MAN Demands Release Of N1trn Manufacturing Stabilisation Fund

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has urged the Federal Government to release the N1 trillion manufacturing stabilisation fund promised under its Economic Stabilisation Plan to ease the financing and production challenges facing local manufacturers.
Director-General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, made the demand at the BusinessDay Go Local Summit 2.0 in Lagos.
Ajayi-Kadir, who was represented by the association’s Director of Research and Economic Policy, Segun Osidipe, said the fund should be channelled through the Bank of Industry (BoI) to enable manufacturers to access affordable financing.
He said the fund, which was promised about two years ago, was yet to be made available to the sector.
“That support came. Ironically, this same government promised this, I think about two years back, in its Economic Stabilisation Plan. But today, that fund is yet to be made available,” he said.
Ajayi-Kadir called for strict disbursement guidelines and a defined timeline to prevent bureaucratic delays at the BOI.
“We need to make that available, $1 trillion Manufacturing Stabilisation Fund, through the Bank of Industry. They are our partner,” he said.
“We have confidence that if it’s released to Bank of Industry, we will be able to get it as fast as possible.”
He also urged monetary authorities to reduce benchmark interest rates by between 200 and 300 basis points quarterly over the next two years.
According to him, such a reduction would enable the BoI to provide refinancing to manufacturers at interest rates of between seven and nine per cent.
The MAN chief further called for a dedicated foreign exchange window for manufacturers importing critical raw materials and heavy machinery that are unavailable locally.
He said the measures were necessary as manufacturers continued to contend with high production costs, expensive financing and weak consumer demand.
Ajayi-Kadir disclosed that energy costs now accounted for as much as 50 per cent of manufacturers’ overhead, with the sector spending N1.34 trillion on alternative energy sources in 2025 alone.
He also said more than N2 trillion worth of finished products were sitting in warehouses due to weak market demand.
The MAN director-general called for zero duties on completely knocked-down (CKD) and semi-knocked-down (SKD) assembly kits, as well as the removal of import adjustment taxes on inputs unavailable locally.
“CKD and SKD must be zero-rated. The four per cent FOB charge should be replaced with a capped service fee and import adjustment taxes on non-locally available inputs should be eliminated entirely,” he said.
He said reducing the cost of importing components and machinery would support local assembly and strengthen domestic production.