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| Nigeria’s manufacturers |
Nigeria’s manufacturers have issued an urgent call for a ₦1 trillion Manufacturing Stabilisation Fund and sharply lower borrowing costs, warning that the country’s recent economic expansion is papering over a fragile industrial base.
Segun Kadir, Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), made the demand at the BusinessDay Go Local Summit 2.0 in Lagos on Thursday. He stressed that sustained growth cannot rest on services alone while productive capacity continues to erode.
Industrial sector growth dropped to 3.96 percent in the second quarter of 2026 from 7.46 percent in the corresponding period of 2025. Manufacturing’s contribution to GDP stood at 7.72 percent even as the broader economy expanded 4.43 percent in real terms, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
“Consumption without production is not an economy; it is a countdown to a crisis,” Kadir declared.
Financing pressures are acute. Short-term lending rates average 32 percent, while bank credit to the manufacturing sector has contracted by nearly ₦2 trillion. MAN wants the proposed stabilisation fund channelled through the Bank of Industry with a seven-day disbursement turnaround. It further recommends quarterly cuts of 200–300 basis points in benchmark rates over two years so the BOI can refinance manufacturers at 7–9 percent.
A dedicated foreign-exchange window for essential raw materials and heavy machinery unavailable locally is also being sought.
Beyond finance, manufacturers face punishing operating costs. The sector spent ₦1.34 trillion on alternative energy sources in 2025, while freight costs surged more than 85 percent. Nigeria imported $21 billion of manufactured goods against exports of only $1.65 billion, underscoring heavy reliance on foreign production.
Regulatory bottlenecks compound the strain. Multiple levies, customs charges, delayed VAT refunds and cargo dwell times of 18–21 days inflate expenses. Kadir called for zero-rating of duties on completely knocked-down and semi-knocked-down kits and the removal of import adjustment taxes on inputs that cannot be sourced domestically.
MAN also urged full enforcement of the “Nigeria First” procurement policy across government agencies to create demand for local goods and the enactment of the Nigeria Industrial Policy 2025 into law for greater policy certainty.
While acknowledging the existing ₦75 billion manufacturing intervention fund and other initiatives, Kadir insisted that execution would decide their impact. “Vision without execution is just an illusion,” he concluded.