Nigeria sold far more to the rest of Africa than it bought from the continent in the second quarter of 2026, with exports reaching N6.65 trillion against imports of N1.10 trillion, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The NBS Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics for Q2 2026 showed that total trade with African countries came to roughly N7.76 trillion during the period.

Nigeria's top African export markets

Togo received the largest share of Nigerian exports at about N1.50 trillion, followed by South Africa with N1.34 trillion and Côte d'Ivoire with N1.22 trillion.

Ghana and Egypt ranked fourth and fifth, with exports worth N461.36 billion and N455.81 billion respectively. The five countries combined accounted for 74.75% of Nigeria's total exports to Africa.

Energy products drove the bulk of those shipments. Crude petroleum exports to African countries were valued at N3.23 trillion, or 48.58% of the total.
Gas oil contributed N1.32 trillion, kerosene-type jet fuel stood at N975.37 billion, motor spirit came in at N416.78 billion, and urea exports were worth N147.54 billion. Together, these five products made up 91.60% of all goods Nigeria exported to Africa in the quarter.

Libya tops Nigeria's African import sources

West Africa proved especially important to Nigeria's continental trade. Nigeria exported N3.82 trillion worth of goods to West African countries in the quarter and imported N280.66 billion from the subregion.

Trade with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rose sharply, reaching about N4.02 trillion in Q2 2026, made up of exports worth N3.75 trillion and imports of N269.06 billion.

That figure marked a 77.2% jump from N2.27 trillion in Q1 2026 and more than doubled the N1.98 trillion recorded in Q2 2025.

Nigeria's wider merchandise trade also grew strongly in the quarter. Total exports climbed to N27.02 trillion, up 18.77% from Q2 2025 and 27.64% higher than Q1 2026.

Imports fell 12.55% year-on-year to N14.42 trillion, producing a trade surplus of N12.60 trillion, more than double the surplus seen a year earlier.

China remained Nigeria's single largest trading partner overall, while ECOWAS climbed to third place among trading blocs, behind China and India.
FG pushes for local processing of raw materials

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the federal government was seeking to discourage the export of raw materials without local processing, as part of efforts to promote value addition within Nigeria.

The government said investors and exporters should process raw materials locally before ship-ping them to overseas markets.

The Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Dr Kingsley Udeh, made the remarks at a national advocacy and sensitisation conference organised by the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) in Abuja.