TheManufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) Ikeja branch is to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Lagos State Safety Commission to ensure that its members comply with accepted safety standard.
The branch Chairman, Otunba Francis Meshioye, stated this during the private session of the 51st Annual General Meeting of the association at MAN Centre, Ikeja, Lagos.
He listed agreements contained in the MoU to include the suspension of the use of consultants to audit member companies; registration by the respective companies of all their health, safety and environment managers and officers with the commission at the rate of N10,000 per year.
According to him, the MoU also provides that registered safety consultants auditing member companies will pay a registration and licence fee of N65,000 while unregistered safety consultants auditing member companies will pay a registration fee of N115,000.
Safety reports of member companies would only be recognised if submissions are made by registered consultants, he added.
The MoU would also specify that safety certificate be issued to companies at the cost of N15,000 annually after the companies must have been visited by the harmonised team and found to have met the required standards, the MAN chairman said.
There would be annual review of safety report at the cost of N10,000, the MAN chapter chairman noted.
Meanwhile, Meshioye predicted that the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement, if implemented the way it is, will only lead to the collapse of the rest of the surviving manufacturing companies in Nigeria.
He said this in his address presented at the AGM themed “African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement; Impact on the Nigerian manufacturing sector”.
He decried poor preparations, lack of consultations and non-inclusion of input by key stakeholders as regards market access and enforcement of the rules of origin during the initial negotiations towards the signing of the trade pact.
He said that until the grey areas identified by stakeholders were properly addressed, signing the agreement would be inimical to the growth and survival of businesses in the country.
MAN President Dr. Frank Jacobs, in his address, noted that as a concept in principle, the association was not against the AfCFTA agreement, adding that the original contention was that the National Office for Trade Negotiations did not undertake adequate consultation with relevant stakeholders.
He said the association would continue to negotiate and ensure that the concerns of manufacturers were addressed and were adequately represented at further negotiations before Nigeria would sign the trade pact.
In a paper delivered by professor of Economics at the University of Ibadan and Chairman, Centre for Trade and Development Initiatives (CTDI), Bodija, Ademela Oyejide, he said attention should be paid to the projected adjustment costs, the current state of the productive sectors, especially manufacturing in terms of their capacity for absorbing increased import competition as well as for effectively responding to emerging market access opportunities from other countries.
He said negotiation mandate should include at least the following four key elements: phasing the liberalisation process, offensive agenda, defensive agenda, and balance of concessions.
He suggested that Nigeria should argue for implementing the trade liberalisation in the AFCFTA through liner tariff cuts in the context of three phases, adding ‘‘ Each of these phase should cover 30percent of tariff lines that are subject to liberalisation and last five years.
In other words, tariff rates in Phase 1 should be reduced by 20 percent each year over the first five years period to reach zero at the end of the first five years. Phase 2 tariffs should follow this liberalisation schedule to reach zero at the end of 10 years; and Phase 3 tariffs, following a similar schedule would reach zero at the end of 15 years. Thus, the goal would have been achieved on time, following this staggered sequence”.