The Federal Government has set a target for manufacturing to contribute between 20 and 25 per cent to Nigeria’s economy by 2030, ahead of the imminent launch of the Nigerian Industrial Policy.
However, available data show that the sector still has a long way to go, despite expectations of modest improvement in the near term.
Manufacturing’s share of real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which stood at over 20 per cent in the early 1990s, has steadily declined over the past three decades to less than 9 per cent in 2024, highlighting deep-seated structural weaknesses in Nigeria’s industrial base.
Historical data indicate that the sector contributed 20.3 per cent to GDP in 1992. By contrast, average manufacturing contribution to GDP in the first nine months of 2025 stood at 8.35 per cent.
Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that manufacturing’s contribution has largely stagnated within the 8–9 per cent range in recent years.
The sector accounted for 9.20 per cent of GDP in 2018, 9.06 per cent in 2019, 8.99 per cent in 2020, 8.98 per cent in 2021, and 8.92 per cent in 2022. In 2023, it averaged about 9.0 per cent, while preliminary data for 2024 place it within a narrow 9–10 per cent band.
Announcing the government’s manufacturing target at the recent soft launch of the Nigerian Industrial Policy, the Minister of State for Industry, John Enoh, said the policy aims to strengthen local production, promote backward integration, improve access to affordable financing, and foster linkages between small and large enterprises.
Meanwhile, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has projected that manufacturing will account for about 10.2 per cent of real GDP in 2026, reflecting cautious optimism about the sector’s recovery.