SMEs Struggle to Survive as Nigeria Targets Manufacturing Growth.
Nigeria’s ambitious Industrial Policy 2025 faces implementation concerns as millions of small businesses struggle to survive harsh operating conditions.
The Chairman of the Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics, Dele Kelvin Oye, raised the concern.
According to him, Nigeria’s Industrial Policy 2025 (NIP2025) risks failing to achieve its objectives unless the government closes the gap between policy promises and the realities facing small businesses.
Oye expressed this in an analysis titled The Gap: Nigeria’s Industrial Policy 2025 vs. The Lived Reality of SMEs.
He noted that the policy sets ambitious targets to raise manufacturing’s contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) to 15 per cent by 2030 and 25 per cent by 2035 while diversifying exports, creating jobs and positioning Nigeria as Africa’s leading industrial hub.
He stressed that the policy rightly identifies Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) as the backbone of the economy, noting that they contribute 46.32 per cent to GDP and account for 87.9 per cent of national employment.
Oye added that the policy promises single-digit loans, industrial clusters, technology incubators, skills development and fiscal and monetary incentives aimed at supporting the sector.
He, however, argued that the experience of millions of entrepreneurs tells a different story.
“The NIP2025 reads less like a roadmap and more like a distant, perhaps unattainable, promise,” Oye said.