Lagos, June 24, 2025 – The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has pleaded with the Lagos State Government to reconsider its proposed ban on single-use plastics (SUPs).
The association made the plea in a statement issued by Segun Ajayi-Kadir, its Director General.
It said the ban could cause economic, social, and operational disruptions in the manufacturing sector and worsen unemployment and poverty levels across the state.
MAN said the proposed ban was not backed by adequate data, while the key players in the industry were not consulted.
It said the problem of environmental pollution ascribed for the ban was not a plastic problem, but a waste management failure.
“It is the failure of plastic waste management that leads to pollution, not the material itself,” adding that banning SUPs would not resolve pollution issues but merely substitute one problem for another, especially without scalable alternatives or infrastructure to support the transition.
MAN suggested a system-oriented and circular economy strategy instead of an outright ban on the single-use-plastics (SUPs), urging government to invest in recycling infrastructure, including sorting and collection systems.
It also advised the state government to support local production of sustainable alternatives and adopt evidence-based policymaking informed by context-specific data.
The association said the federal government had already developed a national plastic Action Roadmap and a National Policy on Plastic Waste Management (NPPWM), both of which promote circularity and were developed through inclusive consultations.
