Federal Government policies, poor power supply, high taxation and lack of financial support are discouraging manufacturers and crippling local production.

These were the submissions of engineers and manufacturing firms at the Mega Clime at the sixth Air Conditioning Refrigeration Expo West Africa in Lagos, yesterday, organised by Elan Expo West Africa.

They said while foreign countries are investing in their manufacturing industries to grow their gross domestic products (GDPs), Nigeria has put policies crippling the industry and discouraging investors.

The Chief Executive Officer, Elan Exhibition West Africa, Jude Chime, said there are well-trained specialised Nigerian engineers working with big foreign brands with a lot of them beginning to put their feet down in terms of assembling, manufacturing and others.

He said many of them are heading a lot of these foreign brands in Nigeria and other African regions and are doing wonderfully well while competing globally with their foreign counterparts.

Chime said for manufacturing to thrive in the country, government must check the exchange rate and have stability for at least a period of five to 10 years, which will be good for business.

He said government should harmonise and stabilise the currency and provide tax holidays for people who are ready to establish manufacturing companies in the country.

Chime also urged the government to harmonise the tax system because there are lots of taxes businesses pay, while also calling for a reduction in the 7.5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) to five per cent.

He said most of these companies are providing all the various basic needs such as power, security and a lot of things, saying: “Government should make it in such a way the companies can breathe.

“If these things are put in place, you will see a lot of things coming up, a lot of youths will be employed. Even a lot of government agencies find it difficult to pay the 7.5 per cent tax, it is very huge. If we can look at the five per cent, it will go a long way.”

The National Chairman, the Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers (NiMechE), Funmilade Akingbagbohun, lamented that government anti-policies and lack of power supply have crippled ideas and the skills of engineers to produce and manufacture in the country.

She said Nigeria, as the giant of Africa, should not be a consuming nation, but should be a manufacturing nation setting the pace for other nations in Africa to follow.

Akingbagbohun noted that Nigerian engineers with their abundant skills and ideas, are ready for the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), other trade, opportunities and partnerships to produce and manufacture locally.

She said the government should do more to encourage local investors while ensuring the availability of funds for inventions and innovations as well as providing an enabling environment for production and local manufacturing in the country.

The Head of Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) of Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC), Mandilas Group, Cecilia Imomoh, bemoaned the non-recognition of engineering projects at schools and the grassroots, while massive encouragement is given to foreign projects.

She said the government needs to encourage companies that are striving to establish locally.

“Most of the gadgets we buy for our children are projects of secondary school students in China and other Asian countries. If we look into that, we need to start from our route, that is when we can say we are ready in this country,” she said.

“We have been trying to rebuild our plants here and what we see from the government is more of what the government wants to get, rather than supporting organisations trying to establish in the country,” she stated.

Imomoh said, while foreign countries are encouraging and supporting their manufacturers to invest over there and even in Nigeria to enable them to grow and contribute to the respective GDP, no Nigerian manufacturer can thrive due to lack of government support.

She urged Tinubu to encourage innovations in industries and improve local production as well as put policies that will favour companies willing to establish and those already operating in the country.