The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has urged the federal government and the general public not to misconstrue the recently announced 18.3% year-on-year nominal growth in Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a reflection of true economic progress.
This caution follows the rebasing exercise conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which revealed an expansion in the size of the country’s nominal GDP. However, MAN argues that the apparent growth could mask underlying weaknesses in the nation’s economic structure.
In a detailed response to a questionnaire, the Director-General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, stated that the revised figures fail to reflect the real economic challenges Nigeria continues to face accurately.
“While the rebasing confirms that the Nigerian economy is statistically larger, it also underlines that the economy is not necessarily more productive or industrialised,” Ajayi-Kadir stated.
According to the association, real GDP growth — which reflects the actual increase in goods and services adjusted for inflation — has remained modestly low, averaging just 1.95% between 2020 and 2024. This figure, MAN notes, paints a less optimistic picture of the economy’s health.
Moreover, Ajayi-Kadir drew attention to the declining contribution of the manufacturing sector, which dropped from 27.65% in 2010 (the previous base year) to 21.08% in 2019. He described the drop as a red flag and a clear call for industrial and structural reform.
“The declining share of manufacturing in the rebased GDP should be a wake-up call. It is imperative that we address the structural deficiencies hampering industrial productivity in Nigeria,” he added.
MAN emphasized the importance of looking beyond statistics and nominal figures, stressing that sustainable economic development can only be achieved through targeted reforms in infrastructure, industrial policy, and value-added production.
As the federal government continues to assess the implications of the new GDP base year, stakeholders in the real sector are urging a greater focus on productivity, industrialization, and job creation, rather than relying on inflated economic figures.