By NAOMI UZOR
LAGOS—Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, yesterday, said the manufacturing sector was one of the most vulnerable in the country’s economy because of  competition.

It also raised concern over the influx of Asian goods into the country, which it noted was killing local manufactured goods.

LCCI’s Director-General, Mr. Muda Yusuf, in a statement on the first quarter business environment report, said: “The manufacturing sector is one of the most vulnerable in the Nigerian economy because of competitiveness issues.  Its contribution to Gross Domestic Product remains very low, at less than five per cent.

”The usual challenges of the sector persisted as high energy cost remains top on the list of the challenges facing manufacturing; market access is now an even bigger challenge for most manufacturing firms.

”The influx of Asian goods into the Nigerian market poses a major risk to the survival of many manufacturing enterprises; rampant cases of faking, counterfeiting, and dumping of sub-standard products, credit access and cost remains an issue with many investors in the sector and fuel subsidy removal increased operating cost.”

He noted that the economy needed a measure of regulation for good performance, adding that too many regulatory agencies could be counter-productive.

He said: “The key issues identified by private sector players in the economy are too many regulatory agencies in the economy, some with overlapping functions; the agencies are often more interested in revenue generation than on the real regulatory mandate and the charges of many of the agencies are prohibitive.”