NACCIMA says manufacturers need cheap funds, constant power

The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has said that the Federal Government must address critical financial and infrastructural challenges facing manufacturers and farmers, if it is serious with revamping the real sector.

NACCIMA said the dwindling oil price should push Africa’s largest economy into having a paradigm shift in thinking so as to save the economy.

“The interest rate which still hovers between 17 and 28 percent is a major challenge to the business community in spite of reduction of Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) from 13 to 11 percent,” said Bassey Edem, president, NACCIMA, at an economic briefing tagged ‘State of the Nation’ in Lagos.

“This has also reflected in the credit to the private sector which currently stands at N18.719 billion, which is only five percent as against the benchmark of 25 percent,” he said.

Edem said government’s effort to stimulate the real sector may be futile if the current trend of lending rate continues, adding that the situation impedes the activities of manufacturers, entrepreneurs and other real sector players who are seeking funds for operations and expansion.

While commending the government for its efforts geared towards regular power supply, the NACCIMA chief said the 4741 mega watts peak generation capacity achieved on February 12 is still a far cry as it is incapable of stimulating the real sector.

“The administration of President Mihammadu Buhari should aggressively explore the utilisation of alternative and renewable energy sources for power generation such as solar, coal, wind and hydro to overcome the challenges of power supply and inch forward to achieving the target of not less than 20,000MW  within a short period to meet the real sector needs in the medium term,” Edem added.

He said if part of the impetus of ensuring rapid expansion of power supply  is the recent increase in tariff by the government, then the authorities should ensure that consumers are billed strictly on their own consumption, adding that the era of estimated billing should end with the tariff hike.

He further said that all the efforts of the Federal Government to attract Foreign Direct Investments have not yielded the desired results owing to monetary policies which are not encouraging investors. He advised the government to encourage the ease of doing business by relaxing stringent policies in selected sectors identified for high growth potential.

Odinaka Anudu