The Nation Newspaper

Tag: MAN

  • MAN seeks Manufacturing Development Bank

    • Wants forex allocation for manufacturers

    The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has urged the Federal Government to set up a bank that will address the financial needs of the manufacturing sector.

    Its President Dr. Udemba Jacobs, said the establishment of a Manufacturing Development Bank (MDB) would cater for the credit needs of the manufacturing sector, lamenting that conventional banks have failed to support the manufacturing sector.

    In a communiqué signed by Jacobs at the weekend, he also sought the sustenance of priority foreign exchange (forex) allocation for raw materials, spare parts and machinery to the industrial sector in order to improve production.

    Jacobs said the empowerment of the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) to fully commence operations and the re-capitalisation of the Bank of Industry (BoI) to enable it meet up with the huge credit demand of the industrial sector was also important.

    He said the Federal Government should intensify efforts at further diversifying the economy away from oil and expedite the resumption and implementation of the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) to catalyse non-oil export forex earnings.

    He regretted the difficulty in accessing various development funds created by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) such as the N220 billion Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) and the N300 billion Real Sector Support Facility (RSSF). He asked the government to relax the stringent conditions that denies manufacturers access to the funding windows. According to him there are other fundamentals that government needed to look into to stimulate the sector.

    He said: “We are expecting the National Assembly to pass the Moveable Collateral Registry and the Credit Reporting Acts into law.  The four existing refineries should be made functional either by outright rehabilitation or through privatisation. The association is expecting the design and implementation of policies that will encourage private sector investment in petroleum products refinery and the revisiting and full implementation of the Power Sector Reform and the power sector roadmap to improve the efficiency of the generation, transmission and distribution companies.”

    The MAN chief called for the re-classification of the manufacturing sector into strategic gas users from the current commercial classification and ensuring proper settlement of acquired properties such as land for electricity equipment installation to avoid anger that may lead to destruction of the infrastructure.

    He also called for stricter punitive measures for vandals of critical national infrastructure and the resuscitation of the nation’s petro-chemical sector, noting that modern industrialisation is chemical based with most of the industrial chemicals as bye-products of crude oil.

    On access to raw materials he stressed the need to improve the local sourcing of raw-materials through effective development of agriculture, solid minerals and the petro-chemical sectors.This is in addition to aggressively developing key selected mineral resources through the creation of incentives for backward integration especially for those with high inter-industry linkage such as iron ore, zinc-led, bitumen, lime stone and coal.

    Jacobs stressed the need to encourage strong private sector participation in backward integration through the provision of affordable credit, extension services and other incentives such as a stronger public-private partnership (PPP) in road and rail construction, including other infrastructure development in the country.

    Others are exhaustive consultation among stakeholders in policy design, consistency, signing into law the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to encourage the development of the petroleum sector and create the much needed petrochemical base raw-materials for the use of the manufacturing sector and fast tracking the work of the committee on the harmonisation of taxes and levies.

    He called the attention of government to the macroeconomic terrain in 2016, especially in the first half, which he declared as highly volatile for general economic activities  and especially for the manufacturing sector to make meaningful headways.

    He disclosed that the sector only had some breather and momentum when government responded to various calls with a 6 per cent preferential FX allocation to manufacturers for importation of raw-materials and machinery that are not locally available.

    “However, notwithstanding the leeway gained in the second half of the year, it is very important for the government to continue to address the multifarious economic challenges facing the economy especially the manufacturing sector by taking cognizance of the need to implement policies that will grow the real sector”, he added.

  • Man in court for ‘unlawful possession of 22 goats’

    A 28-year-old man, Musibau Okunola, was at the weekend arraigned at an Osogbo Chief Magistrates’ Court in Osun State for alleged unlawful possession of 22 goats.

    The prosecutor, Mireti Wilson, said the accused committed the offence on November 28 last year about 3:50.a.m. in Osogbo metropolis.

    He said the accused was arrested while conveying the goats in a bus registered as KJA 178 XE, and was unable to give a satisfactory explanation about the ownership of the animals.

    Wilson said the offence contravened sections 517 and 430(1) of the Criminal Code Cap 34 Vol.11 Laws of Osun State, 2003.

    The accused pleaded not guilty. His counsel, Mr. Ato Atobatele, prayed the court to grant him bail in liberal terms.

    The Magistrate, Mrs. Olubukola Awodele, granted the accused bail at N50,000 with two sureties in like sum.

