Nigeria’s long road to economic recovery suffered a massive setback after the country’s total imports from Malta rose to N766.81 billion in the third quarter of 2024.

The latest analysis of the foreign trade statistics reports released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in the third quarter of 2024 revealed that imports from Malta rose by X per cent to N766.81 billion, compared to N561.37 billion in the third quarter of 2023.

Although the statistics office did not specify the product imported from Malta in the review quarter, an earlier accusation by the chairman of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, against Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited over opening a blending plant most likely proved that petroleum products were being imported from Malta.

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The NBS report stated that imports from Malta accounted for 5.23 per cent of Nigeria’s total imports of N14.67 trillion in the third quarter. The country was Nigeria’s fifth-largest import trading partner, it stated.

Analysis by trading partners reveals that imports from China were valued at N3,574.79 billion, representing 24.36 per cent of total imports.

This was followed by imports from India with N1,662.68 billion (11.33 per cent of total imports), Belgium with imports valued at N1,632.89 billion or 11.13 per cent of total imports, the United States of America with goods valued at N1,024.44 billion (6.98 per cent of total imports), and goods from Malta valued at N766.81 billion or 5.23 per cent of total imports,” the statistics office disclosed.

The figure recorded in the third quarter of 2024 is the highest value of imports from Malta on record, The ICIR can report.

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In the first and second quarters of this year, no record of imports from Malta was reported by the NBS.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, Malta fell within the top ten import destination countries for Nigeria, standing in the eighth position below Singapore, China, Belgium, India, and the United States, which held the top five positions.

Its share of Nigeria’s total imports was 2.07 per cent, with total imports at N291.979 billion in that quarter.

Malta came under huge scrutiny in July this year following reports that top officials of the NNPCL, oil traders, and terminals controlled a blending plant in the tiny European coastal nation; a report the NNPC chairman, Melee Kyari, refuted