Nigeria’s intra-African trade fell to 6.4 percent in 2023 as against 6.5 percent in 2022, thus pointing to the task that lies ahead of the nation’s policy makers if Nigeria must optimise the opportunities in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
It should be noted that in 2021, the share of intra-African trade relative to Nigeria’s total trade was 7.5 percent, and 11 percent in 2020 while it was 13.9 percent in 2019, the highest ratio in the last five years, Nigerian Observer estimates have shown.
Meanwhile, the nation’s total trade surged by 37.2 percent in 2023 to N71.9 trillion, up from N52.4 trillion in 2022. This comprised N35.96 trillion exports and N35.92 trillion imports, resulting in a trade surplus of N44.77 billion.
Nigeria’s trade with Europe and Asia was evenly split in 2023, with the EU accounting for 38.8 percent of both exports and imports, while Asia accounted for 39.9 percent.
EU’s trade comprised N16.33 trillion exports, and N12.25 trillion imports, implying EU’s total trade with Nigeria in 2023 amounted to N28.58 trillion.
Asia traded N28.66 trillion worth of goods with Nigeria in 2023, comprising N9.59 trillion exports and N19.07 trillion imports. The Americas’ total trade amounted to N9.76 trillion, consisting of N6.16 trillion exports and N3.60 trillion imports.
Nigeria exported N167.23 billion worth of goods to consumers in Oceania, and imported N99.39 billion from the same region.
When analysed along continents, Nigeria’s foreign trade in 2023 recorded a surplus trade of N2.82 trillion in Africa; a surplus of N2.57 trillion in the Americas; a surplus of N4.08 trillion with the European continent, and a surplus of N67.84 billion with the Oceania. On the flip side, a humongous trade deficit of N9.48 trillion was recorded with the Asian continent, leading to an overall trade surplus of just N44.77 billion in 2023.
Within the continent analysis of Nigeria’s external trade in 2023 revealed some interesting facts. On the import segment, the bulk of Nigeria’s intra African trade was recorded outside of the West African economic bloc, ECOWAS. This is because out of the total import trade of N896.05 billion in 2023, ECOWAS recorded N168.28 billion while the rest of Africa recorded N727.77 billion.
United States of America (USA) dominated Nigeria’s import trade with the Americas, followed by Brazil, and Canada.
The Netherlands dominated Nigeria’s import trade with the European Union. It was followed by the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France and Spain in that order.
China accounted for 35 percent of Nigeria’s import trade with Asia, followed by India and Japan.
In the export segment, ECOWAS dominated Nigeria’s trade with Africa, accounting for 60.2 percent of Nigeria’s export trade in 2023.
USA and Canada dominated Nigeria’s export trade with the Americas, according to the Nigerian Observer estimates.
In Europe, The Netherlands, Spain, France, UK and Italy in that order, accounted for the bulk of Nigeria’s export trade with the European continent in 2023.
In terms of products exported, petroleum products and natural gas still dominated based on the trade data provided for the last quarter of 2023. Our analysis showed that 81.23 percent of the products exported were from the petroleum industry captured as petroleum oil obtained from bituminous and crude while natural gas accounted for 8 percent.
Urea and other petroleum gases in gaseous state accounted for 1,98 percent and 1.19 percent respectively. None of the agric produce exported in the last quarter of 2023 was worth 1 percent of the export earnings.
Meanwhile, Nigeria keeps mobilising resources to ensure the full implementation of AfCFTA. This was affirmed by Nwaibu Legasorsi Nima of Nigeria’s Private Sector Alliance during the 13th AfCFTA Council of Ministers Meeting in Durban, South Africa recently.
He said: “If you can recall, Nigeria has been at the centre of driving the African Continental Free Trade. First by chairing the negotiation rounds which was led by the late Ambassador Chiedu, so we can probably say that Nigeria drove this process, and by way of history, you can remember the Abuja Treaty upon which the foundation of AfCFTA is being funded or the Lagos plan of action. In general, it is the passion and interest of Nigeria that AfCFTA should succeed.
