Textile companies in Nigeria have complained of stifling competition against the backdrop of challenges of declining endogenous and exogenous resources. Using electricity and capacity utilization as proxies, we show that electricity supply is a significant determinant of performance. We recommend, among others, that Public electricity supply to the textile companies should be taken as a state of emergency to ensure that there is uninterrupted power supply. Government at various levels should embark on intensive advocacy for Nigerians to develop a culture of using locally made goods while leading by example. Opinion molding should be employed both in the public and private sectors.

With less than 5% contribution to GDP, Nigeria"s manufacturing sector needs transformation, if the country would achieve the leaders" vision of being amongst the World 20 developed economies by the year 2020. Using a simple association, two impacting variables, FDI and electricity supply, were correlated with two performance variables of contribution to GDP and manufacturing Index. The results for FDI were conflicting to the theory, the anomaly were traced to deficiencies of enhancing institutions. The findings on electricity supply showed a robust positive relationship with the two performance measures of contribution to GDP and manufacturing index. A complete overhaul of the electricity industry combined with private public partnership and a revolutionary handling of corruption were recommended to bring in more FDI and to make them count for development.

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