Nigeria’s industrial sector has been seen as performing below expectations, posing a substantial threat to the country’s economic growth prospects, needing sustained industrialisation strategy, experts have said.
The Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to the National Bureau of Statistics grew by 3.13 percent year-on-year in real terms in the first quarter of 2025, mainly driven mainly by the services and industry sectors.
The industry sector’s contribution to the nation’s GDP has remained sluggish, in past years, as NBS data showed 21.08 percent contribution to GDP in 2019, 17.51 percent in 2020, 15.73 percent in 2021, 16.61 percent in 2022, 16.71 percent in 2023 and 16. 67 percent in 2024.
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Even though this sector’s contribution increased to 19.19 percent in the rebased GDP figures for first quarter of 2025, Abiola Adenikinju, President of the Nigerian Economic Society, warned that the sector’s performance was weak and indicates the need for a deliberate and sustained industrialisation strategy.
Adenikinju, who spoke at a workshop on GDP and Consumer Price Index (CPI) rebasing organised by the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA), and NBS in Abuja on Thursday, explained that the lessons from pandemic in 2020 show that a resilient economy requires strong industrial capacity.
“The industrial sector can’t just be built on market forces alone. We need deliberate long-term plans, similar to Malaysia’s model, linking academia with agriculture and manufacturing so that research and education directly impact our economy,” he said.
Uche Uwaleke, Professor of Finance and Capital Markets at Nasarawa State University in his remarks decried poor growth recorded in the sector, stating that there was need for reforms in oil and gas, energy, and power sectors.
He also emphasized tbe need for more investments in critical infrastructure such as road, power, security broadband penetration, institutional strengthening, and ease of doing business to stimulate industrial growth.
Uwaleke, speaking further noted that Nigeria’s sovereign yield had been declining, indicating waning investor confidence.
According to the NBS, agriculture sector contributed 25.83 percent to GDP in 2019, rising to 27.81 percent in 2024. The services sector maintained its dominance, increasing from 53.09 percent in 2019 to 55.52 percent in 2024.
In contrast, the industrial and oil sectors recorded declined in both growth and contribution during the same period.
Also commenting on the sectors performance, Adeyemi Adeniran, Statistician-General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of NBS, noted that the agricultural sector’s strong performance was largely driven by informal sector activities, which accounted for a significantly higher share compared to the formal sector.
“Data is important to the socio-economic growth and development of any country, especially for Nigeria with lofty plans of becoming a trillion-dollar economy by 2030. More crucial than the size of the economy is ensuring resources are exploited sustainably and efficiently for the benefit of citizens,” he said.
He explained that the rebasing exercise, which drew data from the 2019 and 2023 Nigeria Living Standards Survey (NLSS) and other sources, provided updated measurements for household expenditure and the informal sector’s contribution to GDP.
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Adeniran stressed that the NBS would continue to promote data literacy to ensure policymakers and stakeholders fully understand and apply statistical information in decision-making.
The rebased figures also revealed that trade emerged as the fastest-growing economic activity in the first quarter of 2025.
GDP at current basic prices grew from N204.34 trillion in 2019 to N364.62 trillion in 2024, while GDP at current market prices rose from N205.09 trillion to N372.82 trillion over the same period. At constant basic prices, GDP increased marginally from N204.34 trillion in 2019 to N213.29 trillion in 2024.
