MAN appeals for repair of roads in Kirikiri Industrial Estate

Chairman of the Apapa Branch of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mr John Aluya, has called on the Lagos State government to carry out urgent repair of roads at the Kirikiri Industrial Estate in Lagos state.Aluya, who made the call at a Business Luncheon recently in Lagos, said that the operations of about 20 manufacturing companies were being threatened by the poor state of roads in the area."We want to appeal to the state government to please help us salvage the situation by fixing these roads," he said.Aluya noted that in spite of the improvement in the business environment in the state in the past few years, some government policies were militating against the growth of the sector."Some of those in government may have lost touch with the happenings in the sector as some of the laws made by them tend not to be business friendly."The manufacturing sector is sensitive and requires more frantic and careful approach and we believe the government will oblige our request to visit some of the industrial estates to understand the plight of manufacturers," Aluya said.He said that for the sector to key into the transformation agenda of the Federal Government, it was important to address the obvious limitations of the sector.Aluya said that the limitations include lack of finance, lack of basic infrastructure and security of lives and property.'Other limitations include the influx of sub-standard products into the country, poor ports operations and management; multiplicity of taxes and levies and non business friendly govern-ment bureaucracies,' he said.Aluya said that the six per cent contribution of the manufacturing sector to the Gross Domestic Pro-duct (GDP) was enough for a deliberate government policy to revitalise ailing industries.He also said that there should be a total transfor-mation of the credit system to encourage Nigerians to go back to farming.He said that the aim was to aid production of some of the basic raw materials needed by manufacturers.
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