​Persistent electricity supply constraints have been identified as the single largest bottleneck standing between Nigeria’s macroeconomic growth and widespread, tangible economic prosperity.
​The Minister of State for Industry, Senator John Owan Enoh, made the declaration during a live interview on Arise News on Monday, September 7, 2026. He emphasized that manufacturing firms continue to spend an exorbitant portion of their operational budgets to self-generate off-grid electricity, severely undermining profit margins and global competitiveness.
While praising manufacturers for their resilience, Enoh cautioned that high energy overheads prevent companies from translating operational capacity into market expansion and job creation.
The minister cited the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) figures showing Nigeria’s 4.43% real GDP growth in Q2 2026. He highlighted that manufacturing grew by 3.24% in Q2 2026 (up from 1.60% in Q2 2025), representing two consecutive quarters of recovery.
Reaffirming President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s target of a $1 trillion economy by 2030, Enoh argued that raw material export is no longer viable and that local value addition must form the bedrock of national wealth.
​”Our challenge therefore is to make sure that while industry and manufacturers demonstrate that kind of resilience, they are able to achieve that with significantly lower costs.” Senator John Owan Enoh stated.
​To address the energy bottleneck and enforce the newly launched Nigerian Industrial Policy (NIP), approved by the Federal Executive Council, the ministry is advancing several targeted interventions;
Such that partnering with the Ministry of Power, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), and gas producers to integrate grid, natural gas, and renewable power for manufacturing hubs.
Deploying a $368 million facility provided by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to build infrastructure across 70 dedicated industrial clusters nationwide.
Utilizing the Otun Industrial Cluster and the Idu Industrial Cluster as experimental testbeds for localized, off-grid power solutions, with a groundbreaking event slated for mid-September 2026.
MSME Financing Pipeline: Expanding access to low-interest capital via the Bank of Industry (BOI), which disbursed ₦50 billion in 2025 and has raised ₦250 billion in 2026 toward an ultimate ₦1 trillion target for small businesses.
