Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka
From Consumption
To Production
The Whys and Ways Out of Failed Industrialization in Nigeria
This book is both a detailed systematic historical and analytical narrative of Nigeria’s imperfect past as much as it is a pointer to a better future.
More About The Book
Recession in the Nigerian economy and the recent slow-down in Nigeria’s aggregate economic performance have, in part, been a result of the weak performance of the oil and gas sector which resulted both from the sharp drop in global oil prices and the loss of production capacity arising from the domestic challenges in the Niger Delta; and, in part, been problems associated with institutions for sound economic governance. The fall in oil prices from over $100 to less than $50 per barrel dramatically affected Nigeria’s GDP output. However, as this book rightly argues, while the above may well be the most immediate reasons, the roots of our current conundrum are deeper. Simply put, Nigeria, despite a preponderant of historical opportunities to develop a strong industrial manufacturing base, progressively descended into a consumption economy and there is much scope for consolidating institution for sound economic governance and achieving coherence between fiscal, monetary and structural reform policies.
At the centre of Nigeria’s current developmental challenge is notably poor diversification from our oil and mineral endowments which stands out as a factor that has strongly shaped the evolutionary paths of Nigeria’s growth.
One of the negative impacts of excessive mineral-dependence is that unlike manufacturing, it proves far less opportunities for employment creation. Our country has evolved as an enclave economy in which vanishing factor endowments strongly pattern the shapes of our institutions and policies. The type of economic system that we have fostered, with sectors that are characterised by extensive scale economies requiring exacting technological capabilities in investment and production tends to create less jobs than the more widely diversified industrial sectors. For example, the setting up of petroleum complexes and refineries (vital and necessary as this is) needs to be done in tandem with other sectors such as sugar, fertiliser and machine tools among others including small and medium enterprise that have the propensity to spread employment over wider geographical areas. No less important, Nigeria has to shift fully from an analogue to a digital economy.
About The Author
Professor Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka is a development Economist and currently the Senior Special Adviser on Industrialisation to the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Prior to this role with the AfDB President, he had retired as the most Senior Director with the United Nations, HABITAT headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. He has previous experience in the Steel and Oil industry.
He is a former professor at the Nigeria Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), Ibadan, the first professor of Innovation and Industrialisation Policy in Nigeria, a professorial fellow with the United Nations-MERIT, and a professor of Innovation and Development at the Open University, UK.
He is a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering with several books to his credit including his most recent book, Industrialization and Economic Diversification: Post Crisis Agenda in Asia and Africa (2022, Routledge, UK), and Latecomer Development (Routledge, UK) amongst others.