Monday,March 08, 2021 / 10:30AM / Ottoabasi Abasiekong for WebTV / Header Image Credit: ChannelsTV
Rethinking Nigeria's industrialization strategy is one key step torepositioning the manufacturing sector for growth and stability in 2021.The Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr.Muda Yusuf, made this point while assessing developments in the nation'smanufacturing sector.
According to Yusuf, emphasis should be placed on resource-basedindustrialization in the country, which can make Nigeria a competitive economy.
He said local value addition was key in driving industrialization, whichcan improve Nigeria's global competitiveness.
The economist described Nigeria's manufacturing sector as a highlyimport-dependent sector that makes it vulnerable to commodity price shocks.
The LCCI boss decried the fact that the sector in almost a decadecontributed less than 10% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Nigerianeconomy.
"A shift from import substitution characterized by foreign exchangesupport for importing raw materials adversely affected thecountry's manufacturing sector" he said.
Yusuf noted that it was time to ease the FX environment, liberalize FXinflows, reduce illiquidity in the FX market and tackle economicrent-seekers'.
He reiterated the need for the government to address critical issueslike energy(power), logistics/ transportation (roads, bridges, rail), and theease of doing business.
He also tasked the government with driving policies to support theactivities of indigenous manufacturers in Nigeria, considering foreigndominance in the sector.
On the emergence of Dr (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the Director-Generalof the World Trade Organization (WTO), he was of the view that under herleadership, developing countries can receive technical support to strengthentheir weak trade institutions.
According to the GDP report published by the National Bureau ofStatistics (NBS), the manufacturing sector dipped by -1.51% in Q4, 2020, andfor the full year, 2020 contracted by -2.75%.
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