FUNKE ODUWOLE

Chairman of MAN, Ikeja branch, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, made the call yesterday at the 38th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association held at Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja.

He said the reported cancellation of the Bonafide Manufacturing Scheme and Manufacturers in Bond Scheme was a fatal blow on government’s avowed policy of promoting local industries.

"This unfortunate development will severely jeopardise the competitiveness of local products because of the prevailing high cost of doing business which has put Nigerian manufacturers at a glaring cost disadvantage," he stated.

Mazi Ohuabunwa, at the meeting which has the theme: The Challenge of the ECOWAS Common External Tariff to the Nigerian Manufacturers, said the suspension of industrial incentives truncated the projections and adversely affected the profitability of many local manufacturers.

He, however, noted that MAN’s end of the year analyses revealed significant achievements.

"A Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 5.5 per cent exceeded the five per cent target under the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), due largely to the sharp increase in earnings from crude oil and a noticeable growth in non-oil export," he said.

The MAN boss stated, however, that not much significant success was recorded in the privatisation programme " especially in the petroleum and energy sector."

He said "even though foreign exchange stability was achieved with the naira ending year 2004 at N132.85 to the US dollar, as against the N137.00 target under NEEDS and inflation rate perched on the single digit mark at 9.5 per cent, the interest rate remained high and unacceptable."

Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos State was represented on the occasion as special guest of honour, by his Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Chief (Mrs.) Oluremi Adiukwu-Bakare.

He solicited support of MAN in the area of discharging its social responsibilities by urging its members to promptly pay their taxes and rates.