Mkpoikana Udoma
Yenagoa — Nigeria’s push toward full industrial self-reliance took centre stage on Tuesday as the Minister of State for Industry, Mr. John Owan Eno, declared that the country will no longer tolerate importing products that can be made locally under a sweeping new “Nigeria First Policy.”
Speaking at the 14th Practical Nigerian Content Forum, PNC, in Yenagoa, Eno said the policy marks a decisive break from decades of import dependence and weak domestic manufacturing.
“What Nigeria can produce, Nigeria must not import,” he declared. “What Nigerians can do, we must not outsource.”
He described the Nigeria First Policy as the new “economic social contract,” anchored on five pillars namely, local content, industrial development, value retention, export competitiveness, and job creation.
According to him, it will drive deeper fabrication capabilities, expand modular refining, strengthen indigenous service companies, and scale local manufacturing of industrial components.
The Minister warned that Nigeria’s industrialization agenda cannot succeed without fixing the country’s energy crisis.
“Energy is the backbone of industrialization. Gas is the fuel of our future, and power is the oxygen that keeps our industries alive,” he said, noting that manufacturers currently spend up to 60 percent of production costs on energy.
To address this, he announced that the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment has convened a Ministerial Energy Roundtable on Industrial Energy Security, bringing together the Gas and Power ministries, NNPCL, BOI, NSIA, InfraCorp, AfDB and Afreximbank.
The roundtable, he said, will deliver “dedicated industrial power corridors, embedded generation for clusters, gas availability for factories, and naira-based tariff pilots.”
Evo outlined the forthcoming National Industrial Policy, NIP, 2025–2035, which he said will reposition Nigeria as a production-led economy.
“This policy will transform Nigeria from a consuming economy into a producing nation,” he said.
It will focus on cluster-based manufacturing zones, petrochemicals and gas-based industries, steel and fabrication, export competitiveness and AfCFTA readiness, backed by investment mobilisation from MOFI, BOI, NSIA and development finance institutions.
Evo emphasized that industrialisation and local content are inseparable, describing them as “twins” that will shape the country’s economic future.
“Local content is not simply a compliance framework; it is the foundation of industrial competitiveness,” he said. “No nation scales local content without a strong industrial base.”
He urged tighter alignment between NCDMB, NUPRC, the petroleum ministries and his own ministry to eliminate “sectoral silos” that weaken Nigeria’s development agenda.
Calling for deeper collaboration, Eno told industry leaders that neither government nor the private sector can deliver industrialization alone.
“Government cannot industrialise Nigeria without the private sector. The private sector cannot scale without government’s enabling environment,” he said.
Closing his remarks, the minister delivered a firm call to action.
“Local content is our economic lifeline. Industrialization is the next frontier of Nigerian content,” he said. “Nigeria’s industrial future is not ahead of us, it is in front of us, waiting to be built. And together, we will build it.”
