The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has asked the federal government to address the concerns raised by the organised private sector during the new minimum wage negotiation to enable them to implement the new minimum wage agreement.
The Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mr. Segun Ajayi Kadir stated this in his reaction to the N70,000 minimum agreement between the federal government and organised labour unions yesterday.
According to him, the President promised to find ways to help the private sector and sub-nationals pay the minimum wage and manufacturers looked forward to the promised assistance and urged the private sector to rely on the President’s commitment to facilitate their alignment with the agreement.
He said, “In this regard, I would assume that reference would be made to the demands made by the Organised Private Sector at the concluding stage of the tripartite negotiations.
“We had intimated to the committee the challenges confronting businesses in the private sector and that there was the need to ameliorate those challenges in order to improve the capacity of our members to pay the minimum wage that we offered.”
“We maintained that those binding constraints may constitute impediments to the full compliance of our members when the minimum wage is signed into law.”
“So, the assumption is that Mr President will give expedited consideration to those challenges and take necessary steps to address them. This will go a long way in onboarding the private sector in the new agreement on the minimum wage,”
Ajayi-Kadir presented a list of demands to help the private sector manage the new minimum wage payments. He recommended exempting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) from compliance due to their limited capacity and operational challenges.
He also urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to honour all validly transacted outstanding foreign exchange forwards for companies in the productive sector. This move would provide much-needed financial stability for businesses engaged in production.
Additionally, Ajayi-Kadir called for the reversal of the electricity tariff increase or, alternatively, a 100% increase in tariffs for a minimum of 20 hours of supply. This would ensure that businesses receive adequate electricity supply to justify the higher costs.
He further proposed duty exemptions on imported conversion kits and government subsidies for their procurement. He also suggested a freeze on the introduction of new business taxes for the next five years to help businesses stabilize and grow.
