If Nigeria’s manufacturing industry must thrive, power, transportation and other sectors must be given priority attention.
This was the call made by the President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, who added that, based on an International Monetary Fund report, about $29b is lost annually due to poor power supply in Nigeria.
Adesina said this in his lecture titled, ‘Overcoming Binding Constraints to Competitive Manufacturing for Intra-Regional Trade’, which he presented at the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria Annual Meeting on Tuesday in Abuja.
He lamented the low export revenue generated from the manufacturing sector, representing only three per cent of total revenues from export.
“The manufacturing sector of Nigeria represents only three per cent of total revenues from exports, but accounts for 50 per cent of imports in the country.
“Instead of being forward looking in expanding the share of the manufactured goods in its total export revenue, Nigeria focuses on the model of import substitution. Import substitution, while important, is a very restrictive vision,” he lamented.
The AfDB president added that it is challenging to be a manufacturer in Nigeria, with one of the major challenges being the very high cost and unreliability of electricity supplies.
