According to a new report titled Rethinking ‘Made in Nigeria’: Value Chains, Global Positioning and Economic Identity Transformation by Rome Business School Nigeria, the country is losing billions of dollars in potential economic value by exporting raw materials rather than processing, branding, and marketing finished goods. Weak local value chains are heavily restricting domestic businesses from creating jobs, earning foreign exchange, and competing globally. A stark example of this disparity is seen in the shea industry, where Nigeria supplies roughly 40 percent of the world's raw shea nuts but captures only about 1 percent of the $6.5 billion global shea market. Most of the value is extracted after the raw materials leave the country to be processed into cosmetics, packaged, and sold under foreign brand names, a pattern that extends across other agricultural commodities like cocoa, leather, and spices.
This issue reaches beyond agriculture and into the industrial sector. In petroleum, Nigeria retains only about 15 percent of the sector’s total value compared to over 40 percent in Brazil, underscoring the massive financial toll of limited domestic processing. Meanwhile, crude oil accounted for nearly 75 percent of exports in the second quarter of 2024 and over 65 percent in the third quarter, while local manufacturing contributes a mere 9 percent to GDP with factories running at roughly 57 percent capacity. On top of manufacturing constraints, agriculture suffers heavy losses, with over 40 percent of fresh produce spoiling post-harvest due to inadequate storage, poor roads, and weak cold-chain infrastructure, costing smallholder farmers over 30 percent of their potential income. Furthermore, while micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises represent 96.9 percent of Nigerian businesses, employ 87.9 percent of the workforce, and generate 46.32 percent of GDP, they make up just 6.21 percent of exports due to severe difficulties in expanding into international markets.
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Addressing these challenges requires a shift from viewing "Made in Nigeria" as merely a patriotic appeal to establishing it as a benchmark for quality, innovation, and global competitiveness. Experts from the business school emphasize that while Nigeria possesses ample natural resources and talent, policymakers and manufacturers must fix foundational gaps in infrastructure, financing, international certification, and packaging standards. Beyond physical logistics, overcoming consumer skepticism remains key, as buyers often choose imported alternatives for their consistent quality, packaging, warranties, and protection. To build a stronger national brand similar to the global success seen in the Afrobeats industry, future initiatives must focus on product design, premium packaging, authentic storytelling, and robust consumer protections, ultimately connecting local production with processing, logistics, and global distribution to create higher-paying jobs and reduce reliance on raw commodity exports.
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