The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has praised President Bola Tinubu for the proposed credit interventions to revitalise the manufacturing sector and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) to mitigate the impact of fuel subsidy removal.

MAN director-general Segun Ajayi-Kadir said this Monday night in Lagos in reaction to the president’s national broadcast.

Mr Tinubu unveiled plans to provide a N75 billion credit facility between July 2023 and March 2024 to 75 enterprises to strengthen the manufacturing sector, pledging to energise MSMEs and the informal sector with N125 billion, among other schemes, to engender sustainable economic growth.

Mr Ajayi-Kadir noted that the president’s assurances represented part of the follow-up measures manufacturers appealed for and were more beneficial than palliatives that would only give nominal relief.

He lauded Mr Tinubu’s move to work in a coordinated manner with local and state governments to deliver interventions that would cushion the effect of the hardship across the socio-economic brackets.

The MAN leader said the recently signed four executive orders had set the stage for the much sought-after relief for the manufacturing sector.

He said it had become possible to return to their business projections and look towards profitable production in the affected sectors.

Mr Ajayi-Kadir said the promise that 75 manufacturing enterprises would access N1 billion credit at a nine per cent interest rate per annum and working capital was commendable.

He noted that the allocation of N125 billion to energise the MSME segment would give a fillip to their businesses and help overcome the paucity of funds occasioned by low capacity utilisation and unprecedented low sales in recent times.

“It is a good start to begin to address the dearth of loanable funds in the face of rising lending rate occasioned by the continued increase in the MPR by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),” the manufacturers’ representative noted. “It is, however, very important and critical that the vehicles for the delivery of these loans should be carefully selected and the implementation diligently monitored.”

Mr Ajayi-Kadir added, “The Bank of Industry (BOI) has shown excellent performance as an appropriate transaction structure for such facilities. It is equally important to ensure that the promised 3000 units of 20-seater buses be procured from indigenous automobile industries.

The MAN director-general noted that this “is a golden opportunity for the Federal Government to demonstrate unfailing commitment to the implementation of the subsisting Executive Order 3, which prioritises the patronage of made-in-Nigeria products.”

(NAN)