… NEPC targets sustained growth in 2026
ABUJA: Nigeria’s non-oil exports climbed to an all-time high of $6.1 billion in 2025, reflecting improved diversification, higher export volumes and wider market penetration, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) said on Monday.
The Executive Director of NEPC, Mrs Nonye Ayeni, disclosed this at a news conference on the 2025 Non-Oil Export Performance and 2026 Outlook held in Abuja.
Ayeni said the council, working with the National Bureau of Statistics, the Central Bank of Nigeria and other stakeholders, was intensifying efforts to mainstream informal trade in order to improve export data, policy formulation and sector planning.
According to records obtained from Pre-shipment Inspection Agencies, she said Nigeria’s non-oil export performance in 2025 represented the highest value recorded since the establishment of the council.
“Non-oil export value rose to approximately $6.1 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of about 11.5 percent over the $5.46 billion recorded in 2024.
“This is the highest non-oil export value achieved for formal, documented trade in Nigeria and underscores the growing resilience and relevance of the sector to the national economy,” Ayeni said, adding that a substantial volume of exports still exited the country informally through land borders.
She said total non-oil export volume stood at 8.02 million metric tonnes, reflecting a 10 percent increase over the 7.29 million metric tonnes recorded in the previous year.
According to her, the simultaneous growth in export value and volume pointed to improved performance across multiple value chains and export destinations.
Ayeni said Nigeria exported a total of 281 non-oil products in 2025, cutting across agricultural commodities, processed and semi-processed goods, industrial inputs and solid minerals, a development she described as gradual progress towards value addition and broader product representation in global markets.
She said Nigerian non-oil exports reached markets in 120 countries, with the Netherlands accounting for 17.53 percent, Brazil 10.35 per cent and India 7.63 percent of total export value.
According to her, exports to the Netherlands rose by 32.46 percent, driven largely by cocoa beans, cocoa butter, sesame seeds and other agricultural products, while exports to Brazil increased by 19.07 percent during the year.
Ayeni attributed the strong performance to sustained economic diversification efforts under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, noting that the strategy had delivered tangible results in job creation, poverty reduction and Nigeria’s positioning in global trade.
She said supportive policies of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, alongside NEPC initiatives in capacity building, market access, certification support and improved compliance across export value chains, also contributed significantly to the improved outcomes.
Commending Nigerian exporters for their resilience despite logistics constraints, regulatory pressures and global market uncertainties, Ayeni said collaboration among government agencies, private sector operators and development partners strengthened implementation of the council’s “Double Your Export” initiative.
She listed cocoa beans, urea, cashew, sesame seed, gold dore, aluminium ingots, rubber and copper ingots among the top-performing non-oil export products in 2025.
Ayeni noted a slight decline in exports to ECOWAS countries, which she attributed to the exit of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger from the regional bloc, a development that affected intra-African trade figures.
She, however, stressed that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) remained critical to expanding intra-African trade and positioning Nigeria as a regional export hub under continental market integration.
Looking ahead, Ayeni said NEPC was targeting sustained and more effective growth in non-oil exports in 2026, building on reforms, market expansion and strengthened exporter development initiatives.
She said the sector experienced consolidation and structural adjustments in 2025, with increasing contributions from processed agricultural goods, semi-manufactured products and solid minerals, signalling gradual movement towards industrial exports.
According to her, the council would deepen value addition across agriculture, manufacturing and solid minerals through targeted incentives, improved infrastructure and stronger governance frameworks, particularly in the solid minerals sector, including enhanced traceability, quality control and beneficiation.
Ayeni said NEPC would also reduce over-reliance on large exporters by supporting small and medium-scale enterprises through tailored programmes and improved access to markets.
She noted Nigeria’s recognition at the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) in Algiers, where the country won the Best Pavilion for Transacting Business, and said Nigeria’s selection to host the 2027 IATF further affirmed its leadership role under the AfCFTA.
Ayeni said partnerships with the International Trade Centre, UK trade missions and other international partners expanded market access for Nigerian exporters during the year.
She added that NEPC registered 1,129 new exporters in 2025 to ease documentation and improve business formalisation, while engagement with financial institutions also improved, with 30 banks participating and 19,975 Nigerian Export Proceeds (NXP) forms processed, led by Zenith Bank, GTBank and First Bank.
According to her, about 94 per cent of non-oil exports exited through seaports, supported by airports and land borders, while efforts continued to mainstream informal trade to strengthen data accuracy and policymaking.
Ayeni identified the Nigeria–United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) as a critical driver of future growth, noting that the agreement provided tariff elimination on over 7,300 Nigerian products.
She expressed optimism that sustained reforms, stronger collaboration with stakeholders and improved trade facilitation would further strengthen non-oil exports as a strategic pillar of Nigeria’s economic diversification agenda, in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda.
