ABUJA, Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (NAN) has renewed its appeal to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to remove some items from the foreign exchange restriction list.
The President of MAN, Mr Frank Udemba, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.
Udemba said that some of the 41 items in the list were essential raw materials for many manufacturers across key sectors, and could not be presently sourced locally.
He said that the affected manufacturers would soon run short of stock of those inputs and be forced to shut down with the attendant social implication of massive job loss.
“Information reaching me from our members is that by the end of March, many of those companies will start closing shop, leading to massive job loss .
“The 41 items involve a lot of things such that when broken down into the Customs Harmonised Service (HS) Codes, you have a total of 680 products,” he said.
“Based on our analysis, 95 out of the 680 products are essential industrial raw materials for our members but cannot be sourced in this country for now,” Udemba said.
He said the association had tabled its concerns before the CBN and requested for the removal of the 95 items from the list, at least for the time being.
Credit: Nigeria Tribune