Minister Reviews Industrial Reforms, Weighs in on Slow Manufacturing Growth

Minister Reviews Industrial Reforms, Weighs in on Slow Manufacturing Growth Omolabake Fasogbon The Minister of State for Industry, Senator John Owan Enoh has said that the Nigerian Industrial Policy (NIP) is measuring up to set objectives, just as he officially inducted new private-sector members to scale reform gains. The NIP was launched in February 2026, emerging from the efforts of the Industrial Revolution Work Group (IRWG) inaugurated in February 2025. Comprising stakeholders across the private and public sectors, development partners, and academia, the group was formed to drive industrial and manufacturing growth. Specifically, IRWG set out to chart real solutions to the key constraints of the nation’s industrial ecosystem, revolving around finance, energy, infrastructure, regulation, Made-in-Nigeria patronage, and skills. Analysing developments in the industrial sector at the second technical session of the IRWG in Lagos, themed, “From Technical Consensus to Policy Reality: Advancing the IRWG Execution Mandate after the Launch of the Nigerian Industrial Policy,” Enoh pointed to tangible economic progress accelerated by NIP and the IRWG. He said that NIP ,anchored on eight objectives and a single delivery framework, has produced defensible results within its first 90 days. According to him, the policy has seen over $380 million in strategic financing mobilized for industrial projects across the country. “On the table is a proposed ₦350 billion MSME development fund; 400 young Nigerians trained in mechatronics across four states, with thousands more in the pipeline; Nigerian products being certified for continental markets under the African Quality Marks; and quick-win financing tracks activated with the Bank of Industry,” he said. The Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Segun Ajayi-Kadir equally sought targeted interventions for the sector. He noted that while manufacturing has shown resilience, that resilience has not translated into deep growth. He said growth in manufacturing has not been as impressive as the broader industrial figures, urging stakeholders to disaggregate manufacturing performance from overall industrial statistics to avoid masking underlying problems. He pointed out that subsectors like cement, oil and gas, and mining continue to drive overall industrial growth, while food and beverages and electrical manufacturing keep struggling. “Improving the business environment, reducing borrowing costs to single digits, and resolving the power crisis are critical to reversing this trend,” Ajayi-Kadir advised.