Nigeria just posted its biggest quarterly trade win in years.
The National Bureau of Statistics said the country closed Q2 2026 with a N12.596 trillion surplus, powered by a surge in exports and a drop in what we bought from abroad. It is the strongest signal yet that the economy is tilting toward selling more than it spends.
Exports Break the N27 Trillion Ceiling
Between April and June, Nigeria exported goods worth N27.020 trillion. That alone made up 65.20% of all trade done in the quarter.
Compared to Q2 2025, exports jumped 18.77%. Compared to Q1 2026, they leapt 27.64%.
Crude oil was still king, bringing in N12.914 trillion or 47.79% of exports. But the real plot twist was what happened outside oil. Non-crude exports hit N14.106 trillion, 52.21% of the total. Non-oil products alone contributed N3.729 trillion. For the first time in a long while, what Nigeria makes, farms, and manufactures outside oil outweighed black gold.
Total trade for the quarter stood at N41.444 trillion, up 5.61% year-on-year and 19.13% quarter-on-quarter.
Imports Cool Off as Asia Still Dominates
Nigeria imported N14.424 trillion worth of goods, 34.80% of total trade. That is a 12.55% decline from the N16.493 trillion recorded in Q2 2025, though it rose 5.91% from Q1.
Asia supplied the bulk: N8.563 trillion or 59.37% of imports. Europe followed with N3.064 trillion, then the Americas with N1.591 trillion. Africa accounted for N1.103 trillion, with ECOWAS making up N269.06 billion of that.
Country by country, China led with N5.916 trillion, 41.02% of all imports. The US came next at N1.005 trillion, then India at N924.46 billion, the Netherlands at N409.81 billion, and Germany at N395.87 billion.
A Surplus That Doubled in a Year
The bottom line: a trade balance of N12.596 trillion in the black. NBS said that figure is 101.32% higher than the same quarter in 2025.
The numbers suggest a shift. Oil is still vital, but non-oil exports are now carrying more weight, and the import bill is easing. If the trend holds, Nigeria may be entering a period where it earns far more from the world than it pays out.
