The question that keeps me awake: Why does Nigeria with over 200 million mouths still import toothpicks, rice, palm oil, tomato paste? We export crude oil and import petrol. We export raw cocoa and import chocolate. We export jobs and import poverty.
- Import bill: Nigeria spends over $10 billion annually importing what we can produce — rice, fish, sugar, wheat, tomato paste — according to the Minister of Agriculture. In Naira terms, food import bill hit N7.65 trillion in 2025 alone — up 265% in 3 years. That is forex we burn.
- Manufacturing: Only about 8-9% of GDP. Vietnam is 25%, China 27%. We are not a manufacturing country, we are a consuming country. Data from NBS shows manufacturing fell to 7.72% of real GDP in Q2 2026 from 9.57% in Q1, with over N1 trillion unsold inventory and 767 factories shut in two years.
- Result: Naira falls because we need dollars to buy things we should make. Youths have no jobs because factories closed. Ikeja, Aba, Kano, Kaduna industrial estates are shadows. Kano once had 500 industries, 65% now shut. Nigeria had 180 textile mills — fewer than 20 remain.
No country ever became rich by importing everything. Even our old groundnut pyramids, cocoa, palm oil — we produced them. Now?
A Better Nigeria must be a PRODUCING Nigeria.
What Better Nigeria Economy Means:
- Factory First Policy: Government must buy Made-in-Nigeria — uniforms, furniture, cars, food — local first. If government does not buy Naija, who will?
- Power + Roads to industrial clusters: Give Aba, Nnewi, Ikeja, Kano, Onitsha 20 hours of electricity through IPP + gas. Aba is already showing it — Geometric Power’s $900m Aba Integrated Power Project is giving businesses uninterrupted supply. Fix road from farm to factory. One power solution for an industrial hub will create 1 million jobs faster than 100 empowerment programmes. Kano was just reconnected to the national grid after 30 years off-grid with 544MW new capacity.
- SME money that works: Single-digit loans — 5% to 9% max — for manufacturers, not 28-37% interest. One-year tax holiday for new factories that employ 50+ people. NAFDAC, SON registration in 14 days, not 14 months.
- Ban nonsense, support sense: Stop forex for luxury we can produce. Use that dollar to support machine import for factories. Reward exporters who bring dollars home.
When we produce, Naira will have value. When we produce, youth will have jobs. When we produce, we will have respect.
Your Task Today: Intentionally buy Made-in-Nigeria — shoe, bag, cloth, food, soap. Post it. If you are an employer, source one thing locally that you used to import. Share one Nigerian factory you know and tag them.
