Drivers of Manufacturing Export Performance in Nigeria: An Application of the GMM Estimation Approach

Manufacturing is an industrial component that is widely regarded as the cornerstone of both social and economic development. This study investigates the drivers of manufacturing export performance in Nigeria for the period 1981-2019. Given the existence of endogeneity problem in the model, the study under a dynamic time series estimation employed GMM estimator. Manufacturing exports performance was measured using growth rate of manufactured exports, percentage of manufacturing export in GDP and manufactured export as percentage of total export. The results show that improvement in the degree of trade openness, increasing manufacturing value added, access to financial services, relative prices and increasing investment level through FDI were found to be the determinant factors that have tendency to enhance manufacturing exports performance in Nigeria. Based on these findings, policy implications include providing adequate financing and increasing credit allocation to the manufacturing sector, as well as implementing policies aimed at promoting access to financial services in order to ensure efficient distribution to the preferred sector. The Nigerian government should implement trade barriers-removal policies while also promoting policies that lead to the country's exceptional advancement. Other policy recommendations derived from the empirical findings are thoroughly discussed in the concluding part of the paper.