Nigeria is a developing nation with a huge market potential. In fact, the United States Commercial Service published a document that revealed that there is a potential for millions of dollars in revenue from the growing Nigeria market.
In this post, we’ll take a look at how the Nigerian marketing system has grown over the years with reference to its economic potential.
But first, let’s highlight some important facts about Nigeria.
- The landscape is estimated at 941,849km,
- The population is an estimated 189 million people
- There are 36 states in Nigeria and 774 Local Governments
- The country is agrarian in nature with a tropical climate and varieties of ecological belts ranging from the rain forests in the south to the Sahel savannah in the North.
- Nigeria is endowed with vast amount of natural resources some of which include solid minerals, oil and gas.
- Currently, Nigeria is classified as one of the third world countries which mean that the production and distribution of goods and services is still in the developmental stage. As a result, Nigeria has to depend on other countries for the production of important products.
In terms of the marketing system in Nigeria, it consists of the core marketing system and the public marketing system, in both, the services from placementseo get used.
The public system include local companies, the suppliers, intermediaries, competitors, customers, government regulatory agencies, credit commodity, independent press, financial institutions, etc.
History of Marketing in Nigeria
Over the years, the Nigerian Marketing System has faced numerous social and economic problems ranging from the country’s slow pace of development to its present state of both economic and political crises.
For instance, the oil boom in the early 70’s affected the market as the country became extremely reliant on the oil and gas sector abandoning other sectors.
Additionally, the political system created politicians that failed to emphasize the importance of the other parts of the economy such as agriculture, technical skills and education.
Prior to the discovery of oil, the Nigerian marketing system was doing quite well as it had been greatly influenced by the country’s colonial masters.
After Nigeria became independent in October 1960, the marketing system also broke free from colonial influence and became self sufficient in the production and distribution of items particularly, agricultural products.
But by 1970, some important parts of the marketing system in Nigeria especially agricultural trade had become relegated to the background with the country focusing on oil production and export.
Between 1973 and 1981, the Nigerian economy was doing quite well and at this point, it had all the necessary ingredients to become an industrial giant but this couldn’t happen as the economy had become one-sided due to crude oil dependence.
Over the years, the government of Nigeria implemented series of economic adjustment programmes but these have failed to yield any significant positive result.
Overall, the Nigerian marketing system is greatly influenced by the country’s economy and we will take a brief look at the different sectors of the economy and how they have affected the marketing system.
Agricultural Sector
The agricultural sector comprises the cultivation of crops, livestock rearing, forestry, wildlife and fisheries.
In 1960, this sector employs over 80% of the country’s working population and at this time, the GNP was 63.4%.
But this index has decline over the years. In 1975, the GNP was 23.4%. However, in 2003, the agricultural sector improved in 2003.
In 2009, there was an increase in the agricultural production due to the improved economic condition and the sustained implementation of various agricultural programmes in 2009.
During this period, the output of staples grew by 5.7%, compared with the 6.2% growth in 2009. Also, the cash crop output increased by 7.2% when compared to the preceding year.
One of the programme initiated in 2009 included the identification of and targeted intervention in 13 strategic crops by the Federal Government which was to help boost local agricultural trade and potentially export.
Industrial Sector
The industrial sector has consistently contributed to the GNP from 1960 to date. The components of this sector include alimentary industries (food, drinks, beverages, tobacco), agro-industries (textiles, apparels, leather and footwear, saw milling, paper, wooden furniture, wood products, rubber, plastic products, etc) petrochemical industries, construction industries, metal industries, transportation and equipments industries.
However, the sector has been constrained by inadequate capital, lack of indigenous entrepreneurship and scarcity of technical competence, administrative bottlenecks and restrictive industrial policy
Mineral Sector
The major mineral resources in Nigeria include tin, crude petroleum, columbite, iron ore, natural gas and small quantities of such trace elements as lead, zinc, gold etc.
This is another sector that has contributed to the GNP since 1960. Particularly, the country’s crude oil incl
Other sectors include the Transportation and Communication Sector, Social Service Sector, the Administrative and Development Sector, Private Sector, Foreign sector as well as the Infrastructure Sector.
Some of the current problems with the marketing system include the inability of the country to produce most of its goods.
As a result, most Nigerians prefer to buy foreign products. This has adversely affected the development process of the local industries.
In fact, many Nigerians think that locally made goods are only for the poor and uneducated and the elites would rather buy from the foreign nations than buy Made in Nigeria Goods.
Another problem with the Nigerian industry is the high cost of production because all aspects of production includee the equipments and even the skills are often imported.
Infrastructure is another problem as the erratic power supply, bad road network as well as malfunctioning ports and trade zones has adversely affected the industry.
Political instability in regions like the Niger Delta and the Boko Haram terrorism has made business difficult in these parts of the country.
Wrapping up
It remains clear that the growing population in Nigeria remains an appealing prospect for businesses. And with the adoption of the right marketing system as well as the development of the right technologies, Nigeria can create a thriving marketing that can cater for the needs of the people and beyond.