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Trade Openness and Manufacturing Sector Performance in Nigeria

How important is trade openness as a vehicle for driving productivity in developing countries? We offer a sector-specific analysis with focus on the manufacturing sector for meaningful policy insights. Using a modern econometric technique—the autoregressive distributed lag approach to cointegration—this article attempts to establish the relationship between openness to trade and manufacturing performance in Nigeria for the period 1970–2008. The results suggest that trade openness has a significant positive impact on manufacturing productivity in Nigeria both in the short and long run. These coefficient estimates are robust and stable over the time. Therefore, the policy direction for the manufacturing sector in Nigeria should focus more on open policies through trade liberalisation as a long-term plan. Reduction in trade restrictions and implementation of appropriate incentives are vital for resuscitating the performance of the sector. In this aspect, policy-makers should leverage the benefits of openness to the comparative advantages in the liberalised sector. JEL Classification: F41, C22, O55