The manufacturing sector is now the major driver of economic growth in Nigeria, the latest economic report by Renaissance Capital, reveals. According to the report, with Nigeria's rebased Gross Domestic Product, (GDP) the manufacturing sector is currently growing faster than the telecommunications, oil and gas and agricultural sectors. Manufacturing is the engine of growth, further strengthens recent figures by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, which showed that there was an increase in manufacturing capacity utilisation from 46.3 per cent recorded in the first half of 2013 to 52.7 per cent in the 2nd half of 2013.

 

The  manufacturing sector recorded 22 per cent growth in 2013, as against the 14 per cent it recorded in 2012, noting that the growth was largely driven by the textile, cement and food sub-sectors, among others. The growth recorded by the manufacturing sector within the period under review, it said, accounted for one third of the total growth in the economy.

 

“Manufacturing is growing strongly, despite power deficit. The manufacturing sector is a much bigger, faster-growing sector under the new series (nine per cent of GDP as against the four per cent previously). In 2013, it recorded substantial growth of 22 per cent (as against 14 per cent in 2012), comprising one-third of total growth. Food, beverage and tobacco producers account for half of the manufacturing sector. The sub-sector's growth accelerated to 12 per cent in 2013, against 7 per cent in 2012.

 

The cement sub-sector, which accounts for about one per cent of the country's GDP, recorded phenomenal growth in 2013, as it posted a 39 per cent growth as against the 14 per cent recorded in 2012. Several of the smaller manufacturing sub-sectors are growing even faster than food producers. Nigeria's large population of upwardly mobile consumers, particularly in the south-west, coupled with investments in power, implies that the strong growth of manufacturers, including food producers and breweries, is sustainable.

 

Manufacturers in Nigeria had attributed the remarkable increase recorded in capacity utilization within the last year to favourable government policies, especially with respect to industry, trade and investment.