Nigerian manufacturers say an urgent intervention from the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is key, if the country is to raise the non-oil sector’s contribution to gross domestic product to 20 percent.
The non-oil sector’s GDP contribution must hit 20 percent if it is to create sufficient jobs for about 24 percent of the country’s 174 million population, diversify the economy and help shore up the foreign reserves, experts say.
Manufacturers insist that certain steps must be taken if this goal is to be achieved.  They say these include addressing issues such as the pervasive gridlock on the roads leading to Nigeria’s two major seaports in Apapa, which slow down capacity utilisation in factories across the country, on account of late arrival of raw materials.
They add that government must provide export incentives, and that transnational trademarks and infrastructure will cut cost and fast-track creation of  five million additional jobs within the next four years.