Nigeria's trade policies on rice and pharmaceuticals highlight the country's over-reliance on import substitution

Successive Nigerian governments have shown a strong drive to diversify the economy through specific sector policies, particularly import substitution. This has usually been triggered by foreign exchange crises. Poorva Karkare and Michael Odijie argue that Nigeria must move away from a one-size-fits-all protectionist trade policy, also known as backward integration, to increase technical capacity and ramp up the production of goods and services