-led, bitumen, lime stone and coal.”
It calls on the government to encourage private sector investment in solid minerals development for domestic utilisation with appropriate incentives.
MAN also calls for the intensification of backward integration in the agricultural sector to produce more industrial input supply for other sectors.
It further urges the government to strengthen the Bank of Agriculture to continue to lend for agricultural production, while resuscitating the petrochemical industry by encouraging domestic refining of crude petroleum.
“There is a need to strengthen the various public research institutes in Nigeria through adequate funding programmes and support the commercialisation of research output.
“It is also important to encourage private research institutes in the country through appropriate funding.”
ODINAKA ANUDU
