MAN Urges FG To Develop Infrastructure

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN),  has requested the Federal Government to enforce significant  improvement on the present state of existing infrastructure across  the country.
This was stated on Monday in Lagos by the President  of MAN, Chief  Frank Jacobs, while speaking on 2017 MAN focus.
Jacobs stressed that MAN in consonant  with its mandate would pursue  some strategic  issues  through the association’s advocacy  radar to ensure  that government improves the state of  infrastructure  in the country in the  areas of power generation,  distribution and transportation.
He said that the association would continue to support the Bank  of Industry (BoI) alongside the newly established  Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), stressing that BoI needed to be re-capitalised  to meet its challenges.
The MAN boss explained that another  development bank would  help in augmenting activities of BoI through competition among  them and gives alternative option  to the manufacturers.
He said that the association has appealed  to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to give  approval for the allocation of at least 60 per cent of available foreign  exchange to manufacturers and refcus government’s  attention on resource-based industrialisation.
He added that the association has  advised the Federal Government  not to sign the ECOWAS-EU Economic  Partnership  Agreement (EPA) in its  current  forms until review,  and urged the government to rather  review the Export Expansion  Grant  (EEG) presently in a moribund state.
Jacobs said that the association is periodically  engaging government  to improve budgetary allocation for the upgrade of critical  infrastructure in the country.