Nigeria can achieve President Bola Tinubu’s ambition of growing the economy to $1 trillion by 2030 if the government strengthens manufacturing, promotes local value addition, provides affordable financing and improves electricity supply, the Managing Director of Coleman Technical Industries Limited, George Onafowokan, has said.
Onafowokan said agriculture alone would not be enough to transform the Nigerian economy unless the country developed a strong manufacturing base capable of processing raw materials into finished products.
Speaking on the government’s economic agenda, he said Nigeria needed to reduce its dependence on the export of raw materials and increase domestic processing to create jobs, expand exports and generate more economic value.
“You cannot separate manufacturing from agriculture. We don’t want to remain exporters of raw materials. Processing agricultural produce such as cocoa, palm products and shea butter adds value, creates employment and strengthens the economy,” he said.
He said government policies promoting local processing were beginning to produce results, pointing to investments in cocoa processing and increased exports of processed shea butter.
Onafowokan disclosed that about $140m had been invested in a cocoa processing plant, while exports of processed shea butter had increased following policies encouraging local processing before export.
He also said Nigeria’s non-oil exports had risen from 17% to about 23%, which he attributed to fiscal policies aimed at encouraging domestic manufacturing.
However, he warned that maintaining the progress would depend on tackling challenges faced by manufacturers, particularly high borrowing costs and unreliable electricity.
Onafowokan said current economic trends suggested that Nigeria could grow to between $700bn and $800bn by 2030, but reaching the $1tn target would require annual economic growth of more than 10%.
He praised the Central Bank of Nigeria for measures aimed at stabilising the foreign exchange market and moderating inflation, saying greater macroeconomic stability had made business planning easier.
But he said manufacturers still lacked access to long-term, affordable capital.
“The challenge today is that there is stability at the macro level, but manufacturers still lack long-term financing. You cannot borrow at commercial interest rates above 20% and expect industries to expand,” he said.
He also criticised the lending rates of the Bank of Industry, arguing that the institution, as a development finance bank, should provide cheaper funding to manufacturers rather than operate at commercial lending rates.
Onafowokan identified the cost and reliability of electricity as another major barrier to industrial expansion.
He said electricity-related expenses accounted for almost 40% of manufacturers’ production costs, adding that many companies had invested millions of dollars in independent power generation but continued to face high gas prices.
He urged the federal government to reduce gas prices for manufacturers, saying cheaper energy would improve the competitiveness of Nigerian industries and support faster economic growth.
The Coleman Technical Industries managing director also called for deliberate government policies to help Nigerian-owned companies grow into billion-dollar businesses across manufacturing, agriculture, mining and other productive sectors.
“No foreigner can grow Nigeria for us. Nigerians must grow Nigeria. Government should deliberately support local companies to become billion-dollar enterprises across manufacturing, agriculture, mining and other productive sectors,” he said.
Onafowokan said consistent economic reforms, greater support for manufacturers and increased investment in local value addition would be critical to achieving the Tinubu administration’s long-term economic ambitions.
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