Taiwo Hassan 
As African countries gather momentum to stand out in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement initiative, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and operators of Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs), have been urged to scale up production activities as a way of recording substantial impact and huge inroads into the trade agreement. The advice became imperative as the NBS second quarter reports showed that there was need to improve the perfor- mance of Nigeria’s manufacturing sector so as to be more competitive in the African market to gain more market share than other countries. Professor Adeolu Adewuyi, a Professor of Economics & Dean, School of Business, University of Ibadan (UI), in a chat with New Telegraph, said that the country’s manufacturing sector’s index had shown that Nigeria could not compete under the ACFTA as macroeconomic challenges are currently eroding real GDP growth in the manufacturing sector. Prof. Adewuyi described the manufacturing sector as the propeller of economic growth and structural transformation. Speaking on competitiveness in Nigeria, he pointed out that there were three levels in which competitiveness needs to be attained, adding that his focus was on firms or industrial level competitiveness. Specifically, he described competitiveness as the ability of a firm to exploit its capability and resources to achieve low cost, high flexibility, dependability and high quality product response to customers’ needs and expectations more efficiently and effectively compared to the competitors. According to him, it covers the Triple Bottom Line (TBL), which means being a low cost producer, value creator (economic dimension), wellbeing generator (social dimension) and preserver of the environment (environmental dimension). Prof Adewuyi added that sustainable manufacturing competitiveness involved the adoption of innovative technology induced cost saving techniques, and sustainable environmental practices deployment of ecological products. While speaking on a novel manufacturing competitiveness index developed by Deloitte (DTTL)’s Global Manufacturing Industry group and U.S. Council on Competitiveness, he noted that this index was computed based on talent- driven innovation, which entails quality and availability of researchers, scientists, and engineers, skilled labor, etc, as well as supplier network, which includes cost competitiveness of local suppliers, ability of supply base to innovate in products and processes, among others.
