The moment Sim Fubara took office as governor of Rivers State, manufacturers saw a real opening. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, had begun mapping out plans to deepen industrial activity in the state, encouraged by the promise of a fresh administration and the economic potential that Rivers has long carried but never fully unlocked.
Then the political crisis hit. The fierce power struggle that consumed Rivers State politics threw those plans into uncertainty, stalling conversations, delaying commitments, and leaving the business environment too unstable for manufacturers to move forward with confidence. MAN has now spoken openly about how that turmoil directly interrupted the industrialisation push the association had hoped to build alongside the new government.
Rivers State sits on enormous economic promise, from its oil wealth to its ports and its dense population of working-age people. But investors and industry players need stability before they write cheques or break ground, and the prolonged crisis made that stability impossible to guarantee. The question now is whether calm can be restored quickly enough to pick up where those plans left off.
Originally published by BusinessDay.