MAN warns of Nigeria’s rapid industrial decline

Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), has raised a red flag over the alarming rate at which the country’s industrial sector is shrinking, citing high interest rates, high energy costs and infrastructure deficits as major challenges.

Francis Meshioye, president of MAN, who raised the alarm over the continuous industrial base decline on Tuesday at the opening of the Made in Nigeria Exhibition (MiNE), said the situation is a major cause of concern for manufacturers.

Citing data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Meshioye said that the manufacturing share of GDP declined from 27.6 percent in the 2010 base year to 21 percent in the rebased structure.

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He added that the sector’s average five-year performance remains negative at -0.76 percent between 2019 and 2024, while sectors like services and agriculture expanded.

The president noted that the rebased GDP figures signal a troubling shift from production to consumption, services and informal value creation, lamenting that this is not sustainable.

He said despite the numerous challenges’ manufacturers are made to endure in the country, they remain resilient; delivering high-quality, competitive and diverse goods, produced under extremely difficult conditions.

Speaking on the theme, ‘Nigeria First: Prioritising Patronage of Made-in-Nigeria,’ which formed part of activities marking the association’s 53rd Annual General Meeting (AGM), he stressed that patronage of made in Nigeria products is a rallying call and national policy proposition that speaks directly to the country’s economic survival and long-term transformation.

He said the recent developments in the economy lend credence to the urgency of this call.

According to him, to build a resilient, inclusive and forward-looking economy that investors will have confidence in, the country must re-industrialise, and that process must begin with deliberate support for local manufacturers.

“The “Nigeria First” agenda is not about closing our doors to the world; it is about opening the right doors to Nigerian-made solutions, Nigerian jobs and Nigerian ingenuity,” he said.

“Every industrialised country began its journey by nurturing local content and leveraging public and private procurement as an avenue for galvanising scale production and economic development. Nigeria must not go the opposite direction,” he noted.

He stressed that existing Executive Orders, 003 and 005, must be aligned with the Nigeria First Policy and fully implemented, enforced and monitored.

“Quite importantly, there must be consequences for non-compliance. We should eliminate the prevalence of selective compliance.”

“Now is the time to create the policy framework for transitioning the Nigeria First Policy from executive pronouncements to legislative imperative and ultimately to unfettered and bold implementation.”

“We cannot continue to allow policy inertia to undermine our development potential.”

He went on to urge the establishment of a functional, independent compliance institution tasked with auditing patronage levels, recommending corrective action and publicly disclosing performance across Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government.

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He further called on corporate Nigeria to align with the “Nigeria First” policy by looking within for raw materials, packaging and inputs.

Calling for an annual “Proudly Nigeria Day,” he noted that on this day, all citizens, especially public officials, must wear, use and consume only Made-in-Nigeria products.

He however noted that for “Nigeria First” to succeed, supply must meet demand but for supply to be competitive, the operating environment must improve.

In his keynote address, Philbert Johnson, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) representative and director, Sub-Regional office in Nigeria and ECOWAS, described the theme as timely and visionary.

Johnson added that the theme also aligns with the global drive for resilient, inclusive and sustainable industrialisation.

He said the’ Nigeria First’ policy must go beyond rhetoric and patriotic sentiment and can only succeed with deliberate and coordinated action from all levels of the society.