Professor Sunday Albert Lawal of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, has warned that Nigeria’s poor industrial growth stems from weak technological capacity and poor use of research.
Delivering his inaugural lecture on “Manufacturing Processes and Machining Operations,” Lawal noted that no African nation ranks among the world’s top ten manufacturing powers. He compared Nigeria’s situation with Japan, saying population does not translate to industrial strength. “Japan has about 87 million people, yet it produces almost everything. Nigeria has over 200 million, but we depend on imports,” he said.
The professor emphasised that global respect is determined by production, not population size, and cautioned that countries relying on others for goods will remain secondary in world affairs.
He urged the federal government to strengthen partnerships with universities so that research findings can solve national problems. According to him, industries like the power sector struggle unnecessarily because Nigeria neglects local engineering solutions.
Leave feedback about this