The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has said that manufacturers are satisfied with the stability of the naira in the forex market. Dr Adoga Inalegwu, Chairman, Cross River and Akwa Ibom chapter of the association, made the remark while interacting with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar on Monday.

Inalegwu, who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Champion Breweries, Uyo, said they were not just happy with the stability but also with the availability of dollar as the companies were not struggling to source for it.

The chairman said President Bola Tinubu’s policies, though tough, were necessary because the nation could not continue living in deception and using palliative measures that never solved a problem.

“Some people have complained about his tax reform but I believe that the reform has its pros and cons, one of which is the shrinking of multiple taxation issues and improving disposable incomes of Nigerians.

“This has reduced the taxation burden for low-income earners and freed up disposable income in the hands of Nigerians. “This means they can buy more which favours my industry and others that produce goods considered to be nonessential in classification.

According to him, the negative side of the new tax law is the issue of Value Added Tax (VAT) which was increased by 2.5 per cent; this is huge for manufacturers. Speaking further, Inalegwu highlighted power as a major challenge to manufacturers in Nigeria, and said that 40 per cent of the cost in the manufacturing sector went to power alone.

He added that where there was no stable source of electricity, manufacturing and production became not only difficult and challenging but very expensive. He said that other challenges included lack of experts to fabricate and repair equipment, alleging that some engineers produced by Nigerian universities lacked the requisite capacities, which caused some companies to rely on expensive expatriates.