MAN calls for review of 41 Imported Items CBN ban from Forex

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has pleaded with the Federal Government to review the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) foreign exchange policy, which placed ban on importers of 41 items from accessing forex in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Markets.

Speaking in Lagos, MAN President Dr. Udemba Jacobs said some of the items that were restricted from accessing the forex market could not be sourced locally.

“The association has done an analysis on the banned items and we broke the 41 items into 110 and of the 110, 75 are raw materials for our members. It is these 75 items we ask the Federal Government to remove from the list so that our members can source forex to buy their raw materials,” he said.

AgroNigeria recalls that in 2015, the CBN issued a directive stopping some imported goods and services from the list of items valid for forex which in turn barred access to foreign currency for entrepreneurs who used such products as raw materials.

Some of these banned goods include: cement, Margarine, Palm kernel/Palm oil, Poultry chicken, eggs, turkey, products/vegetables oil, Metal boxes and containers, Enamelware,  Steel drums, Steel pipes, Wire rods(deformed and not deformed), Iron rods and reinforcing bar, Wire mesh, Meat and processed meat products, Wood particle boards and panels, etc.

Jacobs said about 44 of its members have closed shop as a result of the lack of raw materials.

“We have lost about 44 of our members. They have gone out of business because of their inability to source foreign exchange to bring in the materials,” he said.

The MAN president however called on the government to review the 41 items that will involve the stakeholders to resolve manufacturers’ inaccessibility to forex.

“Such raw materials that cannot be locally available should be removed from the items,’’ he said.