The Director General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) Mr. Segun Ajayi-Kadir has said hard times await Nigeria’s manufacturers for the rest of the year.
He said this during an interview with AriseTv on the effects of the skyrocketing exchange rate and the mooted increase in PMS pump rice across the country.
When asked about the outlook for the year considering the current exchange rate of about N900/$ and high cost of fuel, and whether the country should expect more exits as in GSK and further job losses, he said
- “The expectation is that we wouldn’t go that route even though everything is pointing in that direction. There are hard times awaiting manufacturers. We have seen the exit of GSK and the reduction in the profile of some of our members. This has dampened the confidence of manufacturers for the rest of the year”
On the impact of the subsidy removal on the manufacturing sector, Mr Kadir noted that the industry has seen an increase in the price of commercial activities in general including logistics.
He further advised the federal government to ensure to ramp up domestic production as that will mitigate the price of PMS in the country.
IPMAN speaks on the price increase.
Also speaking in the interview was the chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN) Mr. Chinedu Okoronkwo who said the association is planning to jack up pump prices of PMS to quell palpable fears across the country of price increases.
In his words,
- “It is important to state here that IPMAN cannot be part of the people speculating, more so, we’ve not started importing this product, everything is just heaped on IPMAN. It’s not so. And you have heard from NNPC that for now, they don’t plan to put their price up”
- “We are not making any effort to increase the price; we are still getting our products from the NNPC majorly and these people are the people we look up to.”
