Nigerian businesses yet to benefit from AGOA, says MAN

The Director General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Segun Ajayi-Kadir, said Nigerian companies have not benefited much from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) since it came into effect. Speaking recently at a briefing at MAN House in Lagos, he said that for local businesses and manufacturers to benefit from any international agreement, they must be globally competitive. “It is not enough to say you are taking your products out of the country for sale because when you do take it out, are you just going to dress up the shelves or sell? For every product you are exporting, there must be alternatives; if your product cannot compete and beat those that are there already, you are just wasting your time,” he said.

He said a lot still has to be done domestically to develop not just export-worthy products but products that can compete favourably with their counterparts overseas. He said even with agricultural products where Nigeria should have a clear edge, it is riddled with heavy post-harvest losses and rejections on technical, quality and standards grounds, reducing the country’s chances. Speaking on Trump’s recent threats of tariff increase on goods exported to the US, the DG said he was not worried as it would not directly affect Nigerian manufacturers.



“We should not be struggling because we are not a poor country. We are naturally endowed with human and natural resources. We need to pull our weight more.

We are smart people, let us also craft policies that will put Nigeria first. “This is an opportunity for us to develop ourselves and craft our trade policies in a way that favours us. Many countries are doing well today without depending on trade relations with the US, there is no reason Nigeria cannot emulate such and forge trade relations that benefit us and are independent of what America thinks or does,” he said.

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