The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said Nigeria earned $1.9 billion from non-oil exports between January and November 2024. This, it said, highlights the progress made in the country’s economic diversification efforts.

This figure is, however, $0.8 billion lower than what the Nigeria Export Promotion Council’s (NEPC) Executive Director, Nonye Ayeni, claimed was earned in the first half (H1).

Ayeni had said that the country’s non-oil proceeds saw a 6.26 per cent increase, hitting $2.7 billion in the H1 alone up from $2.53 reported for the same period last year.

The NCS shared its update via its official social media handle, which contained details from Nigeria’s non-oil export report for the period. According to the Service, a total of 27,595 containers were exported during the 11 months, consisting of agricultural products, manufactured goods, solid minerals and other items.

The report noted that the free on board (FOB) value of the exports amounted to $1,901,170,385.64, supposedly showing a rise in the contributions of non-oil sectors to Nigeria’s export revenues. However, oil exports lead the data by a wide margin, even with the N5.81 trillion trade surplus in Q3 as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Crude oil accounted for N13.41 trillion, marking a 57.06 per cent rise from 2023, but non-oil exports, particularly agricultural products, solid minerals and manufactured goods, are playing an increasingly vital role in Nigeria’s export revenues.

While the non-oil export sector shows growth, exporters have raised concerns over the continued rejection of Nigerian agricultural products particularly due to pesticide non-compliance, high port charges and problems associated with the Nigeria Export Proceeds (NXP) form. Exporters have also called for Nigeria to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) to secure better access to European markets.