The Nigerian economy will experience rapid growth if the manufacturing value chain is properly and fairly developed, according to the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria. (MAN).
Speaking at the just concluded annual general meeting (AGM) of the association, Mansur Ahmed, president of MAN, said firms producing the initial goods often do not make as much money as those that do the final processing due to broken linkages in the value chain.
“The Nigerian farmer produces cocoa and sells it abroad, but we find is that at the end of the day, the guy who converts the cocoa into chocolate makes 90 per cent or more of the total value while the guy that produced the cocoa makes 10 per cent or less,” Ahmed noted at the AGM themed, ‘Improving the Value Chain in the Manufacturing Sector for Competitiveness and Job Creation’.
He said it is important for any economy interested in growing to ensure that every part of the value chain is maximised to share the values of the product and business fairly among all the participants.
“This means we have to use of local raw materials,” he said. “The more we use more of our local raw materials, the more our manufacturers expand, grow and employ more people and the more they create value as a whole,” he added.
He stressed the need for consumers to buy made-in-Nigeria products, saying that doing so means consuming what is produced locally and producing what is consumed.
“It is the best way to enrich our country and the best way to spread wealth and alleviate poverty,” he said.
On the controversial closure of Nigeria-Benin Republic border at Seme, Mansur said the action would obviously reduce the capacity of those depending on border trade to produce and do their businesses.
“We know that this closure is necessitated by the insecurity and massive smuggling taking place, but we expect that it is going to be short-lived to ensure that the government organises itself to create long- term sustainable measures to tackle smuggling that will help manufacturers to grow,” he noted.
Segun Ajayi-Kadir, director-general of MAN, said manufacturers have had to grapple with supply side constraints limiting their competitiveness.
“And before we can be competitive, we have to take advantage of situations where we have comparative advantage. So we decided to link the value chain to competitiveness and with the oncoming of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), there is a need for countries to take advantage of the 1.2 billion people market that we have in Africa,” he said.
He stressed that if Nigerian manufacturers are not competitive, they would not be able to sell their products outside the country in the AfCFTA era.
“If you do not take advantage of the value chain that exists within your economy, you will not be able to compete in terms of price and there will not be economies of scale. We use this AGM to signpost the fact that this should be something the government and business men and women should take seriously and what the country should focus on going forward,” he added.
ODINAKA ANUDU
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