Yemisi Izuora
President of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, Ahmed Mansur, has commended unrelenting effort of the federal government in disseminating timely and useful information which has helped Nigerian citizens take wise and important decisions as the nation battles the scourge of COVID-19 popularly known as Corona Virus.
Mansur, observed that since the decision to lock down economic activities by different states and the eventual national declaration by the President of Nigeria, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has maintained consistent talks with relevant government stakeholders on the survival and sustenance of livelihood of Nigerians via the operation of critical manufacturing sector and has indeed yielded positive results.
“One of the numerous result is the letter addressed by the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ forum(NGF) to my humble self for manufacturers.
“I am deeply impressed by the move of the NGF for taking heed to the call of manufacturers of essential products at a time like this.” he said.
The president noted that the Food, Beverage, pharmaceutical and other complementing sector that makes the value chain of essential products available are very critical and the Association is glad that Government recognised this critical role in its directive for 14days lockdown.
“Let me add that the directive of the NGF has yielded good outcomes in some states as our members have testified to unhindered operations in the face of the lockdown. “But notwithstanding, some security operatives in other states are not yielding particularly, the rank and file officers on the field. To address this setback, we are in talks with the NGF to give the necessary directives for adequate sensitization of officers who are unyielding to giving manufacturers of essential products easy movement hampering the chain of distribution. .
“While the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria continueto play its role as an advocacy body committed to creating friendly business environment for manufacturers, we can only rely on the government to reciprocate by implementing the suggestions of MAN on the support for the sector during this era of Corona virus pandemic.” Mansur added.