In a major leadership transition for the nation’s real sector, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has elected Dr. Ifeanyi Eric Okoye, Chief Executive Officer of Juhel Nigeria Limited, as its 12th President. The decision was reached during the election of officers session at the association’s 54th Annual General Meeting (AGM), held on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, at the Grand Ballroom of the Lagos Oriental Hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos State.
Confirming the election results, the Director-General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, stated that Dr. Okoye brings a depth of industrial expertise and policy leadership to the helm of the association. Ajayi-Kadir noted that the newly elected president has consistently served the body across multiple capacities over two decades, having led the Enugu, Anambra, and Ebonyi States branch as Chairman between 1998 and 2005, before assuming the role of Vice President from 2006 to 2010.
Dr. Okoye officially succeeds outgoing President Otunba Francis Meshioye, whose four-year tenure concluded at the end of the three-day AGM, which ran from October 5 to 7 under the theme “Leveraging National Industrial Policy to Position Nigeria as Africa’s Industrial Hub”. A distinguished figure in Nigeria’s pharmaceutical and industrial landscape, Dr. Okoye established Juhel Nigeria Limited in 1987 in Enugu State.
Under his stewardship, the company expanded operations to its permanent factory site in Emene between 1989 and 2001, culminating in the opening of a ultra-modern parenteral production facility in Awka, Anambra State, in 2010. Academically, the new MAN president earned his Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) and subsequently completed both his Master’s degree and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Technology and Industrial Pharmacy at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
A Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria and an alumnus of Harvard Business School, he holds the prestigious Member of the National Institute designation following his completion of the senior executive course at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru. His public service contributions were nationally recognised in 2012 when the Federal Government conferred upon him the honor of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic, complementing his extended tenure on the Governing Council of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria from 2009 to 2022.
Delivering his acceptance speech at the conclusion of the Lagos summit, Dr. Okoye addressed the press and industry leaders, pledging to confront the immediate headwinds facing Nigerian manufacturers, most notably foreign exchange volatility, high energy costs, infrastructure deficits, and tight credit conditions. He reaffirmed his commitment to engaging key public institutions to advance domestic manufacturing capacities, lower operational costs, and align national economic policies toward sustainable industrial growth.
