The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has said the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Covid-19 intervention funds and other similar initiatives of the Federal Government have fallen short of its expectations.
The manufacturers’ body said the various credit facilities and supports earmarked for its members following the pandemic were not accessible to a significant fraction of its members.
The Federal Government has earmarked at least N1 trillion to help manufacturing companies cushion the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Director-General, MAN, Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadir, in an interview said made the interventions have fallen short of his members’ expectations.
He said despite MAN’s request for collaboration with the CBN to interrogate the process and improve the access of manufacturers to the intervention funds, adequate machinery had not been put in place to help a considerable fraction of manufacturers to access the various facilities and support programmes.
He said, “It is quite commendable that the government rose to the occasion by providing a buffer to assist manufacturers through grants/soft loans to reduce the impact of the pandemic on businesses. The interventions which were in different facets include; the N50bn target credit facility for affected households and small and medium enterprises; N100bn intervention fund in healthcare loans to pharmaceutical companies and healthcare practitioners intending to expand/build capacity; N1tn loans to boost local manufacturing and production across critical sectors; and also provision of grants assistance for R & D in the pharmaceutical subsector for research into the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients.”
“The major concern is that implementation of the interventions fell short of manufacturers’ expectations. Most of our deserving members couldn’t access the funds and our request for collaboration with the CBN to interrogate the process and improve the access of manufacturers is yet to be heeded. Bonafide manufacturers, who are struggling as a result of the disruptions caused by COVID-19, should be specifically targeted for support and we stand ready to support the action of the CBN in this direction,” he said.