    She said the sureties must live in the court jurisdiction, show evidence of tax payment, attach affidavit of means and provide two passport size photographs.

    The case was adjourned till November 13 for hearing.

  • Man, 50, faces admission scam charge

    A 50-year-old man, Enilolobo Adesina, who allegedly defrauded a man of N350, 000 on the pretext of processing university admission for his son, was yesterday arraigned at an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court, Lagos State.

    Adesina, 50, who lives in Ikorodu, Lagos State, is facing a two-count charge of obtaining money under false pretences and stealing.

    Police prosecutor Donjor Perezi told the court that the accused committed the offences between April 4 and 12, 2013 at Oshodi in Lagos.

    He said the accused collected N350, 000 from the complainant, Mr. Omosowoeni Edamisan, with a promise to secure admission into the University of Ibadan for his son.

    “The accused collected the money to process admission for a degree programme for the complainant’s child.

    “After the accused received the money through his Access Bank and GTbank accounts, he refused to pick his calls and efforts by the complainant to get his money back were unsuccessful,” Perezi said.

    The offences contravened sections 287 and 314 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 (revised).

    The accused pleaded not guilty.

    Ruling on the bail application, the Chief Magistrate, Mrs. O.A. Layinka, granted him N250,000 bail with two sureties in like sum.

    She said the sureties must be employed and should provide two years tax clearance.

    The case was adjourned till August 22 for mention.

  • N20b export grant inadequate, says MAN

    The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has decried the N20 billion provision in the 2017 budget for the payment of backlog of Export Expansion Grant (EEG).

    Its President, Dr. Udemba Jacobs, said it was grossly inadequate and should be increased in view of the huge outstanding payment that runs up to N230 billion.

    Supporting its reintroduction after years of inaction, he said the scheme, when in operation contributed to the economy as evidenced by the 197 per cent increase in Nigeria’s non-oil export from $1billion in 2006 to $2.97billion in 2013, including visible industrial expansion, and market penetration of made-in-Nigeria goods.

    Jacobs said the association is of the view that the 10-year stipulated for the recovery of the Promissory Note was too long a time and should be reduced.

    He said the scheme also created jobs for about 11 million persons in the non-oil sector but, regretted that things changed within one year of the suspension of the scheme, resulting in the decline of Nigeria’s non-oil export by eight per cent from $2.97billion in 2013 to $2.71billion a year later.

    While commending the Federal Government for lifting the suspension placed the scheme after nearly three years with slight modifications, he lamented that non-oil exports have not been able to make the desired significant impact due to the several challenges facing non-oil exporters.

    On the challenges, he said manufacturers are facing enormous cost in doing business in addition to having a high level competition in the international market,from countries that tend to support exporters with incentives.

    Others are loss of preferential market access to the European Union (EU) and the nature and components of export productsThe MAN chief lamented that Nigeria has the highest financial and energy costs when compared with her competitors such as India, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Europe, Kenya, and others.

    He said the Negotiable Duty Credit Certificate (NDCC) shall henceforth be settled by issuing Negotiable Export Credit Certificate (NECC) to the beneficiaries, valid for two years and is only transferable once.

    He added that beneficiaries would be able to use the certificates to settle all Federal Government taxes such as company income tax, Value Added Tax (VAT) and With Holding Tax (WHT).

    He also said in the modified guideline, the EEG payment rate was reduced to 15 per cent maximum from 30 per cent before the suspension of the scheme.

    According to him, eligible new EEG applications in the year would be paid with NECC while the applications before 2017 and outstanding NDCC would be paid via a 10 year maturity Promissory Note.

    He said: “The EEG Scheme is a veritable vehicle that has proven to be a strategic stimulant for non-oil export oriented activities that are required to trigger significant growth in non-oil export through meaningful diversification. The lifting of suspension on EEG by the government is timely, a step in the right direction towards restoring significant growth in non-oil sector.  It is, however, expedient that the government considers and effectively implements the following critical measures to guarantee sustainable growth in the sector.”

  • Man, 22, sentenced for receiving stolen phone

    An Oredo Magistrates’ Court sitting in Benin, the capital of Edo State, has sentenced a 22 year-old man, Kelvin Usifoh, to a six-month jail term for unlawfully buying a stolen Samsung X3 phone from one Abel Emmanuel.

    According to the prosecutor, Patrick Agbonifo, the phone which is valued at N40, 000 was bought by Usifoh on January 27, 2017 for N3, 000.

