Manufacturers tasked on economic recovery

To starve off recession and posit the nation to the path of economic recovery, manufacturers have been tasked on growing their businesses from the level of attracting investors to increasing exports.

The Managing Director, Simplified Corporate Logistics (SCL), a premier provider of export and import solutions, Nduka Udeh, gave the charge at the kick-off of the 2017 Manufacturing Partnership for African Development exhibition in Lagos.

He explained that as much as importation and exportation is indispensable to Nigerian businesses, there is the need to pay a special attention to factors such as difficulty in sourcing Foreign Exchange (FOREX) to buy raw materials, machinery and spare parts, and delay in clearing of goods at the air and ocean port.

Udeh stated that other impediments like unreliable shipping agents, high procurement cost and difficulty in engaging trustworthy suppliers and limited knowledge on importation and exportation business must be addressed in order to attract investors for economic growth.

Represented by the Head, Operations, SCL, Mrs. Bisola Esan, the managing director said: “We are committed to excellence, while leveraging on speed and transparency to reduce overall production cost of clients of range of logistics services for clients. Our Air Freight service allows the speedy delivery of any size cargo and with our Ocean freight clients are guarantee competitive rates on Full Container Load, Less than Container Load.”

Udeh explained that plans are on to host an exhibition in the United State of America, where over 100 Nigerian manufacturers will showcase their products to attract buyers.

Reiterating on the importance of export to Nigeria’s economic growth, another speaker, Paul Gbededo, emphasised the need for manufactures to move from producing enough for their families and country to having more than enough for export to other countries and to gain the needed stability that manufactures and business owners in Nigeria clamour for.

The three-day exhibition ended with a raffle draw with the first runner up going home with a shipping voucher worth of N250,000, the second runner, N150,000, and the third winner N100,000 worth of shipping vouchers respectively.