Professor Sunday Albert Lawal, a senior engineering academic at the Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUTMinna), has highlighted the absence of African nations from the list of the world’s top ten manufacturing countries, linking Nigeria’s industrial challenges to a lack of technological capacity and research integration.

Speaking during his inaugural lecture titled “Manufacturing Processes and Machining Operations” at the university’s main campus auditorium, Professor Lawal compared Nigeria with Japan, noting that population size does not equate to industrial influence.

“Japan’s population is about 87.5 million, compared to Nigeria’s population, which is over 200 million, but today Japan is a world power because they have technology to produce anything for their country,” he said.

He further explained that global respect is tied to production capacity rather than demographic size. “They don’t gauge by population, they gauge by what you produce, and you will not be respected in the committee of nations,” Professor Lawal stated. He warned that countries reliant on external production remain second-tier players in the international arena.

Professor Lawal urged the federal government to deepen collaboration with academic institutions to address national challenges through applied research. He pointed to recurring industrial problems, including difficulties faced by agencies such as the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) in sourcing spare parts, advocating for university research centers to partner with corporations and government bodies to provide solutions.

Highlighting the barriers to research, the professor emphasized the need for increased funding and infrastructure for universities.

“Lack of sufficient organizations providing research grants in Nigeria stifles innovation, particularly in the energy sector, where my research on plant-based oils aims to prevent overheating in electrical transformers,” he said.

He also called for a shift in academic priorities to make research outputs accessible to society. “Research findings should not remain in journals or academic archives; they must be translated into tangible benefits for Nigerians,” he added.

Professor Lawal stressed that supportive government policies and funding mechanisms are critical to enabling universities to contribute effectively to Nigeria’s technological and industrial development.

The lecture underscored the broader implications of Nigeria’s manufacturing gap, linking it to national productivity, technological independence, and global competitiveness. (The Guardian)