The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has inaugurated its large corporation group. According to the Association, The strategic group will amongst other things come up with policy recommendation that will lead to a conducive economic and social climate for the operation and development for large-scale industries in Nigeria.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, in Lagos, the president of MAN, Frank Jacobs said one of the most crucial tasks before the large corporation group is the facilitation effective linkage between small/medium scale industries and large scale industries in the production and supply value chain.
Jacobs said linkage is critical in the task of making Nigeria a manufacturing hub in the sub region and beyond.
On her part, the Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Industry, Hajia Aisha Abubakar said the federal government was committed to creating the enabling environment for manufacturing to thrive in the country and that the MAN is government’s strategic partner in achieving this task.
She said the tough conditions that manufacturers’ face in the country notably inadequate power was a top priority for the present administration.
The event which was supposed by General Electric, a global digital industrial technology company which focus on the use of Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as a reliable and available fuel source for power generation.
At the panel session on ‘powering manufacturing Nigeria without power’, the president and CEO of GE Nigeria, Dr. Lazarus Angbazo stated that the power deficit in Nigeria requires concerted cooperation of all stakeholders in the power ecosystem.
According to him, there is no foreseeable way of boosting manufacturing in Nigeria without fixing the power sector.
Also, the vice president, North West Zone/chairman MAN Infrastructure Committee, Engineer Ibrahim Usman agreed that the provision of affordable, stable, adequate supply of electricity will empower the manufacturing sector in Nigeria to effectively play its traditional role of employment generation and wealth creation, recommending distributed/embedded power as a short term solution to addressing the power shortfall in the country.