Event Description

Posted Fri, Jul 26, 2024 10:14 AM

Timeframe: Fri, Aug 23, 2024 3:00 PM - Fri, Aug 23, 2024 5:00 PM

Reversing the Decline: Strategies for Stabilizing Nigeria's Manufacturing Sector

Industrialisation was Europe and North America's primary driver of economic growth, making them high-income countries. In these countries, the crucial element that transformed them from predominantly rural and highly informal economies into modern economies was the presence of a thriving industrial sector. The underlying success factor of industrialisation included establishing a manufacturing sector, nurturing it to thrive through innovation and supportive infrastructure, and economic development (UNIDO, 2020). Its impact is transformational due to the productivity, job creation, and income-generating advantage of the manufacturing sector over other sectors (UNIDO, 2020).

Industrialisation can catalyse attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Specifically, a country can achieve several other SDGs directly and indirectly by prioritising and making SDG) 9 ("Build resilient infrastructure in developing countries, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation") inclusive (UNIDO 2018) inclusive. This goal is essential because of the productivity advantage of manufacturing obtained through economies of scale, strong manufacturing linkages to other economic sectors, and strong ability to stimulate innovations and technological advances, which different sectors can eventually use.

Catalysing this advantage requires prioritising soft and hard measures. Soft measures include a stable macroeconomic environment, industrial growth-supporting policies, legislations, regulations, institutions, and innovation parameters. Others include access to finance, skills, technology, and healthy coalitions between governments and the private sector. Hard factors include providing access to quality infrastructural and land access, among others.

This pre-summit event aims to engage key stakeholders relevant to arresting Nigeria's manufacturing sector's decline and explore the impact of current economic reforms on the sector and its current operating environment. By understanding the reforms’ impacts, this event will set the stage for developing actionable policy and non-policy measures that address immediate and long-term economic imperatives.