The Federal Government has been urged to ensure Nigeria’s industrial policy translates into productive capacity, investment, domestic value creation, competitive exports, and jobs, rather than remaining a mere policy document.
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Former Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Dr Kandeh Yumkella, said Nigeria has the essential foundations for an industrial powerhouse, including its scale, resources, vibrant entrepreneurs, financial depth and strategic position within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Speaking at the 54th yearly general meeting of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and the 6th Adeola Odutola Lecture in Lagos, he said the country has not converted its potential into corresponding industrial performance, noting that manufacturing remained at about seven to eight per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while manufacturing exports generated only about three per cent of export revenue.
  
Yumkella said the Nigerian Industrial Policy (NIP) must be judged by its implementation and the productive capacity it creates.‎ He said government, particularly the ministries responsible for industry and finance, should deliberately measure the policy’s performance by tracking the number of new factories established, performance of existing factories, domestic value created and investment mobilised.
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He said the government should also determine why factories are failing and what can be done to support them, stressing that successful industrialising countries measured performance and adjusted policies or deployed public capital when targets were not being met.
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Yumkella said the NIP recognised constraints limiting competitiveness, including infrastructure gaps, high production costs, limited access to finance and foreign exchange, and productivity challenges and provided a framework for diversifying the economy, strengthening domestic production, expanding value addition and enhancing Nigeria’s position in regional and global markets. He said implementation would require coordination among relevant government institutions and closer alignment between industrial and fiscal policies.
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Yumkella said the changing global economy also means Nigeria must consider emerging opportunities and pressures from reconfigured supply chains, technology, AI, climate change and geopolitics. He said countries are increasingly competing not only for markets but also for capital, technology, talent and productive capacity.
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According to him, Nigeria must decide whether it is prepared to compete for the industries of tomorrow or will continue to compete primarily for today’s markets, citing developments in the refinery, fertiliser, pharmaceutical, automotive, and solid minerals sectors as opportunities for Nigeria to deepen domestic production and value addition.
   
On pharmaceuticals, he said domestic production should go beyond formulation and packaging to include more of the value chain, including active pharmaceutical ingredients, clinical research, quality assurance and exports. Touching on Nigeria’s solid minerals policy on lithium, he noted that processing within the country can support the development of a battery and component-production industry.
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He said Nigeria should not limit its industrial ambitions to the domestic market, but should manufacture for West Africa, the rest of Africa and the global market, citing Aba and Nnewi as examples of areas where small and medium-sized enterprises had developed manufacturing capabilities despite constraints.
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He said the next step is to create an environment where more companies become regional and global champions, supported by regional markets, infrastructure, predictable rules, financing, skills and standards.
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He, however, identified energy as one of the major constraints to Nigeria’s industrial development.‎ He said manufacturers spent about N1.3 trillion on self-generated power in 2025, with energy accounting for as much as 40 per cent of production costs. He lamented that the energy challenge had persisted for decades and continues to undermine the competitiveness of Nigerian manufacturers.
  
Yumkella also linked industrialisation to employment, saying West Africa’s young population made job creation urgent. With a population of over 450 million people and a median age of 18-20 years, he said about eight million jobs must be created yearly and only manufacturing can create said jobs.
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He added that Nigeria’s fertiliser production, for instance, can support agricultural production if agricultural policy aligns with industrial policy to create demand for locally produced fertiliser.
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Earlier, President of the Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Jani Ibrahim, said Nigeria has the markets, people, raw materials and entrepreneurial energy required for industrialisation. Ibrahim, however, said the country lacks consistent policy implementation for investments to pay off.
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He said government, as the largest buyer in the economy, should lead by example through public procurement, adding that Nigerian manufacturers have products ready for the regional market. Ibrahim said Nigeria must first become the factory of West Africa if it is to become Africa’s industrial hub. He, however, identified non-tariff barriers, roadblocks, poor transport corridors and uneven application of the ECOWAS trade liberalisation scheme as constraints to intra-regional trade.