NoBy Jacinta Hycenth
The Federal Government has warned that Nigeria’s manufacturing sector is struggling due to high energy costs, which now make up 40-60 percent of production expenses, threatening the country’s competitiveness.
The Minister of State for Industry, John Owan Enoh, raised the alarm in Yenagoa, while speaking at the Practical Nigerian Content Forum organised by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).
He emphasised that energy is the lifeblood of industries, and with costs so high, Nigeria’s manufacturing sector is struggling to stay afloat, putting off investors and dashing hopes of becoming a top manufacturing nation.
He said: “Gas is the fuel of our future, and power is the oxygen that keeps our industries alive. Manufacturers in Nigeria currently spend 40–60 per cent of their production costs on energy. This is not just a challenge; it is a structural weakness that undermines competitiveness.”
He disclosed that the ministry has convened a Ministerial Energy Roundtable on Industrial Energy Security, bringing together key institutions including Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Bank of Industry, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), InfraCorp, Africa Development Bank, Afreximbank and private-sector operators.
Enoh said the roundtable aims to deliver dedicated industrial power corridors, reliable gas supply for factories, naira-based tariff pilots, embedded generation for industrial clusters and a unified national framework for industrial energy stability.
The Minister also said that Nigeria is undergoing a wider economic transition from heavy import dependence to value-added production, and from resource extraction to domestic industrial capacity.
Enoh maintained that local content and industrialisation are “inseparable twins” and must now be embedded across all sectors, not just oil and gas.
“No nation scales local content without a strong industrial base, and no nation industrialises without a deliberate local content strategy,” he said.
He noted that this thinking underpins the National Industrial Policy (NIP) 2025–2035, a 10-year blueprint designed to strengthen local manufacturing, deepen domestic value addition, integrate energy with industry, boost exports and attract coordinated investment into priority sectors. The minister added that the policy will align with NCDMB and other regulatory bodies to avoid sectoral silos.
Enoh further highlighted the government’s Nigeria First Policy, which he described as an economic patriotism doctrine aimed at retaining value within the country. “What Nigeria can produce, Nigeria must not import,” he stressed.
Enoh called for a renewed partnership between government, industry players, financiers and innovators to drive the country’s industrial transformation.
“Government cannot industrialise Nigeria without the private sector, and the private sector cannot scale without an enabling environment,” he said.