Nigeria simply has to come up with a comprehensive manufacturing programme that will double her gross domestic product within five years of she wants to get out of her current economic rut

Ayo Akinfe

[1] If you want to appreciate how unproductive we are as a country, get your head round the fact that manufacturing only accounts for about 7% of Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP). This is at the root of all our problems

[2] Do you know the global average with regards to manufacturing as a percentage of national GDP is 30%. When we only have about one quarter of that, you can see why our economy is in trouble, why insecurity is on the rise nationwide and why inflation is running riot

[3] In China, manufacturing as a percentage of GDP is a whopping 40% and in developing economies similar to Nigeria such as Indonesia, Mexico, Iran and Brazil, it is 47%, 34.2%, 40.6% and 27.4% respectively

[4] Nigeria currently has a paltry GDP of around $400bn. If we can double the contribution of manufacturing as a percentage of GDP, I think we can easily boost that figure to $1trn within five years

[5] No matter how many dollars you throw at the naira, any respite is temporary as ultimately, the strength of your economy is what really determines the value of your currency. We import so much that any vagaries in the global currency market automatically has an inflationary impact on Nigeria’s economy

[6] However, we have a lot to leverage on as we can use agriculture as a basis to manufacture agri-based products. We also have enough solid minerals to begin manufacturing finished industrial goods like pipe rods, machine tools, ball bearings, etc. We also have enough oil and gas to become a major player in the global petro-chemicals industry

[7] We simply need to get Nigeria manufacturing to move on to the next rung of the ladder. I am hopeful that the gas-fired industrial park in Delta State will be the catalyst for the Nigerian industrial revolution

[8] As an economic model, we need the margins from manufacturing to offset the volume of imports. Nigeria then needs to increase her export earnings from the current $50bn to around $100bn and to end this crazy dependency on crude oil

[9] I doubt if the APC government has a policy unit or think tank that has drawn up any manufacturing plans. Neither did the PDP as when President Yar’Adua assumed office in 2007, he said he could not believe there were no policy units in Aso Rock. As a nation, we need to address this

[10] If Nigeria can crack the manufacturing nut, watch all her other major problems crumble. Insecurity, corruption, limited power supply, ethnic mistrust, etc are all by-products of low productivity. If you ask me, President Bola Tinubu needs to immediately appoint a minister for manufacturing with a mandate to turn Nigeria into an industrial workshop

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