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Charles Nwaoguji
To say the last 12 months have been momentous for the country is certainly stating the obvious.
Many challenges confronted Nigerian manufacturing sector in 2019, simply because of inability of the government to pay proper attention to the real sector.
Stakeholders believe that the real sector has not fared well. For instance, the Director General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Muda Yusuf, said, contributions from the industrial sector to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are still poor at about four per cent.
“The impact of manufacturing on Nigeria economic development can’t be overemphasized. Nigeria has not grown its wealth from manufacturing sector because it has not invested enough in the manufacturing industry. A strong and thriving manufacturing sector usually precipitates industrialization,” he said.
Lack of funds and an enabling environment for industrialists have denied the nation the capacity to achieve significant industrial growth or industrialization which Nigeria has always hoped and craved for. Considering the enormous importance attached to industrialization and how it impacts on our economy, any problem militating against its achievement should be of interest to us.
2019 has showed that manufacturing in Nigeria has been marred with a series of policy inconsistencies and distractions attributable to the discovery of oil. From a modest 4.8 percent in 1960, manufacturing’s contribution to the nation’s GDP increased to 7.2 percent in 1970 and to 7.4 percent in 1975. In 1980, it declined to 5.4 percet but then surged to a record high of 10.7 percent in 1985. By 1990, manufacturing contributed 8.1 percent to the GDP but then dropped to 7.9 percent in 1992, 6.7 percent in 1995 and fell further to 6.3 percent in 1997. As of 2001, it dropped further to 3.4% from 6.2 percent in 2000. However, it increased to 4.16 percent in 2011 which is less than what it was in 1960, the current manufacturing’s contribution to the nation’s GDP stands at 4 percent which is not healthy to the economy.
