Nigeria's non-oil exports reached a record-breaking $6.1 billion in 2025, marking the industry's best result since the Nigerian Export Promotion Council was founded almost fifty years earlier.

In comparison to the $5.4 billion recorded in 2024, the 2025 figure shows an 11.5% year-over-year rise, demonstrating the continued momentum in Nigeria's efforts to diversify its economy away from reliance on crude oil earnings.

During her yearly progress report and the 2026 non-oil export outlook conference on Monday in Abuja, Nonye Ayeni, the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, revealed this.

Ayeni described the 2025 performance as a historic milestone for official and documented non-oil commerce, explaining that data from pre-shipment inspection agencies indicated that Nigeria had surpassed its prior export records.

"Ladies and gentlemen, according to data gathered from pre-shipment inspection organisations, Nigeria's non-oil export performance hit a record high in 2025. In comparison to the 5.4 billion U.S. dollars recorded in 2024, the non-oil export industry increased to over 6.1 billion U.S. dollars, a gain of roughly 11.5% year over year.

“This marks the highest non-oil export value achieved in the country for formal documented trade in the country and also from the inception of the council almost 50 years ago. So we have indeed beaten our own records of last year. So Nigeria has 6.1 billion U.S. dollars in terms of value for non-oil export.”

She noted that the $6.1bn export value was driven by improved performance across multiple value chains, supported by expanding market access and increasing diversification of export products.

Beyond export value, Ayeni revealed that non-oil export volumes also recorded notable growth, with total exports reaching 8.02 million metric tonnes in 2025, compared to 7.29 million metric tonnes in 2024, representing a 10 per cent increase.

She stated that the improved performance spanned agricultural commodities, processed and semi-processed goods, industrial inputs, and solid minerals, reflecting gradual progress in value addition and wider product representation in Nigeria’s export basket.

“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.

However, the NEPC chief cautioned that the strong figures did not fully reflect Nigeria’s actual export potential, noting that a considerable volume of trade continues to take place informally across the country’s land borders.

She said that the council was working with the Central Bank of Nigeria, the National Bureau of Statistics, and other relevant parties to improve accuracy, bolster policy support for exporters, and incorporate informal commerce into official export data.

In order to maintain growth and increase Nigeria's non-oil export footprint, Ayeni continued, reforms, export incentives, and capacity-building programs would be increased in 2026.

The most recent performance coincides with intensified government initiatives to increase foreign exchange profits, stable the naira, and lessen the economy's vulnerability to fluctuations in oil prices by increasing non-oil export earnings.