    Agonifo, who presented three witnesses, told the court the phone was stolen from one David Ebhohimen when Emmanuel and other members of his gang allegedly robbed one Patrick Ebhohimen on the same day at No. 4 Ogesoba Street off Asologun, off Power line, Benin City.

    The offence is said to be punishable under section 427 of the Criminal Code Cap. 48 Vol. II Laws of the defunct Bendel State of Nigeria 1976 as now applicable in Edo State.

    The accused person, who pleaded not guilty on his first day of arraignment, was however sentenced by Chief Magistrate F.E Akhere to six months in prison or an option of N50, 000 fines.

     

  • Man held for enticing underage girls to fondle his manhood

    A 36-year-old man (name withheld), who allegedly enticed some underage girls to pat his sexual organ affectionately for N500, was on Friday in Lagos nabbed, according to the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT).

    The suspect was apprehended by some residents of Silver Crescent Estate, Oke-Afa in Isolo area of Lagos.

    The Coordinator of the team, Mrs Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi,  told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the agency’s intervention followed a report by residents of the community.

    DSVRT is a collection of professional service providers and officials that respond as a group and in a timely fashion to the various needs of domestic and sexual violence survivors by providing legal, medical and emergency assistance.

    It also provides counselling and psychological and psycho-social support as well as encourage and create unprecedented level of collaboration among professionals working to end sexual and gender-based violence.

    To report domestic and sexual violence as well as other gender-based abuses, the agency has advertised the following numbers — 112, 08137960048 and 07032165181.

     Vivour-Adeniyi said:“The man was nabbed on July 27 at 8.00 a.m. in the community;  some young girls in the area said they once reported the case to a woman in the neighbourhood, who alerted other residents to watch out for such acts and strange faces in the area.

    “Luck ran out of the man on Thursday morning when one of the young girls in the area sighted him in the street and called the attention of some residents.

    “The suspect, who said he had a shop at Ladipo in Mushin, blamed it on the devil.”

    “The residents asked him to call his relatives which he did and his wife and children arrived at the scene.

    “The Divisional Police Officer, following a distress call by the community, took the suspect accompanied by his wife and children, the girl that identified him and others to the station,” she said.

    Vivour-Adeniyi said after investigation had been concluded, the agency would prosecute the suspect in court. (NAN)m

  • MAN’s breakfast meeting to focus on strengthening real sector

    This year’s edition of the Ikeja branch of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) “Breakfast Meeting for Managing Directors/Chief Executive Officers (MDs/CEOs of member-companies will focus on strengthening the real sector to fast-track economic recovery.

    A statement signed by the Association’s Executive Secretary, Oluchi Odimuko, said the business get-together with the theme, “Nigerian Economic Recovery: Strengthening the Real Sector” will hold on Tuesday, August 1, at the Lagos Airport Hotel.

    The statement, which was made available to The Nation, said the event will discuss some topical issues on how to grow the real sector by harnessing non-oil resources to boost economic recovery.

    “The meeting is a yearly event that provides a platform for effective interactions of over 300 Chief Executives, thereby helping them to chart the way forward to overcome the economic challenges/threats that they face,” it said.

    The Chairman, MAN, Apapa branch, Mr. F.B. Odunayo will be the guest speaker at this year’s event. He will be speaking on “Boosting the zero oil earnings: A catalyst to the growth of the real sector.”

  • Man remanded for defrauding Afe Babalola of N5m

    Man remanded for defrauding Afe Babalola of N5m

    An Ado-Ekiti Magistrates’ Court has ordered that Femi Fagite, 42, be remanded in prison custody for allegedly defrauding the founder of Afe Babalola University (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), of N5 million.

    Police counsel, Mr Femi Falade, told the court that Fagite allegedly committed the offence on December 17, 2015, in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State capital.

    Fagite is on trial for alleged conspiracy and fraudulently obtaining money from the eminent lawyer under false pretence.

    The prosecution said the accused committed the offence, adding that it is punishable under Section 1 (3) and 8 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006.

    It requested for the remand order of the accused, saying the court lacked the jurisdiction to try the accused under the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006.

    The prosecution said there was need for further investigation and the arraignment of the accused at a Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti.

    Fagite’s plea was not taken.

    His lawyer, Mr Femi Alonge, applied for bail, saying the only instance where the court may not admit bail is where the offence is punishable with death.

    The Magistrate, Mrs Omolola Akosile, ordered that the accused be remanded in prison custody.

    She adjourned the matter till July 27 for mention.

