The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, has asked the Central Bank of Nigeria to reverse its newly introduced Price Verification System.
The Director-General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir made this request in a recent interview.
On August 17, the CBN launched the Price Verification System portal after a successful pilot phase and extensive training sessions was held with all Nigerian banks to enhance transparency, accountability, and standardisation in trade operations.
It then mandated on August 31, 2023, that all applications for Forms M must be accompanied by a valid Price Verification Report, which can be generated exclusively from the newly established Price Verification Portal.
According to The Punch, Ajayi-Kadir said the CBN’s Price Verification System is one of the policies negatively affecting the activities of manufacturers in the country.
Ajayi-Kadir said, “We look forward to the reversal of so many unnecessary restrictions placed by the CBN. One of them is the price verification portal which for all practical purposes is quite unnecessary.
“It is affecting the businesses of our members who cannot import raw materials, machines and parts because the prices that they bought do not fall into the threshold of the portal. I think it is limiting businesses. The CBN should discontinue the operation of that portal.”
Furthermore, he urged the CBN to revisit some of its policies to remove the bottlenecks impacting the activities of the real sector of the economy negatively.
“It is a step that CBN needs to take very urgently so that it does not restrain the operations of the manufacturing sector. Everything that the government should do now is to revamp the economy and not to place unnecessary hurdles to the flow of business.
“What the government should focus on is the adequacy of forex. All efforts should be geared towards that direction and not placing unnecessary restrictions that will only hurt genuine and struggling manufacturers in the country.”
Alleluia is the Assistant Editor and Content Writer at LagosPost.ng. She is a prolific writer and editor, she has written features and news stories on Lifestyle, Sports, Business, Politics and B2B marketing. She is also an event coordinator, host and social media content creator.
