The Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN) has called on the Federal Government to constitute a financial institution, a bank of manufacturing, whose sole mandate will be to offer financial services to operators in the real sector of the economy.
President of the association, Francis Meshioye, made the call on Wednesday, at the association’s 51st Annual General Meeting media briefing, held in Lagos.
Meshioye stated that Nigeria’s manufacturing sector, as a catalyst for nation’s economic growth, is rather too big to be without a bank specifically designed to take care of its financial interests and needs.
He argued that though there are commercial banks and even Bank of Industry (BOI), the sector cannot really leverage those financial institutions for development since they do not find the sector attractive to earn their commitments.
“I believe the government should make some funds available for the manufacturing sector and accessing such funds should not require the guarantee of the commercial banks since they are always reluctant to give such guarantee because they do not find it attractive to their business.
“But if a mechanism that will make it easier to access such funds is put in place, we are willing to work with the government to ensure that it works.
“While it is true that there is Bank of Industry (BOI), it cannot really serve the interest of the manufacturing sector effectively because the industry is big. We, therefore, need a manufacturing bank like we have Bank of Agriculture that will be dedicated solely for manufacturers,” he stated.
Meshioye explained that the association’s 51st AGM, tagged, ‘Setting the Agenda for Competitive Manufacturing Under the AfCFTA: What Nigeria Needs to do,’ stemmed from deep reflection over the growth trajectory of the manufacturing sector in Nigeria and Africa in the past few decades.
He added that the AGM, scheduled to hold between October 17 and 19, in Lagos, will examine the role of the manufacturing sector in the actualisation of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) and the integration of the African economy as envisioned in the Agenda 2063: The Africa we want.
Some of the activities lined up for the three-day event, he stated, include a trade exhibition of locally-made goods, the AGM and the third Adeola Odutola Annual Lecture, featuring former Minister of Finance, former chairman of the Economic Management Team from 2010 to 2011, and later Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments from 2011 to 2015, Olusegun Aganga, as the guest speaker.
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