Nigeria’s exports to African countries between January 2024 and March this year amounted to N10.99 trillion, findings by New Telegraph has revealed.
The amount is 18.81 percent, or N1.74 trillion, higher than the N9.25 trillion that the country recorded as value of exports within the continent between January 2023 and March last year.
An analysis of Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics reports, released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) during the period under review, indicated that the value of the country’s exports within Africa generally headed north.
Specifically, the NBS’ data has shown that Nigeria’s exports to African countries rose by 30.40 per cent or N2.13 trillion to N9.14 trillion last year, compared with N7.01 trillion in 2023.
With the Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics (Q1’25) recently released by the NBS showing that the country’s exports within the continent stood at N1.85 trillion in the first three months of this year compared with N2.24 trillion in the corresponding period of last year, it means that the value of the nation’s exports to Africa amounted to N10.99 trillion between January 2024 and March this year as against the N9.25 trillion recorded between January 2023 and March 2024.
Further analysis of the NBS reports, however, indicates that Nigeria’s exports to the rest of the continent are still significantly lower when compared to its exports to Europe, Asia and the United States.
For instance, the Q1’25 Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics report released by the NBS, last Wednesday, states: “Total exports accounted for 57.18 per cent of total trade in the first quarter of 2025.
Exports by section revealed that Nigeria exported mainly ‘mineral products’ valued at N17,555.12 billion, or 85.23 per cent of the total export value, this was followed by exports of ‘Prepared foodstuffs; beverages, spirits and vinegar; tobacco’ worth N1,429.51 billion or 6.94% of total exports and ‘Products of the chemical and allied industries’ with N 869.50 billion or 4.22 per cent of the value of total exports.
“Exports trade by region shows that Nigeria exported goods mainly to Europe with goods valued at N8,642.86 billion or 41.96 per cent of total exports, followed by exports to Asia valued at N6,753.82 billion or 32.79 per cent of total exports, while exports to America was valued at ₦3,329.45 billion representing 16.16 per cent of total exports.
“Exports to Africa stood at N1,854.48 billion or 9.0 per cent of the total exports; out of which, good exported to ECOWAS countries was valued at N1,067.83 billion or 57.58 per cent of the total exports to Africa.”
A breakdown of Nigeria’s trade with African countries in the first three months of this year shows that the nation’s exports to Africa were mainly to, “South Africa with N708.69 billion, Ivory Coast with goods valued at N428.56 billion, Senegal Republic with N346.26 billion, Togo with N134.80 billion, and Ghana with N122.07 billion,” which, altogether, according to the report, represent 93.91 per cent of exports to Africa.
