The manufacturing sub-sector and trade openness play key roles in economic growth of nations, various government administrations in Nigerian recognize these roles and have made significant efforts (SAP, Trade, Export, Digital Economy and Market access policies. etc.) sub-sector and trade openness in the economic growth of Nigeria remain epileptic except importation. Thus, the study examined trade openness and manufacturing sub-sector in Nigeria between 1981 and 2020. Manufacturing sub-sector and trade openness were proxied by foreign direct investment, trade openness index, Foreign Portfolio Investment, foreign remittances and exchange rate which adopted as check variable and analyzed using both descriptive and econometrics techniques. The results showed that trade openness and manufacturing sub-sector exhibited positive relationship during the period of investigation. However, foreign portfolio investment portrayed subtractive influence on the performance of the manufacturing sub-sector for the period. The study recommends that government of Nigeria should implement the policy of duty draw back/suspension scheme (DDBS) which stipulates the refund of import duties on raw materials including packaging materials used in manufacturing exportable good, subsidize loan and transitory tax exemption to encourage both indigenous and foreign investors to participate more in the manufacturing sub-sector.
Keywords: economic growth, manufacturing sub-sector, trade openness
