ECONOMY
Industry:
Nigeria ranks 44th worldwide and third in Africa in factory output.
Manufacturing accounted for less than 5% of GDP in 1999, but experienced 4.9% growth in 2000. Due to the high costs of production that result from inadequate infrastructure, Nigeria's manufacturing capacity utilization remains low.
Nigeria is the 10th largest producer of oil in the world, and third in Africa. The oil sector supplies 95% of foreign exchange earnings and over 90% of total exports. There are four refineries in Nigeria, and hydrocarbon production is centered around Eleme, Warri, and Kaduna. Sabotage, fires, extended maintenance, and management problems plague the oil industry.
The textile industry is still in early stages of development. Between 60% and 70% of all raw materials used in textile production come from local sources. Foreign investment in the textile industry is led by Chinese and Indian investors. Other areas of expansion include cement production, tire production, and furniture assembly.
Other important industries included sawmills, cigarette factories, breweries, sugar refining, rubber, paper, soap and detergent factories, footwear factories, pharmaceutical plants, tire factories, paint factories, and assembly plants for radios, record players, and television sets. Nigeria had five state-owned motor-vehicle assembly plants for Volkswagen, Peugeot, and Mercedes products.
Agriculture:
Nigeria ranks twenty fifth worldwide and first in Africa in farm output.
The agricultural products of Nigeria can be divided into two main groups: food crops, produced for home consumption, and export products. Bread, made primarily from US wheat, replaced domestic crops as the cheapest staple food for much of the urban population. The most important food crops are yams and manioc (cassava) in the south and sorghum (Guinea corn) and millet in the north.
Although cocoa is the leading non-oil foreign exchange earner, growth in the sector has been slow since the abolition of the Nigerian Cocoa Board. The dominance of smallholders in the cocoa sector and the lack of farm labor due to urbanization hold back production. Nigeria has the potential to produce over 300,000 tons of cocoa beans per year, but production only amounted to 145,000 tons in 1999. Rubber is the second-largest non-oil foreign exchange earner.
Research & Development:
Nigeria, the world’s largest grower of cassava, producing over 40 million tons per year, is seeking to adopt the use of modern biotechnology tools in agriculture, but efforts are stymied by the absence of a biosafety law.
The passage of the bill by the Nigerian Parliament will launch the country into the production and commercialization of genetically modified organisms (GMO) with the capacity to increase crop production, ensure food security, and improve rural livelihoods.
The Nigerian Academy of Science, founded in 1977, promotes and coordinates scientific and technological activities, trains scientists, advises the government on scientific matters, and organizes symposia and lectures. In 1987–97, research and development expenditures totaled 0.1% of GNP; 76 technicians and 15 scientists and engineers per million people were engaged in research and development.