MAN expects 4000 participants at raw materials, equipment exhibition

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) is expecting about 4,000 participants at the 2019 Raw Materials and Equipment Exhibition slated to hold in March in Lagos.

This was disclosed by the President of MAN, Engr. Mansur Ahmed, when he led a delegation of private and public sector players to the headquarters of Media Trust Limited, Abuja, over the weekend.

Engr. Ahmed said the exhibition, which will hold from 12th to 14th of March, 2019 in Lagos, is being organised in partnership with the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) to promote the manufacturing sector in Nigeria through encouraging improved use of raw materials in the country.

The MAN president said exhibitors are expected across the country to showcase Nigeria’s huge capacity in raw material production and manufactured products.

He said 30 per cent of all exhibitors expected at the event are foreign as MAN is collaborating with a foreign firm to source for foreign exhibitors of equipment that can be used for local processing of raw materials in the country.

He said the overall goal of the exhibition is to promote agriculture, mining and manufacturing in Nigeria as well as promote raw material researches conducted by the Federal Government to advance local processing of raw materials into finished goods.

He said there would also be side-events at the exhibition, including master classes, seminars and live demonstrations of raw material processing.

The Director of Investment and Consultancy Services Department of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council, Dr. Zainab Hammanga, said the interest of RMRDC in the exhibition is to see improvement in import substitution in the country as some of the raw materials being sourced abroad abound in Nigeria.

Dr. Hammanga said some locally sourced materials are of superior quality compared to the imported ones but noted that Nigerians have more taste for imported ones.