10 Best Manufacturing Companies in Nigeria (2024)

A manufacturing company is a company that turns or convert raw materials into finished goods. Going by this definition, there are a lot of manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Some produce in small scale while others produce in large scale.

Our focus in this article are on the firms that manufacture in large scale and we would list out the top 10 best manufacturing companies in Nigeria in no particular order that had taken over the manufacturing industry alongside the products they produce.

Below is a list of top 10 manufacturing companies in Nigeria today

1. DANGOTE GROUP

Except you haven’t been in Nigeria, you just can’t deny having heard the name Dangote. Simply put, the name is becoming a household name in the Manufacturing industry in Nigeria.

Dangote Group is the leading manufacturing company in Nigeria with it headquarters at Lagos State, Nigeria. The company was founded in 1981 by Aliko Dangote – The richest man in Africa. This company is a multinational one, having several subsidiaries in other countries other than Nigeria.

Dangote Group is the largest conglomerate in West Africa and one of the largest on the African continent with many subsidiaries. Some of these includes Dangote Cement, the largest cement producing company in Africa.

Dangote Cement have subsidiaries in Ghana, Benin, Cameroon, Zambia and South Africa. Other subsidiaries of the Dangote Group includes: ALCO International Limited, Dangote Nigeria Limited, Dangote Transport Limited, National Salt Company of Nigeria, Dangote Flour Mills Plc, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Dangote Oil & Gas Industries International, Dansa Foods Limited, Dansa Food Processing Limited, etc.

The company focus on producing value-added products and services to meet the African population need. Dangote Group products includes cement, sugar, flour, salt, pasta, beverages and other consumer products. The company in recent times is diversifying into rice production, oil and gas as well as fertiliser production.

2. UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC

Unilever Nigeria Plc is one of the foremost and top manufacturing companies in Nigeria. This was incorporated in 1923 as the Lever Brothers (West Africa) Ltd and had since then proven to be a brand name to be trusted in the Nigerian Manufacturing industry.

The Unilever Nigeria headquarters is located in Lagos State, Nigeria. This company is a subsidiary under Unilever Plc, a multinational company with recognition in the consumer goods industry. Nigerians currently own 49% ownership of it Nigerian subsidiary.

The Unilever Nigeria Plc produce products in the food and personal care categories as well as home care. Some of their very popular products in the food categories includes Blue Band, Knorr, Lipton and Royco.

In the personal care category, they have Close up, Lifebuoy, Lux, Vaseline to their name while in the home care category, they produce Omo detergent, Sunlight detergent and key soap.

3. NESTLÉ NIGERIA PLC

This is a Nigerian based manufacturing firm headquartered in Ikeja, Lagos State. This is the leading brand in the food and beverage industry. This firm was established in the country in 1959 though Nestlé had already started trading and distributing it products since 1957 in central and Western Africa. This brand is a subsidiary under Nestlé S.A, a Swiss transnational food and drink company.

As hinted earlier, Nestlé Nigeria is into the production of food and beverages. They are the producers of Infant Formulas like Nestle NAN and Nestle LACTOGEN, Infant cereals like Nestle NUTREND and Nestle CERELAC, Family cereals like Nestle GOLDEN MORN and Confectionery like Nestle CHOCOMILO and Nestle KITKAT.

They are also the producers of Bouillon like MAGGI star Cube, MAGGI Mix’py and the Table Water branded as Nestle PURE LIFE.

4. NIGERIAN BREWERIES

This list of top 10 manufacturing companies wouldn’t be complete without the mention of the Nigerian Breweries Plc. The Nigerian Breweries Plc is the premier, leading and largest brewery in Nigeria founded in 1946 as Nigerian Brewery Limited before it name was changed to it current name.

This brewery giant has it headquarters in Lagos State and from there, the firm control it businesses within West Africa as it not only serve the Nigerian market but also the West African market.

They have a range of products ranging from Alcoholic to non-alchohol. Their Alcoholic products includes Star Lager, Gulder lager beer, Legend Extra Stout, Heineken Lager, Goldberg Lager, Life Continental Lager, Star Radler etc.

The Non-alchohol drink includes Maltina, Amstel Malta, Fayrouz, Climax Energy drink, Malta Gold, Himalt and Maltex.

5. PZ CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC

This is one of the best manufacturers in Nigeria with interests in the food and nutrition, personal care, home care and electrical products.

