The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to boosting non-oil exports through value addition, market expansion and improved export competitiveness as part of efforts to diversify Nigeria’s economy.
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday, saying the government would also intensify efforts to attract long-term productive foreign direct investment (FDI) while sustaining reforms aimed at strengthening investor confidence.
According to the minister, Nigeria attracted approximately $2 billion in FDI between 2023 and 2025, based on the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) capital importation data.
She explained that the country recorded $377 million in FDI in 2023, $675 million in 2024, and $923 million in 2025, noting that FDI more than doubled within the three-year period and grew by about 37 per cent between 2024 and 2025.
Oduwole, however, cautioned against equating FDI with total capital importation, stressing that while Nigeria attracted $23.22 billion in total foreign capital inflows in 2025, only $923 million represented FDI.
She said portfolio investments accounted for $19.74 billion of the total inflows, explaining that portfolio investments and long-term productive FDI have different impacts on industrial development and job creation.
The minister noted that publicly available NBS sectoral rankings reflect overall capital importation rather than FDI-specific investments, with the banking and financial services sector receiving the largest share of total capital inflows in recent years.
According to her, determining sector-specific FDI allocations would require harmonised transaction-level data from the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), the NBS and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Despite the distinction, Oduwole said available data showed that investor confidence in Nigeria was improving, even as the government continued efforts to attract more productive investments.
She highlighted that total capital inflows increased from $12.32 billion in 2024 to $23.22 billion in 2025, while recorded FDI rose from $675 million to $923 million over the same period.
She also revealed that total capital importation reached $10.37 billion in the first quarter of 2026, representing an 83.83 percent increase compared to the corresponding period in 2025.
The minister attributed the growth to ongoing economic reforms, improved transparency in the foreign exchange market and trade facilitation initiatives.
Among the key reforms, she cited the launch of the first phase of the National Single Window in March 2026, designed to simplify import and export procedures and improve the ease of doing business.
She noted that although portfolio investments accounted for about 85 percent of total capital inflows in 2025, the ministry remained committed to promoting policy consistency, faster regulatory approvals, investment retention and stronger industrial capacity to attract more long-term investments.
On economic diversification, Oduwole disclosed that Nigeria’s non-oil exports reached a record $6.1 billion in 2025, representing an 11.5 percent increase from the $5.46 billion recorded in 2024.
She added that export volume also grew by 10 percent, rising from 7.29 million metric tonnes in 2024 to 8.02 million metric tonnes in 2025.
According to the minister, Nigeria exported 281 different non-oil products during the year, with cocoa and its derivatives, urea, cashew nuts, sesame seeds and gold dore emerging as the country’s leading non-oil export earners.
Looking ahead, Oduwole said the government would sustain growth in both the value and volume of non-oil exports over the next three years by prioritising value-added products, processed agricultural goods, manufactured products, services and digital exports.
She added that the strategy would also focus on expanding production capacity, improving product standards, developing export clusters and reducing logistics costs to strengthen Nigeria’s competitiveness in international markets.
The minister reaffirmed that the Federal Government would build on the record $6.1 billion in non-oil exports while driving greater value addition and expanding access to global markets as part of its broader economic diversification agenda.
