Nigeria’s Industrial Sector Shrinks Despite GDP Growth: MAN Urges Manufacturing Focus
Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.13% in Q1 2025, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), signaling a positive outlook for economic recovery. However, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has raised alarms over the persistent decline in the contribution of the industrial sector to the nation’s GDP. While the rebased GDP figures suggest a broader and more diversified economy, they also expose significant weaknesses within Nigeria’s manufacturing sector.
Segun Ajayi-Kadir, Director-General of MAN, emphasized that although the new GDP data reflects increased activity in agriculture, services, and the informal sector, the industrial sector’s declining share is worrisome. Under the new 2019 base year, the industry’s contribution to GDP dropped to 21.08% from 27.65% in the 2010 base year, highlighting a structural shift away from production toward lower-productivity services.
Ajayi-Kadir described the manufacturing sector as structurally weak and underperforming. He noted that key sub-sectors that should be leading growth have failed to live up to expectations, with data showing that the manufacturing sector shrank by an average of -0.76% annually between 2019 and 2024. This indicates a sustained contraction in real manufacturing output despite nominal economic expansion.
MAN warned that while Nigeria may now boast a statistically larger economy due to the rebasing exercise, the country is neither more productive nor more industrialised. The figures reveal that growth is being driven more by consumption-related sectors rather than value-added production, which is critical for job creation, foreign exchange earnings, and sustainable development.
In light of these concerns, MAN urged the federal government to place stronger emphasis on industrialisation and manufacturing development. The association believes that revitalising the industrial sector is essential to ensure long-term economic resilience, inclusive growth, and a genuine transformation of Nigeria’s economic structure.
Source: Vanguard