CPPE advocates for strategic protectionism to drive Nigeria's industrialization
The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has strongly advocated for the adoption of strategic protectionism as a calibrated policy framework to drive Nigeria’s industrialization.
The Centre believes this approach is central to the country’s long-term economic growth, job creation, and national sovereignty. History and global experience show that no country has achieved industrialization through indiscriminate trade liberalization.
The CPPE policy brief emphasizes that industrialization remains the cornerstone of sustainable economic transformation, employment generation, and national prosperity. For developing economies like Nigeria, historical evidence confirms that industrial take-off requires a measured degree of protectionism.
Success stories from Asia, including China, South Korea, India, and Malaysia, built their industrial strength through inward-looking strategies during their formative decades, protecting infant industries, promoting local content, and developing domestic value chains before gradually opening up. Even the United States has recently adopted protectionist industrial policies to bolster its manufacturing base.
Nigeria’s excessive dependence on imports over the past few decades has weakened its productive base, eroded competitiveness, and exposed the economy to external shocks. The absence of effective protection and inadequate support for local producers have discouraged investment and led to decades of deindustrialization.
The CPPE views the recent 15% import duty on refined petroleum products (petrol and diesel) as a welcome, progressive, and corrective policy proposition. The continuous importation of petroleum products over the past two decades has imposed immense costs on the Nigerian economy, leading to sustained pressure on foreign exchange reserves, fiscal instability, and the collapse of domestic refining.
This modest protection will provide the policy support needed for domestic refineries such as the Dangote Refinery, NNPCL refineries, and emerging modular refineries to thrive, thereby restoring Nigeria’s refining capacity and reducing foreign exchange exposure.
The CPPE noted that sectors that enjoyed measured protection such as cement, flour, and beverages—have already recorded remarkable domestic growth and value addition. For example, flour milling enjoys combined import charges exceeding 70%, and agro-processing has average import tariffs above 30%, which have stimulated local production.
The Centre argues that exposing local industries to global competition without addressing structural constraints is not desirable and legitimate competition; rather, it is policy-induced disadvantage.
Nigerian manufacturers face significant disadvantages, including high energy costs, weak infrastructure, limited access to finance, inefficient ports, and complex regulatory frameworks, while their counterparts in advanced economies enjoy subsidized energy, efficient logistics, and low-interest financing. Genuine competition requires comparable production conditions.
To institutionalize this balanced framework, the CPPE recommends sustaining the 15% import duty on refined petroleum products, but this tariff protection must be complemented with industrial support policies such as low-cost financing, reliable energy supply, and streamlined regulatory processes to prevent price escalation and ensure protection yields sustainable benefits.
The framework should also expand backward integration incentives in sectors like petrochemicals, steel, and pharmaceuticals, and include monitoring to ensure the protection fosters productivity and innovation.
The CPPE, under the leadership of Dr. Muda Yusuf, Director/Chief Executive Officer, concluded that strategic, time-bound protectionism is the necessary anchor for Nigeria's sustainable industrialization journey. The goal is not to shut out the world, but to empower Nigeria to engage it from a position of strength by building domestic strength for global competitiveness.