Realising Goals of Nigeria Industrial Policy

Seven months after the launch of the 2025 Nigeria Industrial Policy (NIP), industry leaders are focusing on how to achieve its goals. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) praised the policy for its potential to boost industrial productivity, increase global competitiveness, and create jobs through targeted financing mechanisms.

However, MAN emphasized that the NIP's success relies on concrete steps to tackle industry challenges such as credit shortages, high energy costs, unreliable electricity supply, and a lack of foreign exchange for imports. The association warned that high credit costs could undermine the policy's effectiveness, stating that a robust financial transmission mechanism is crucial for turning government plans into factory floor realities.

Without accessible, affordable credit, the policy's ambitious economic diversification and revitalization targets may remain unattainable. MAN urged the Central Bank of Nigeria to lower the Monetary Policy Rate below 20 percent, especially for manufacturers, as current lending rates remain prohibitively high, making long-term manufacturing investments financially unviable.

The association also called on the government to pass the NIP as legislation to make targets and incentives legally binding, as well as to integrate the Bureau of Public Procurement portal with a local content registry, thereby ensuring compliance with Nigerian manufacturers through a 60 percent local procurement requirement. CPPE CEO Dr. Muda Yusuf praised the NIP as the country's most comprehensive industrial policy in decades, aligning it with Nigeria's Agenda 2050, the National Development Plan, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and the global shift towards digital and green industrialization.

However, Yusuf stressed that successful implementation is more important than a well-designed policy, as a competitive business environment is necessary for manufacturers to compete globally amidst high energy costs, inadequate electricity, expensive finance, inefficient logistics, and regulatory challenges. Yusuf proposed five pillars for Nigeria to become a leading African industrial economy: competitive production costs, productivity and innovation, infrastructure development, human capital development, and export capability enhancements.