Nigeria’s non-oil exports rose to an all-time high of $6.1bn in 2025, marking the strongest performance in the sector since the establishment of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) nearly five decades ago.
Naijaonpoint reports that the figure represents an 11.5 per cent year-on-year increase over the $5.4 billion recorded in 2024, underscoring growing momentum in the country’s push to diversify its economy away from crude oil dependence.
The Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the NEPC, Nonye Ayeni, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja during her annual progress report and 2026 non-oil export outlook briefing.
Ayeni said data obtained from pre-shipment inspection agencies showed that the country had surpassed its previous best performance, describing the 2025 outcome as a historic milestone in formal, documented trade.
“Ladies and gentlemen, based on the records obtained from pre-shipment inspection agencies, Nigerian non-oil export performance in 2025 reached an all-time high,” she said.
“The non-oil export sector rose to approximately $6.1bn, representing a year-on-year growth of about 11.5 per cent over and above the $5.4bn recorded in 2024.”
Highlighting the significance of the achievement, Ayeni noted that the 2025 figures represent the highest non-oil export value recorded in Nigeria since the inception of the council almost 50 years ago.
“This marks the highest non-oil export value achieved in the country for formal documented trade and also from the inception of the council almost 50 years ago,” she said.
“So we have indeed beaten our own records of last year. Nigeria has $6.1bn in terms of value for non-oil export.”
Beyond export value, the NEPC boss said Nigeria also recorded a notable increase in export volumes.
According to her, total non-oil exports reached 8.02 million metric tonnes in 2025, up from 7.29 million metric tonnes in 2024, representing a 10 per cent increase.
She explained that the strong performance cut across agricultural commodities, processed and semi-processed goods, industrial inputs and solid minerals, pointing to gradual progress in value addition and broader product representation.
“In 2025 alone, Nigeria exported a total of 281 non-oil products. This reflects our steady transition towards value-added exports and deeper integration into global value chains,” Ayeni stated.
Despite the impressive performance, Ayeni cautioned that the figures do not fully reflect Nigeria’s export potential, noting that a significant volume of non-oil trade still takes place informally across the country’s land borders.
She disclosed that the council is working with the National Bureau of Statistics, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other stakeholders to mainstream informal trade into official export records, improve data accuracy and strengthen policy support for exporters.
Ayeni added that ongoing reforms, export incentives and capacity-building initiatives would be intensified in 2026 to sustain growth and expand Nigeria’s non-oil export footprint.
The record performance comes amid renewed government efforts to boost foreign exchange earnings, stabilise the naira and reduce the economy’s vulnerability to oil price shocks by deepening non-oil export revenues.