Consignment still taking weeks to reach warehouse due to Ports gridlock- MAN

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The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has again expressed concern with the gridlock around the ports areas, particularly at Apapa, Lagos, stressing that raw materials still takes between one or two weeks before getting to warehouses.

The Director-General of MAN, Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadir indicated this on Tuesday in Lagos, noting that the situation is further worsened by the high interest rate charged by commercial banks; and the inadequacies in power generation and distribution in Nigeria.

 

Highlighting that gridlock at the ports since the beginning of the year had taken severe toll on the manufacturing sector, the Director General posited that though there had been noticeable improvement in road infrastructure, the cost of transportation had remained high, because, when the roads are bad, transporters would naturally charge more.

Subsequently, he stressed the need for more attention to be focused on the rehabilitation of the railways, so as to boost the movement of goods across the country.

Speaking on the financial climate, Ajayi-adir frowned on the interest rate regime at the bank, noting that something must be done, urgently.

“MAN has always maintained and seriously too that if you borrow a manufacturer fund, at anything more than five per cent, you are really not doing any help.

“Gone are the days when you talk of single digit. Single digit more than five per cent is not good because you know manufacturing has a long gestation period.

“And because of the inadequacy of infrastructure and the macro-economic environment in which we operate, it will be very difficult for a manufacturer to make anything meaningful out of funds borrowed at more than five per cent”, he stated further, calling for the recapitalization of the Bank of Industry (BoI); and the effective take-off of the Development Bank of Nigeria.

He maintained that manufacturers were presently unable to borrow effectively from commercial banks because many commercial banks lend on short-term and never on long term basis.

He argued that the recapitalisation of BOI would create more funds for working capital for manufacturers; and lauded the government for coming up with several initiatives like the Ease of Doing Business; Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) which took off from the industrial revelation plan, explaining that the initiatives would ameliorate the challenges of the economy, and enable the manufacturing sector focus more.

It would be recalled that only last week, a heavy downpour was reported to have forced Customs Service servers and other equipment to malfunction, and created new rooms for importers to pay more demurrage.

Photo Caption: The Director-General of MAN, Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadir

 

 


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