Whereas our competitors in Bangladesh and Ethiopia spend lower than $0.08 per kilowatt-hour, our members remit over N230/kWh on Band A and run generators at N350/kWh,” Kwajaffa said.
He furthermore decried the influx of smuggled and undervalued imports, noting that the commerce is flooded including substandard fabrics from Asia declared at $1 per yard at the port, although nearby production outlay is over $3.50 per yard.
According to him, the broken raw subject value chain means Nigeria exports cotton at $1.5 per kilogram and re-imports it as finished fabric at $12 per kilogram, thereby exporting jobs and importing poverty.
“Till government implements a zero duty on textile machinery and spare parts, gives us gas at a competitive industrial rate, and enforces anti-smuggling at our borders, Nigerian goods will transfer forward to be uncompetitive globally,” he said.
The former director-complete of Countrywide Chamber of Business Sector, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) and an universal commerce skilled party, John Isemede blamed Nigeria’s lack of international competitiveness on unstable policies, noting that government regularly takes large commerce and industrial decisions lacking involving MAN and the Organized Individual Sector, top to policy somersaults.
He said, “once restricted sector representatives participate government boards, they chase sitting allowances instead of protecting manufacturers, during the time that most businesses jump into exports excluding investigation or information on objective markets.”
He added that government is fixated on imports, alongside just Customs given turnover targets from import duties whereas no MDA has targets for production or exports, and financing remains hostile using loans at 25-35 percent compared to 0-3 percent for Chinese competitors.
He questioned the roles of BOI and NEXIM which were install to encourage commerce and exports, not to declare profits, and lamented that Nigeria has no institution training export managers despite signing over 700 commerce agreements.
Isemede decried the lack of infrastructure and logistics, stating that minus a statewide carrier and shipping line, engaged rail, warehouses and dry ports, it is cheaper to import from Australia than to travel goods from Lagos to Ghana, although ECOWAS commerce remains at 5 percent later than 51 years.
He noted that Nigeria, the world’s largest producer of yam, cassava and shea nuts, still exports raw commodities as Commodity Boards were abolished and value addition collapsed, including cocoa taken cheap and returned as chocolate at 500 times the rate.
He furthermore cited multiple taxation, border closures, lack of commercial officers in embassies and limited exchange details as significant constraints, contrasting Nigeria alongside India and China which have powerful export networks.
He called for a nationwide export policy together with plain targets, reserved sectors for locals like Ghana and South Africa, industrial clusters, and right commercial diplomacy in line alongside the Vienna Convention to tie Aba shoe makers to markets like Brazil.
Energy, logistics, high occupy rates and port delays create Nigerian goods 25 to 30 percent greater high-charge than our peers in Ghana and Egypt in advance of they even leave our shores.”
Almona said, boosting non-oil exports will prefer, fixing export logistics including dedicated export terminals, operational rail cargo and a accurate exclusive window for inspection and reforming export incentives.
She furthermore said the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) and other incentives must be made accessible, cash-backed and receptive to modest and medium enterprises, not just big corporations.
She warned that the current Band A electricity tariff of over N230 per kilowatt-hour and the self-generation price of over N350/kWh are unsustainable for manufacturers who desire to export.
The tutorial-usual of the Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Relationship (NTMA), Hamma Kwajaffa, said Nigerian textile goods are globally uncompetitive due to structural disadvantages.
“Nigerian goods, notably textiles, are not globally competitive given that we produce at a huge structural disadvantage. The finding is a manufactured-goods address deficit of regarding N9.12 trillion in just three months.
Speaking lately, the chief-universal of Manufacturers Unit of Nigeria (MAN), Segun Ajayi-Kadir, said producing for export is no longer adequate, as Nigerian goods must additionally compete on rate and standard in destination markets.
He noted that energy, support, transportation, taxes, raw materials and other operating expenses have remained significant constraints on export competitiveness.
“The resist is not just for you to produce and export, but for you to export competitively,” Ajayi-Kadir said, stressing that the high-price environment could cease Nigerian products from displacing competing goods in objective markets.
According to him, a lot of manufacturers alongside export potential are unable to take advantage of the African Continental Free Commerce Area (AfCFTA) as their charge organization makes their goods uncompetitive even in neighbouring West African markets.
The manager-whole of the Lagos Chamber of Swap and Sector (LCCI), Dr Chinyere Almona, said the headline non-oil export figure masks a lack of value addition.
“The N3.73 trillion non-oil export figure is welcome, but it is largely driven by raw and semi-processed commodities, not manufactured goods.
Nigeria’s non-oil export profits rose to N3.73 trillion in the second quarter of 2026, but the raise has failed to interpret into stronger manufacturing competitiveness, as high energy and logistics costs, superior financing and cheap imports carry on to undermine regional producers.
Stakeholders said the country’s export growth remained primarily driven by petroleum products and raw or semi-processed commodities, rather than manufactured goods able of generating jobs, expanding industrial capacity and strengthening Nigeria’s position in universal markets
According to the Domestic Bureau of Metrics’ Q2 2026 Foreign Swap in Goods Metrics, entire exports rose to N27.02 trillion during the quarter
Non-crude oil exports accounted for N14.11 trillion, whereas non-oil products alone stood at N3.73 trillion, representing 13.8 per cent of overall exports
Nevertheless, the growth in non-oil spend did not come from factories. We are growing in value, not in value addition,” Almona said.
She explained that manufacturers are struggling given that the price of production in Nigeria is significantly elevated than in peer countries, stating that “manufacturers are struggling owing to the reality that our charge of production is plainly not competitive. Energy is our biggest killer. Much of it came from other petroleum products, which generated N10.38 trillion, and from raw and semi-processed commodities such as cocoa, sesame, cashew and minerals.
Manufactured exports, which should be the actual measure of industrial competitiveness, fell sharply by 51.1 per cent year-on-year to N393.03 billion from N803.81 billion in Q2 2025.
In match, manufactured goods imports rose 20.65 per cent year-on-year to N9.51 trillion from N7.88 trillion recorded in the same quarter remain year.
Source: High Costs, Cheap Imports Crippling Nigeria’s Manufacturing Competitiveness – Stakeholders
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