Manufacturers in Nigeria have attributed the remarkable improvement in the sector’s performance to favourable government policies, especially with respect to industry, trade and investment.
Reacting to the recent analysis done by Renaissance Capital that showed that the manufacturing sector is now the major driver of economic growth in Nigeria, the Managing Director, Coleman Wires and Cable, Mr George Onafowokan, believes the sector will grow further if proper policies and structures are put in place.
According to him all that is left is to further improve the situation through consistency in policy as the country continues to strive to improve its non-oil revenue.
He pointed out that the enabling factor required for production, like power are getting better, as companies were beginning to build their own power plants powered by gas.
Mr Onafowokan said that the rebasing of the Nigerian economy had lead to expansion of the economy.
“You cannot rebase a figure and say it is the largest economy in the continent and then not find people that are positive enough to take their money and invest in it or expand their expectations,” he said.
As indicated in the report, the manufacturing sector recorded 22% growth in 2013 as against 14% growth recorded in 2012 and the growth is largely driven by textile, cement and food sub-sectors.
The Nigerian government had said it would continue to look at policy reforms that would engender more growth in different sectors of the economy.