Manufacturers spend N67.38b on self-generated electricity-MAN President

By allcitynews.ng

That the economy experienced storms in year 2019 may longer be news to most people. But this fresh news is that in spite of the odds, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has been able to stand firmly on the ground.

Just as the sector expressed displeasure over near-zero electricity supply seven years after privatization noting that members of MAN spent over N67.38 billion on self-power generation within the year under review.

MAN President, Engr Mansur Ahmed, who made this known while speaking at the just concluded 2019 Annual General Meeting held in MAN House, Ikeja said, the performance of the economy in the year 2019 was positive but fragile.

“Movement in key economic indicators was a mixed bag in the 2019. For instance, while the aggregate economy recorded a positive growth as indicated by increase in real national output to 23.39 per cent in 2019 from 0.81 per cent of 2018, manufacturing sector growth dipped significantly to 0.77 per cent in 2019 from 2.09 per cent recorded in 2018 (NBS). The dwindling manufacturing performance was substantiated by capacity utilisation in the sector which slowed to 56.8 per cent in 2019 from 57.8 per cent achieved in 2018.”

In addition, he explained that “the quarterly manufacturers CEOs Confidence Index which was first launched in the first quarter of 2019 to gauge perception of CEOs of member companies on the pulse of the economy viz-a-viz pre-determined diffusion factors, economic policy and operating environment parameters averaged 51.2 points in 2019, in indication of a meager 1.2 points above the 50-points performance threshold, a clear pointer that manufacturers have very low confidence in the economy. Clearly, the sector is still in need of a comprehensive and concerted support system from government, as observed trend shows that the sector is struggling due to largely to diverse familiar challenges.”

While reiterating the harsh economic environment battling real sector, MAN President enumerated some of the obstacles as manufacturers to among others,  increasingly finding it difficult to source foreign exchange for importation of raw materials, machines and spare parts that are not available locally.

Manufacturing sector spent over N67.38 billion on self-generated electricity with energy cost accounting for over 38 per cent of production cost; genuine exporters are still being owed huge sums of money being backlog of unpaid outstanding claims of the export expansion grant scheme.