The Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Segun Ajayi-Kadir, has said many manufacturers in the country spend more money to secure their assets than what they pay as taxes to the government coffers.

Ajayi-Kadir stated this, yesterday, while speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme.

According to him, the cost of security and energy continues to add to the production overhead of manufacturers which translates to high prices of goods in the country.

He lamented that the insecurity situation in the country has forced 60 percent of MAN members in the insurgency-troubled North-East geopolitical zone out of business.

His words: “Insecurity is a major challenge. We lost between 56 to 60 percent of our members in the North-East to insecurity. They just stopped production. Insecurity is a disincentive to manufacturing activities.

“Some of us pay for security more than the taxes that we pay because it (security expenses) has to be on a continuous basis.”

Speaking on the hike in electricity tariff, the MAN DG said the increasing cost of energy continues to add to the production cost of manufacturers which translates to high prices of goods in the country.

He said though “power is not charity”, there has to be engagement between stakeholders like manufacturers and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) before any increment in electricity tariff.

Ajayi-Kadir frowned at “arbitrary” hike in electricity tariff, saying that the cost of power supply has been “extremely prohibitive” for many manufacturers in the country.

He said the environment has been tough, not only for businesses but for individuals, noting that the President Bola Tinubu administration needs to work with stakeholders to smoothen the rough edges of its economic reforms and policies.

“We still need to work with the government to address the issues. We still need to have some strong conversations on some of the policies of the government.

“We do not, and we cannot afford the Lord-and-Master relationship. We operate in an economy where the private sector has a lot of stakes and the Federal Government or the public sector has a duty to provide for the overall wellbeing of the people. So, there has to be this synergy for us to be able to make progress,” he said.