Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) has warned that structural weaknesses in the country’s trade ecosystem are constraining the full value of Nigeria’s trade position, notwithstanding the surplus.

The country’s trade surplus increased by 341 per cent quarter-on-quarter to N7.55 trillion in the first quarter, from N1.71 trillion recorded in the preceding quarter, data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

Despite the headline numbers, the NESG, in its latest foreign trade review, flagged significant imbalances that it said were limiting Nigeria’s ability to maximise value from international commerce.

Asia accounted for 55.5 per cent of Nigeria’s merchandise imports in the first quarter but absorbed only 30.3 per cent of its exports — a gap the think tank said underscored the need for more structured export partnerships with China and India.

The group also noted that China’s two-year non-reciprocal tariff-free policy for African exports, introduced last month, presented a significant opportunity for Nigerian producers, but warned that Nigeria was absent from the first batch of shipments under the initiative.

“Nigeria needs to strengthen quality assurance and certification systems to improve the competitiveness of locally produced goods. This would also reduce the practice of export rerouting through neighbouring countries, which limits domestic value capture,” the NESG stated.

It identified export rerouting — the channelling of Nigerian goods through third countries before they reach final destinations – as a persistent drag on domestic value capture, attributing the practice largely to inadequate quality standards and cumbersome export procedures.

Beyond certification, the group urged authorities to streamline export procedures and port operations to reduce delays and logistics costs.

It also called for investment in infrastructure and industrial processing zones to promote value addition and identified the expansion of processed agricultural products and light manufacturing goods as critical levers for deepening Nigeria’s participation in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).