Industrial Realities in Nigeria: From Bad to Worse

This paper assesses the industrial performance and capabilities of Nigeria over the last decade. It explores Nigeria’s export and production capacity, growth, structure and technological upgrading and compares it to other Sub-Saharan countries. Evidence shows that Nigerian industry is inexorably falling behind and becoming increasingly marginalized in the international and regional industrial scene. Total manufacturing value added and manufactured exports have significantly declined and there has been a technological downgrading of Nigeria’s traditional manufacturing sectors. Moreover, increased dependency on oil extraction puts a serious threat to Nigeria’s industrial competitive future. Severe flaws in the education system, technological stagnation of domestic companies, lack of foreign investment in manufacturing, negligible technology transfer and weak ICT infrastructure constitute significant factors for failure. Further analysis should however include other factors not explored in this exercise, including macro-economic and fiscal policies, governance and the regulatory and business environment.