Nigeria’s manufacturers are pressing for more domestic production as World Bank data show the country’s manufacturing value added was less than half the levels recorded in Egypt and South Africa in 2025.
At a Nov. 4 workshop in Lagos, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) called for a broad effort to build local industry and limit reliance on foreign equipment, production supplies, technology and finished goods, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The World Bank’s 2025 figures put Nigeria’s manufacturing value added at $24.01 billion in current U.S. dollars. Egypt recorded $52.96 billion and South Africa $52.35 billion. Manufacturing contributed 8.26% of Nigeria’s GDP that year, the World Bank said.
NAN said MAN Director-General Segun Ajayi-Kadir, mni, was represented at the meeting by Assistant Director Oluyinka Omojolaibi. An address titled “Import-Dependent Competitive Nigeria Capability” warned that reliance on imported machinery, production supplies and technology exposes businesses to currency strain, supply interruptions, rising prices and other external shocks.
The address cited unreliable power, borrowing costs, overlapping taxes, regulatory hurdles and transport charges as constraints on manufacturers. It urged government, financial institutions, schools, research organizations and private businesses to coordinate, with priorities including accessible financing, technical education, infrastructure and energy investment, research and technology transfer.
NAN reported that the address put manufacturers’ 2025 spending on alternative power generation above 1.34 trillion naira and said energy accounted for more than half of operating overheads.
NAN reported Jonas Nzeagwu, NOTAP’s director of technology transfer registration, as saying states with commercial centers should build “industrial and logistics hubs.” He also urged states with technology ecosystems to support digital industries.
