OVER THREE DECADES OF TRADE LIBERALISATION IN NIGERIA: IMPLICATIONS FOR INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Abstract

The quest for a self-reliant and industrialised economy made Nigeria adopt several policies, over the years, towards opening up the economy to the industrialised world. The 1986 structural adjustment programme and other successive reforms were aimed at liberalising the economy. This study, using the ARDL bounds testing approach and interaction of trade liberalization dummy with trade openness, investigates if trade liberalization led to industrialization or de-industrialisation during the period under review and finds that trade liberalisation actually led to de-industrialisation but the interaction of trade liberalization and trade openness has positive effect on industrialization. The study recommends that liberalization of the economy should be handled with caution and should be accompanied by dynamic and flexible trade policies that will boost exports, especially industrial exports