For the Nigerian industrial sector, grappling with challenges within the operating business environment is enduring but dealing with importation has successfully led to the near comatose state of many industrial firms. The inability of the manufacturing sector to deal with competition from both imported and smuggled goods has led to the decline in the fortunes of the sector while aggravating unemployment in the country. With stakes in different industrial firms, the Bank of Industry (BoI) has increased its advocacy on the need for government to protect local industries through policy formulation and implementation that would lead to increased patronage of locally manufactured goods, economic growth and job creation. FEMI ADEKOYA writes.
FOR foreign observers and investors, Nigeria has many of the ingredients for a boom time. Its oil reserves, an economy growing at an enviable rate, a reform agenda and promise of extensive infrastructure investment, and an expanding middle class displaying an appetite for imported goods all suggest a dynamic and attractive business environment.
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