In a bid to reposition businesses to the next level in Nigeria, the South East Chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Lady Ada Chukwudozie, has called on the Federal and State Governments to provide investment incentives for manufacturers to produce more and boost the country’s economy, particularly, in South East Region.
Speaking at the MAN South East stakeholders engagement forum with manufacturers on how to access funds to enhance their businesses and also solve issues common to business communities, held last weekend, at MAN Laison Office in Onitsha, Anambra State, Lady Chukwudozie urged the government to subsidize the cost of material for the manufacturers and proffer solutions to their problems.
She also stressed the need for the government to empower Manufacturers to enhance the nation’s economic growth.
“Nigerians need hope. Having listened to DG SMEDAN, Charles Odii, I am lifted in the spirit and very hopeful that there is hope for Nigeria. It is always difficult to start good things but with time, it will take its roots and become very fruitful. They have signed several MoU’s with Anambra and Enugu State governments to dole out N1bn to support businesses to expand their capital base but that is just a pilot scheme. The money will be given to organised private sector trying to formalise the informal sectors to register with either the chambers of commerce, trade and investment or register with MAN to be able to access the funds,” Lady Chukwudozie said.
The MAN chairman lauded the Anambra State Governor, Professor Charles Soludo who she said has the interest of Manufacturers at heart, saying that the Governor dolled out one million seedlings to different households instead of giving them cash.
“So, instead of the Governor giving cash, he gave out one million seedlings to each household. Automatically, they are empowered for life. Therefore, manufacturers should as well receive incentives so that they would produce more goods and if they produce more, they create wealth, and jobs and the economy would be abundant and induce Naira to appreciate against the dollar.”
She further urged Nigerians to prioritise agriculture and grow a garden of food crops rather than flowers.
Speaking at the event, Governor Chukwuma Soludo, represented by the state commissioner for Industry, Mr. Christian Udehchukwu said the state government has made funds available to support Small and Medium Scale Enterprises. He added that the major aim of the meeting was for manufacturers to know where and how to access these funds.
He called on both the manufacturers and traders to live by example and follow the footsteps of Governor Soludo since the Governor is committed to building access roads to enhance their establishments.
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Earlier in the keynote address, themed: “Access to Finance and Cheaper Funding for SMEs in Nigeria”, the Director General, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Mr. Charles Odii, said they intend to partner with MAN on their “one product, one local government initiative” where each local government will be trained on at least “one product” manufacturing.
He assured that the agency will roll out interventions to aid access to finance.
On her part, the former Director of Compliance, Head of ATG MANSA Digital Initiative of Afreximbank, Mrs. Maureen Mba said that the objective of MANSA platform is to facilitate smooth boarding of customers and business relationships, to reduce operational workload and cost of compliance, to enable African financial institutions to cooperate and SMEs to meet customers and business partners’ expectations while ensuring regulatory compliance, to ensure consistency and effectiveness of compliance process amongst other.
According to her, Afreximbank will leverage on partnerships with the Central Bank, regulatory bodies and financial intelligence units to ensure the success of the repository as well as regular audit and review of the MANSA platform for quality assurance purposes.
She further noted that MANSA platform provides a single source of primary data required for performing customers’ due diligence checks on counterparts in Africa.
Delivering his vote of thanks, the former President of Onitsha Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Pharmacist Uche Apakama, appreciated the participants, he specifically lauded the leader of MAN South East, Lady Ada Chukwudozie for getting things right for manufacturers.
Meanwhile, MANSA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), which would grant them access to funds for increased production.
NIGERIAN TRIBUNE