  • Manufacturers spend N378b on power generation in three years

    Manufacturers spend N378b on power generation in three years

    Manufacturers have expended over N378billion on power generation to run their operations in the last three years, the President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) Dr Frank Udemba Jacobs said.

    This is due largely to unreliable public grid power supply across the country.

    According to MAN boss, manufacturers of consumable and non-consumable products spends N126billion yearly to generate power, lamenting that the figure amounted to N378billion when multiplied by three years.

    He said the small, medium enterprises (SMEs) and multinational companies have, during the years under review, invested substantially in gas, coal and diesel to power their operations to remain in business just as he noted that gas, coal and diesel have become veritable means of providing power to the manufacturing sector.

    He said foreign-owned companies operating in the country are beginning to see the sense in investing in thermal plants in order to generate electricity as against a situation where they would be relying on power from the national grid.

    Jacobs said: “The dwindling power supply occasioned by poor generation is having undesirable effects on the nation’s manufacturing industry. Besides the fact that capacity utilisation in the sector has reduced as many manufacturing concerns have either downsized or right-sized in order to cut down the cost of operation, the development has resulted in the low production of goods. In order to boost operation, small, medium and bigger manufacturing companies decided to generate their own electricity using gas, coal and diesel.”

    He said MAN has over 2,000 members out of which a sizeable number of manufacturers are using generators as a major means of providing power to their factories at a huge cost. Power supply from the national grid has become an alternative, he lamented.

    On diesel, Jacobs said the decision by the federal government to crash the price of diesel by 43 per cent to N160 per litre from about N300 per litre, is laudable.

    He said diesel is the major source of providing electricity in the sector, adding that bringing the price down by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is heartwarming.

    “The issue of reducing the price of diesel to N160 per litre by the government has delighted both private and non- private sector operators as the idea would help in reducing the cost of operation and increase growth and productivity,” he added.

    Power, he said, drives modern economies globally, stressing that the only way to improve the contributions of both the oil and non-oil sectors of the economy to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is to develop the power sector.

     

  • Manufacturers spend N378b on power generation

    Manufacturers spend N378b on power generation

    Manufacturers spend at least N378 billion on private electricity generation to power their operations as public grid power supply remains unreliable, The Nation learnt yesterday.

    The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), said the N378 billion was spent over the last three years. Its President, Dr Frank Udemba Jacobs, confirmed the development to The Nation.

    Jacobs said manufacturers of consumable and non-consumable products spend N126billion yearly to generate power, lamenting that the figure amounted to N378billion when multiplied by three years.

    In a telephone interview, he said the small, medium enterpries (SMEs) and multinational companies have, during  the years under review, invested substantially in gas, coal and diesel to power their operations to remain in business. He noted that gas, coal and diesel have become veritable means of providing power to the manufacturing sector. According to him, the growth of the sector has been gravely constrained by poor power supply in the country.

    He said foreign-owned companies operating in the country are begining to see the sense in investing in thermal plants in order to generate electricity as against a situation where they would be relying on power from the national grid.

    Jacobs said: “The dwindling power supply occasioned by poor generation is having undesirable effects on the nation’s manufacturing industry. Besides the fact that capacity utilisation in the sector has reduced as many manufacturing concerns have either downsized or right-sized in order to cut down cost of operation, the development has resulted in low production of goods. In order to boost operation, small, medium and bigger manufacturing companies decided to generate their own electricity using gas, coal and diesel.”

    He said MAN boasts of over 2,000 members out of which a sizeable number of manufacturers are using generators as a major means of providing power to their factories at a huge cost. Power supply from the national grid has become alternative, he lamented.

    On diesel, Jacobs said the decision by the Federal Government to crash the price of diesel by 43 per cent to N160 per litre from about N300 per litre, is laudable.

    He said diesel is the major source of providing electricity in the sector, adding that bringing the price down by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is heartwarming.

    ‘’The issue of reducing the price of diesel to N160 per litre by the  government has delighted both private and non- private sector operators as the idea would help in reducing  cost of  operation and increase growth and productivity,” he added.

    He said MAN would meet to discuss how much  would be saved in view of recent reduction in the price of the product. He urged the Federal Government to fix the problems in the power sector and return it to optimal performance.

    Power, he said, drives modern economies globally, stressing that the only way to improve the contributions of both the oil and non-oil sectors of the economy to the  Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is to develop the power sector. He said when this is acheived, the economy would grow well and  jobs will be created for the youths.