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Industrialist decries infrastructure deficiency, difficulty in accessing forex

Lanre Bhadmus Industries Limited has decried continued inability of manufacturers to access foreign exchange for production, noting that sourcing for forex still remains a major challenge hindering local production capacity.

Lanre Bhadmus Industries Limited has decried continued inability of manufacturers to access foreign exchange for production, noting that sourcing for forex still remains a major challenge hindering local production capacity.

According to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Lanre Bhadmus Industries Limited, Mr. Lanre Bhadmus, the situation is even far much worse for companies that are heavily dependent on importation of raw materials especially at a time when Nigeria is experiencing a free fall of the naira to the dollar.

During a facility tour of the company, the CEO called on the economic managers to address issues bedeviling the nation’s manufacturing sector, pointing out that the industry is critical to achieving economic growth and development.

In his words: “Anybody involved in business today and depends on import of raw materials and equipment for production, must know that the most difficult part of businesses today is sourcing foreign exchange. It still remains a very big challenge and over the past years, it has been fluctuating until recently as we have never had the naira this bad at the current exchange rate.

“We just have to continue to struggle for the interest of our country and be hopeful that the situation would be addressed. What our authorities need to do is to close the gate a little bit.”

Asides from unavailability of forex, Bhadmus added that manufacturing concerns still have to depend on alternative sources of power supply to remain afloat.

“To continue with business in Nigeria, you have to be ready to combat the challenges. The first of the challenges is power. We have to self-generate power supply non-stop as most industries are still struggling with inadequate power supply. We are helpless and the best we could do is to buy generators. We need infrastructure in this country. We also have another challenge of infrastructure such as accessible roads.

“Another challenge is sourcing for raw materials. In the industry we operate, we need petrochemicals badly. The only raw material we could get locally is the high-density polyethylene from Indorama, Port Harcourt. In terms of other materials, we have to source via import,” he stressed.

He said the company currently has over 300 products in the market, including car care products, lubricants and housing products, as he restated the firm’s commitment to introducing more quality products to meet the changing needs of consumers.

He assured its loyal consumers that all its products have been developed to guard against adulteration as they all come in tamper proof evidence.

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