As the 2019 presidential election fever dies down, manufacturers are shifting their focus away from politics and looking ahead on how to source more raw materials locally and get machinery needed in their factories.
Manufacturers expect to raise local input sourcing from 57 percent to more than 65 percent in the next one year, but they expect stable policies that will enable them cope with the pressure of doing business in the country.
Following their resolve to expand their operations, manufacturers have put together the 2019 Nigeria Manufacturing & Equipment Expo (NME) in Lagos, which will provide an opportunity for over 3,700 key players and equipment distributors to evaluate the latest equipment, machine tools, technologies, spare parts and raw materials that will be on display by over 120 leading local and international suppliers from France, Italy, Germany, Canada, Indonesia, South Africa, India and Nigeria.
The expo will be the 4th Edition of the Nigeria Manufacturing Expo (NME) and the 5th Edition of the Nigerian Raw Materials Expo (NIRAM) of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC). The two events will be collocated with the Multimodal West Africa to enable players in the industry understand viable transport and logistics available in the country. Multimodal West Africa is the largest transport and logistics.
“The event is targeted at small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and intending entrepreneurs to equip them with information on new processes and ways of boosting their production output, improving product quality, reducing cost and manufacturing for new markets,” Masur Ahmed, president, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), said at a pre-event press conference in Lagos last Thursday.
“I have no doubt that, as in the past, the expo will impact greatly on the Nigerian economy. This has been attested to by past participants across various sectors of the economy,” he said.
He explained that the NME exhibition was unique as it ran side by side with a conference on Manufacturing Partnership for African Development (mPAD), where over 100 chief executives would congregate to proffer solutions to challenges affecting the manufacturing sector.
“It also creates opportunities for free training, access to finance, retooling and networking across major sub-sectors of the industry,” Ahmed said.
“I have no doubt that this edition would be better as the co-location with the Nigerian Raw Materials Expo would afford exhibitors and visitors the opportunity to be exposed to the entire manufacturing value chain,” he added.
Segun Ajayi-Kadiri, director general, MAN, said the event was aimed at deepening the contributions of the manufacturing sector to the gross domestic product (GDP) while improving the value chain.
Joseph Otu-Oru, project manager, Clarion Events, said the event was significant as it would facilitate knowledge transfer and improve local raw materials sourcing.
“In the last edition, we saw several foreign companies interested in sourcing local raw materials,” he said.
During a visit to BusinessDay corporate head office in Lagos recently, Otu-Oru had disclosed that big firms such as Dangote Group, Sona Group, Procter &Gamble, among others, as well as those from Italy, South Africa and other countries would attend the event.
“Our biggest achievement so far is that we have solved the problem of bringing local raw materials to manufacturers,” he had said.
“In the last three years, manufacturers have sourced more raw materials locally,” he had added.
Apart from manufacturers, policy makers and government officials will grace the event.
Odinaka Anudu
