Abdulwahab Isa 
…feat underscores country’s resilience in non-oil export – NEPC boss
Nigeria recorded the highest record in the non-oil export value, netting $6.1 billion at the end of the 2025 fiscal year.
New Telegraph reports that the amount represents a year-on-year increase of about 11.5% over and above the $5.46 billion recorded in 2024.
The record confirmed on Monday in Abuja by the Executive Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Export Promotion Council ( NEPC) Mrs. Nnonye Ayeni, marks the highest non-oil export value achieved in the country since the inception of the Council.
Quoting from the Pre-shipment Inspection Agencies’ record, Nonye, who stated this when she addressed the media, said the record underscores the growing resilience and relevance of the non-oil export sector to Nigeria’s economy.
” This outstanding performance is not the total story as a lot of exports still go out informally through our various borders”, she said.
In volume terms, total non-oil exports stood at 8.02million metric tonnes, reflecting a 10% increase compared to the 7.29million metric tonnes recorded in the previous year.
In 2025, Nigeria exported a total of 281 non-oil products. The products cut across agricultural commodities, processed and semi-processed goods, industrial inputs, and solid minerals, reflecting gradual progress toward value addition and broader product representation in global markets.
Nigeria’s non-oil exports reached markets across 120 countries, with the Netherlands contributing 17.53%, Brazil 10.35%, and India 7.63% of non-oil exports.
The three countries emerged as the top 3 destinations by export. The export to the Netherlands increased by 32.46% with products including cocoa beans, cocoa butter, sesame seeds and others, as export to Brazil increased by 19.07%.
“This growth in both value and volume demonstrates improved export activity across multiple value chains and market destinations”, said NEPC boss.
Within the African market, Nigeria exported non-oil products to 11 ECOWAS member countries. The exports, which total 1,234,177.01 metric tons, stood at$227.255 million, representing 4.46% of the total export value. This shows a decrease of 13.08% compared to the sum of $312.080 million for the year 2024.
“The difference is due to the exit of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger from the ECOWAS committee”, she clarified.
In the period under review, two ECOWAS countries secured a position among the top 20 global destination markets for Nigeria’s non-oil export, with Ghana coming at13th position and Cote D’Ivoire coming at 20th position.
Nigeria also exported to 25 other African countries outside ECOWAS, bringing the total export destinations in Africa to 36. The value of the exports, total 967,397.94 metric tons and $206.941 million, representing 3.40% of the total non-oil export value.
The 20 top leading export firms in the period under review include Indorama Eleme Fertiliser & Chemical Limited, Dangote Fertiliser Limited and Starlink Global and Ideal Ltd, securing the foremost position with 13.13%, 8.41% and 8.06% respectively. The feat is attributed to their notable export volumes of fertiliser and cocoa products.
Speaking about value addition to the export products, the CEO said: “We are beginning to see a shift where our exporters, SMEs, are adding value to their products instead of exporting raw, enabling them to earn premium pricing in the global market”.
