Nigeria’s exports to countries in the Economic Community of West African States reached N1.54tn in the third quarter of 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics has said.

Data from the bureau also showed that Nigeria’s imports stood at just N82bn.

The report revealed that Nigeria’s main trading partner within the ECOWAS region was Ivory Coast, which imported N662.71bn worth of goods.

Togo followed with N574.93bn, and together, the two countries accounted for 97.60 per cent of Nigeria’s total exports to ECOWAS countries in Q3 2024.

In terms of commodities, petroleum oils, and oils obtained from bituminous minerals were the largest exports, valued at N1,285.77bn, representing 83.45 per cent of Nigeria’s total exports to ECOWAS.

The NBS report stated, “The top five exported products represent 93.19 per cent of the total exports to the ECOWAS region.”

Other major exports include electrical energy valued at N59.69bn (3.87 per cent), and liquefied petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons at N35.84bn (2.33 per cent).

The report highlighted that Nigeria also exported cocoa beans, with superior quality cocoa beans valued at N34.88bn and standard quality cocoa beans at N19.73bn.

On the import side, Nigeria’s imports from ECOWAS countries totalled N82.05bn.

The report noted, “Nigeria’s major trading import partner within ECOWAS was Ivory Coast (N29.50bn), followed by Ghana (N20.84bn), Togo (N15.80bn), Niger Republic (N3.59bn) and Benin Republic (N1.61bn), representing 86.95 per cent of total imports from the ECOWAS region.”

The analysis also revealed that the primary imported commodities were petroleum bitumen (N19.88bn), aviation spirit (N13.29bn), and cocoa powder (N8.05bn).