This company was incorporated in Nigeria on 4th November, 1948 under the name of PB Nicolas & Company Limited and went into a series change of name before finally adopting the PZ cusson Nigeria Plc.

It is a subsidiary of PZ cusson Plc, Manchester, UK. The head office is located at Lagos, Nigeria.

Their personal care products includes Imperial Leather, Carex, Cussons Baby, Premier, Robb, Venus and Joy. Under their home care range of products, they have Zip detergent and Morning Fresh.

In the food and nutrition category, they have Yo!, Nunu, Coast, Mamador, Devon King’s and Olympic.

6. FLOUR MILLS OF NIGERIA

This is one of the best manufacturing companies in Nigeria and have to be in the list.

The Flour Mills of Nigeria is the leading agro-allied company in the country and one of the largest in Africa. It is a private limited liability company founded in 1962 with head office in Lagos.

This is a very popular brand in Nigeria and are the producers of the Golden Penny Products.

Golden Penny products can be categorised into 3 groups. These includes: Food which are Golden Bites chin chin, confectionery flour, Goldenvita, Masavita, instant noodles, Pasta, Prime flour, Semovita, sugar and kool 2-go.

The other categories been the Animal feed made by their subsidiary known as Premier Feed Mills. The last set of products are the Bagco group of products like bag, rope, thread, webbing, blow film etc.

7. DUFIL PRIMA FOODS LIMITED

DUFIL (De United Foods Industrial Limited) Prima had over the last 20 years in the Nigerian market emerged as one of the top manufacturing firms in the country.

The company had gotten hold of the Nigerian Population with their enticing instant Noodles with the brand name Indo Mie which has about 70% of the Noodles share in the Nigerian market. DUFIL Group is a joint venture between Tolaram Group of Singapore and Salim Group of Indonesia.

The firm has its head office in Lagos State with two factories- one in Ota, Ogun State which was commissioned in 1995. It became the first largest instant noodles manufacturing plant in Africa and also the first in Nigeria.

The other one in Port Harcourt was created in 2001 when dufil prima was incorporated as a private limited liability company. A third one now exists as Northern Noodles Limited in Kaduna, which serves as a subsidiary of dufil.

The company’s range of products includes the popular and most consumed Indomie instant noodles, Power Pasta, Power Oil and Minimie Chinchin, Minimie Noodles and Prima flour.

8. UNITED AFRICA COMPANY OF NIGERIA (UACN)

This is another top manufacturing company in the country. The company was incorporated in Nigeria as Nigerian Motors Ltd in 1931. It then went into series of rebranding until it took up the name United Africa Company of Nigeria (UACN) in 1973. This company has a lot of businesses under it umbrella and have it headquarters placed in Lagos.

The list of products under the food and drinks industry produced by UACN are Gala Sausage rolls, Funtime coconut chip, Funtime cake, Snaps and Supreme Ice cream.

The are also the producers of the popular Swan water, Gossy warm spring water, and flavoured drinks (apple, pineapple and orange). They are also the manufacturers of Grand oil brands and grand cereal amongst other food products.

Another popular sets of products manufactured by UACN are the Vital feed products. The last set of products produced by UACN are the Dulux and Caplux products.

9. GUINESS NIGERIA PLC

Even Forbes Magazine recognised Guinea Nigeria as one of the top companies in Nigeria. It is a subsidiary of Diageo Plc, United Kingdom and was incorporated in 1962 with the building of a brewery in Ikeja, Lagos.

Interestingly, this brewery was the first brewery been operated by the Alcoholic giant out Ireland and Great Britain. Two more had been constructed; one in Benin City and the other in Ogba.

The list of products patented by Guinness includes Malta Guinness, Malta Guinness Low Sugar, Foreign Extra Stout, Harp Lager Beer, Guinness Extra Smooth, Satzenbrau, SNAPP, Original and Smirnoff Ice among others.

10. LAFARGE CEMENT WAPCO NIGERIA PLC

Lafarge Cement is one of the leading companies in Nigeria. As at 2010, they celebrated their 50 years of continuous production of Elephant Portland Cement, their flagship product.

This cement producing firm is a subsidiary to it mother firm located in France. They currently have 2 cement plant in Nigeria. That is the Sagamu Plant in Ogun State and Ewekoro Plant in Abeokuta. The headquarters of Lafarge Cement is in Lagos.

This list of top manufacturing companies in Nigeria ends here. Note that it is arranged in no particular order.