What are the likely reasons for government participation in the location of industries in Nigeria?

Answer Details

Left to private investors alone, industries tend to cluster in a few favoured commercial centres. Government therefore participates in deciding where industries are located in Nigeria for the following reasons:

• To reduce regional inequality: spreading industries across states promotes balanced and even development instead of concentrating wealth in a few cities.
• To create employment in rural and less-developed areas, thereby raising incomes there.
• To reduce rural-urban migration: siting industries near rural areas keeps people employed at home and eases pressure on big cities.
• To develop backward or neglected areas by providing infrastructure such as roads, electricity and water alongside the industries.
• For strategic and security reasons: certain sensitive industries are sited away from borders or vulnerable locations.
• To exploit and add value to local raw materials by locating processing industries close to their sources, e.g. agricultural or mineral zones.
• To decongest existing industrial centres and reduce pollution and pressure on facilities in overcrowded cities.
• To promote national unity by distributing the benefits of industrialisation evenly among the regions.