MAN urges decisive economic reforms to address challenges in Nigeria’s manufacturing sector
President of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Otunba Francis Meshioye (1st from right) flank by Director General- Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadir mni, Chairman, Corporate Affairs and Strategic Planning Committee- Mrs Kofo Akinkugbe OON, and Asst. Director, Corporate Services Division-Dr Segun Alabi, while addressing the media during the 2025 edition of the MAN Media Personality Of The Year Award/Presidential Media Luncheon in Lagos.
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has declared that in 2024, Nigeria’s manufacturing sector encountered a myriad of macroeconomic and infrastructural challenges that severely impacted its performance and called for decisive economic reforms to address dire challenges facing Nigeria’s manufacturing sector.
President of MAN, Otunba Francis Meshioye, made this declaration while addressing the media during the 2025 edition of the MAN Media Personality Of The Year Award/Presidential Media Luncheon on Wednesday in Lagos, adding that the sector faced mounting pressure from high inflation, a depreciating Naira, rising interest rates, escalating electricity tariffs, record low sales, multiplicity of taxes and levies and militating security concerns.
Meshioye said that these factors collectively strained the sector’s profitability and curtailed its contribution to the nation’s GDP.
The President of MAN said that inflation in Nigeria reached an alarming 34.6% by November 2024, diminishing consumers’ purchasing power and causing a decline in demand for manufactured goods. T
This inflationary burden, according to him, also led to an accumulation of unsold inventory, which rose to N1.4trillion across the manufacturing industries.
Meshioye noted that Nigeria’s manufacturing sector suffered a severe contraction due to inflation, high interest rates, a depreciating Naira, and escalating energy costs.
By November 2024, he said inflation soared to 34.6%, significantly reducing consumer purchasing power and leaving manufacturers with unsold inventories worth ₦1.4 trillion, while the Naira’s sharp depreciation to over ₦1700/$ further exacerbated costs for imported raw materials, and electricity tariffs surged by 250%, straining operational expenses.
Meshioye said “The manufacturing sector’s contribution to GDP fell from 16.04% in late 2023 to 12.68% by mid-2024, a stark reflection of the sector’s struggles.”
He stated further that looking ahead to 2025, Nigeria’s overall economic growth is projected to be around 4%, a modest recovery compared to previous years, though still lower than the average growth rate for sub-Saharan Africa.
“As you are aware, a country that fails to develop its manufacturing sector will end up importing poverty and exporting wealth! This should not be the case for Nigeria, and that is why MAN is irrevocably committed to the facilitation of an environment that is conducive for manufacturing business in particular and economic development in general.
“In over five decades of our existence as a business membership organization, we can attest to the important role you play in magnifying our research-based advocacy, which has contributed to some of the successes we have achieved. We thank you for your unwavering support as you carry on with this partnership in the new year,” Meshioye emphasized.
The association, he noted made the following recommendations to government: “Timely passage of the 4 tax bill before the National Assembly; Implementation of the patronage of made-in-Nigeria products policy; Taming inflation; Ensuring food security and promoting local sourcing of Raw-Materials; Addressing policy inconsistency; Upgrading infrastructure (roads and railways); Promoting energy security and downward review of electricity tariffs; Prompt Clearance of backlog of Forex foreword by the CBN; and lastly, Ensuring affordable lending rate and increased access to credit.”
High point of the event was the presentation of awards by MAN president to the winners of various categories of the MAN Media Personality Of The Year Award 2024.
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