Introduction
Understandably, many solutions are being presented across different audiences to manage
our economic downturn. One of the most popular solutions is captured under the phrase
‗Made in Nigeria‘. It has been raised on the floor of the Senate and climaxed when the
Nigerian Economic Summit Group used it as the theme for the 22nd Nigerian Economic
Summit (NES p22) in October 2016. The justification for promoting Made in Nigeria is as
diverse as its various promoters, with the majority seeing it as a key strategy for reducing the
country‘s import bill. They propose that we should produce what we consume and consume
what we produce.
for production and foreign trade are
critical for charting our overall strategy for
growth and economic development.
Nigeria‘s Trade Profile and Potentials
for Made-in-Nigeria
There is a lot of gain in consuming what we
produce and producing what we consume
but the two critical questions to ask are (1)
what do we consume and (2) what do we
produce? Juxtapose those against what we
do not consume that we produce and what
we cannot produce that we consume and
then it becomes a really interesting
argument
for
understanding
why
recognizing the factors that influence buyer
behaviors particularly as they relate to
imported goods and untapped potentials
To put things in perspective, it is important
to share some information about Nigeria‘s
external trade profile. Nigeria‘s import bill
for 2015 which according to the
International Trade Centre (ITC) mirror
data was $40.5 billion, signifying 0.2% of the
world‘s import and ranking 52 in world
imports, while export trade value was
$53.9 billion in the same period,
representing 0.3% of world exports and
ranking Nigeria 48 in world exports.
Further analysis indicates only four
countries namely; China, United States of
America, Netherlands and the United
Kingdom exported more than half the
value of Nigeria‘s total imports in 2015 at
$22 billion.
Nigeria‘s main imports from the four
countries (top five in most cases)