According to reports from Punch Newspapers and Nigeria Technology, engineers in Nigeria have urged the country to build its own machines and reduce its reliance on imported machinery to accelerate economic growth. The Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers (NIME) made this call at the 2026 annual conference in Lagos, stating that indigenous manufacturing is key to achieving self-sufficiency and reducing the country’s import bill. The President of NIME, Engr. Adewale Oladipo, emphasized the need for Nigeria to invest in research and development to improve the manufacturing sector. According to Oladipo, building local machines will not only create jobs but also boost the economy by reducing reliance on foreign machinery. The call for local manufacturing is not new, as it has been a recurring theme in discussions about Nigeria’s economic growth. However, the country still depends heavily on imported machinery, with only a few local manufacturers in the sector. The Nigerian government has set a target of increasing the contribution of manufacturing to the country’s GDP from 8% to 15% by 2025. It remains to be seen whether this call from the engineers will lead to concrete action towards achieving this goal. The move to promote indigenous manufacturing aligns with the government’s ‘Made in Nigeria for Exports’ (MINE) initiative, which aims to increase the competitiveness of local manufacturers in the global market. The government has also announced plans to establish a N1 trillion (US$2.5 billion) fund to support the manufacturing sector.
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