Prof. Benedict Oramah, Afreximbank President

By BLESSING OKEZIE, Lagos

The federal Government, has said that with Nigeria signing into the  African Continental  Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), it will fine-tune its industrial policy to enable local manufacturers attend competitiveness that private sector requires to survive in the face of the agreement.

The minister of industry, trade and investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, who stated this while addressing members of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria  (MAN)  at a lecture organised  by the Association in Lagos as part of activities marking its 47th Annual General Meeting, said President Muhammadu Buhari’s next level regime would support growth of the industrial sector.

Adebayo who represented Buhari at the occasion said the present administration, is prepared to take the industrial sector to the next level as it is taking the agricultural sector to the next level.

He urged the Manufacturers to get ready to join  the federal government and the farmers in their next level movement.

According to him, the federal government, is interested in protecting local industries by  ensuring  that incessant importation of substandard goods into the country is stopped and by providing platform  for growth of Manufacturers and ensure that 85 percent of goods consumed in Nigeria are locally made.

Earlier in his lecture, the president AFREXIM Bank, Professor Benedict Oramah, said the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) represents the  largest collection of entrepreneurial group in Nigeria and has the responsibility to transform from commodity Manufacturers to global manufacturing  hub.

He noted that Africa as a continent, needs Continental manufacturing agenda. According to him,Africa’s  low level of industrialisation  is linked to low level of intra Africa  trade.

According to him, Africa  is a continent that trades least  within itself and has to move  away from commodity Manufacturers  and unlock manufacturing potentials in the continent.

He said this is why African leaders initiated the African Continental Free trade Agreement which according to him is expected to increase the quantum of trade within the continent from the present $160billion to N$250billion by the year 2022

“It is expected that by 2022,  the AFCFTA, will increase Inter African trade to $ 250bn from $160bn.The  opportunities for African Manufacturers is enormous but  the benefits will come in trickles”, Orama said .

According to him, MAN rep perhaps  represents the largest collection of entrepreneurial  in Nigeria, adding that just as  most of the great European cities were built on entrepreneurial risk, it is through enterprise of MAN members that Nigeria’s future prosperity can be built.