President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Francis Meshioye, has again raised alarm over the continuous and rapid shrinking of the nation’s industrial base, saying the situation is a major cause for concern.
Quoting data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), he said the industry’s share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined from 27.65 per cent in the 2010 base year to 21.08 per cent under the 2019 rebased structure; just as manufacturing sector’s average five-year performance remained negative at –0.76 per cent between 2019 and 2024, whilst sectors like services and agriculture expanded.
He added that the rebased GDP figures signal a troubling shift from production to consumption and from production to services and informal value creation, lamenting that it was not sustainable.
Speaking yesterday at the Made in Nigeria Exhibition (MiNE), which is part of activities marking the association’s 53rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) and themed, ‘Nigeria First: Prioritising Patronage of Made-in-Nigeria,’ he said despite the numerous challenges manufacturers were made to endure in the country, they remained resilient; delivering high-quality, competitive and diverse goods, produced under extremely difficult conditions.
In his keynote address, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) representative and Director, Sub-Regional office in Nigeria and ECOWAS, Philbert Abaka Johnson, described the theme as timely and visionary and aligned 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.
Noting that a strong manufacturing base is the bedrock of sustainable development, he said swift interventions must be carried out on the economy and they must be deliberate, coherent and coordinated, especially in the areas of infrastructure and energy, access to finance, technology, market access and trade facilitation.
