Manufacturer authorities says at least 820 firms shut plants in
- Source: Xinhua
- [12:37 July 27 2009]
- Comments
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has said the harsh economic clime in the country has forced 820 manufacturing firms out of business in the last eight years, the Lagos-based Guardian newspaper reported Friday.
Bashir Borodo, MAN President, disclosed this at the association's 37th yearly general meeting in Abuja on Thursday, noting that the situation was made worse by the Nigerian federal government's failure to heed the body's plea for a reduction in the price of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), a key input in the production chain.
He said the breakdown of this figure shows that an average of 100 firms was shut down yearly due to operational constraints between 2000 and 2008.
According to him, the worrisome development of industrial firms relocating from Nigeria to neighboring West African countries and other issues must be addressed by the government.
He said a major cause of the pitiable state of the industrial sector is the inadequate supply of energy for manufacturing operations.
"The lesson of the past few years has shown that if local manufacturers are to survive in a globalised world, the provision of energy cannot be compromised, particularly in our peculiar situation where the upgrading of energy production had suffered almost 30 years of neglect," he said.
