External Sector and The Nigerian Manufacturing Sector Performance, 1981-2019

No country is an island. The globalization phenomenon is making all countries to be interdependent. The external sector environment has become critical for the success of every country and internal balance. Thus, it has become important to examine how much the externa sector environment impact on the performance of the domestic economy. The present study, therefore, examined the influence of Nigerian external sector environment on the performance of the Nigerian manufacturing sector between 1981 and 2019. The study adopted exp-post research design approach and the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model estimation techniques. The empirical model consists of the Nigerian manufacturing sector output index as the dependent variable and exchange rate, trade openness, and foreign direct investment as independent variables and external sector environment variables. Test of unit root results indicated that the variables have mix order of integration, while the co integration analysis results indicated that the variables in the model have stable long run relationship. Estimate of the ARDL model reveals that in the short run exchange rate variations have negative, but significant effect on manufacturing sector performance, while trade openness, and FDI have positive but insignificant influence on the manufacturing sector performance in the short run. In the long run, exchange rate level and FDI inflows have positive and significant effect on the manufacturing sector performance, while trade openness has negative and significant effect on the Nigerian manufacturing sector performance. The study therefore conclude that the Nigerian external sector Environment has significant influence on the performance of the Nigerian manufacturing sector.