Economy
Nigeria’s Imports Jump 80.7% to $56bn in Six Years—WTO
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s import levels increased by 80.7 per cent in six years, rising from $31 billion in 2017 to $56 billion in 2023, according to the latest World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Policy Review.
This rise, according to the report, was primarily fueled by refined petroleum, which made up 38.3 per cent of the total imports.
The WTO noted that the Nigerian government’s trade and economic policies lacked consistency in the past, affecting the achievement of ambitious government goals.
The report added that some of Nigeria’s restrictive and interventionist policies seemed to counteract broader government strategies to support economic diversification and the integration of more productive manufacturing enterprises into global value chains.
The sixth Trade Policy Review of Nigeria, based on reports by the WTO Secretariat and the Government of Nigeria, emphasises the critical role of trade in Nigeria’s economic development strategy.
According to the WTO, Nigeria, with a nominal GDP of $363 billion, remains one of Africa’s largest economies, largely due to its oil and gas exports, which continue to dominate its portfolio.
“Crude oil alone accounted for 80.6 per cent of goods exports, while gas made up 10.5 per cent. Exports have risen by nearly 50 per cent over the last six years, reaching $65 billion.
“Exports of goods continue to be dominated by crude oil (80.6 per cent) as well as gas (10.5 per cent).
“Between 2017 and 2023, they increased by nearly 50 per cent to $65 billion. Services exports, about 6 per cent of all exports, are dominated by transport and travel (58.2 per cent), as well as increasingly financial services (22.9 per cent, predominantly traded digitally).
“The share of non-oil exports in total exports doubled between 2017 and 2023, consisting primarily of agricultural products, fertilizer, and metals.
“Imports also grew strongly from $31 billion to $56 billion, with refined petroleum accounting for the largest share (38.3 per cent).
“Services imports, which accounted for more than 20 per cent of total imports, are also dominated by transport and travel services (63.7 per cent of services imports), followed by other business services (20.1 per cent, predominantly traded digitally),” the report said.
The review highlights the Nigerian government’s ambitious Agenda 2050, which aims to diversify the economy and reduce reliance on oil by promoting manufacturing, linking domestic raw materials with industries, and expanding the domestic market.
The WTO said that despite these efforts, some restrictive policies seem to counter the goal of economic diversification.
“For example, the share of intermediate goods in non-oil imports fell from 44 per cent to 32 per cent between 2017 and 2023, indicating limited progress in expanding manufacturing’s contribution to the economy.
“Government strategies and policies at times seem to lack consistency and, in the past, did not fully achieve their ambitious objectives.
“Some restrictive and interventionist policies seem to counteract broader government strategies to support economic diversification and the integration of more productive manufacturing enterprises into global value chains.
“Nigeria’s trade in intermediary goods developed little between 2010 and 2021 and the share of intermediate goods in total non-oil imports declined from 44 per cent to 32 per cent between 2017 and 2023.
“FDI has continued its downward trend and virtually ceased in 2022, with few disaggregated figures available,” the report said.
The WTO explains that economic reforms have been underway in Nigeria, including the removal of fuel subsidies and a restructuring of the foreign exchange rate system.
According to the report, in 2023, Nigeria eliminated its complex multi-tiered exchange rate system, which had resulted in significant foreign exchange shortages.
“In 2023, the Government initiated important reforms regarding the foreign exchange rate, fuel subsidies, and fiscal discipline. In June, it eliminated a complex exchange rate system using multiple windows and rates which had led to significant foreign exchange (FX) shortages.
“The largely inaccessible official rate of the naira rapidly aligned with the parallel rate at which most FX transactions had effectively taken place and by March 2024, the official exchange rate had lost around 70 per cent of its value in USD terms.
“In 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) also removed restrictions on the use of FX for the import of 43 groups of commodities, affecting more than 900 tariff lines that had been in place since 2015.
“A price verification system for imports and exports to avoid under- or over-invoicing was in place between August 2023 and June 2024. However, some FX restrictions remain in place, including repatriation requirements,” it said.
The report added that following an earlier failed attempt in 2020, the government also removed costly and inefficient fuel subsidies in mid-2023 but established retail price caps for fuels at the end of 2023, effectively reintroducing some form of support.
“These subsidies accounted for about 15 per cent of government expenditure in 2022.
The Nigerian government also decided to end the practice of financing a significant share of its spending via overdrafts from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which had contributed to increasing debt as a share of GDP to 30 per cent.
“At below 9 per cent, the revenue-to-GDP ratio in Nigeria remains very low and the Government aims to increase it significantly by 2025.
The official exchange rate, which aligned with the parallel rate by March 2024, saw a rapid devaluation of the naira. In June 2023, Nigeria also removed longstanding foreign exchange restrictions on 43 groups of imports to ease access to foreign currency.
“These reforms were intended to create a more stable economic environment, though some foreign exchange restrictions remain, including repatriation requirements for companies.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The domestic supply of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, from the Dangote Refinery increased by 64.4 percent in December 2025, contributing to an enhancement in Nigeria’s overall petrol availability.
This is according to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) in its December 2025 Factsheet Report released on Thursday.
The downstream regulatory agency revealed that the private refinery raised its domestic petrol supply from 19.47 million litres per day in November 2025 to an average of 32.012 million litres per day in December, as it quelled any probable fuel scarcity associated with the festive month.
The report attributed the improvement to more substantial capacity utilisation at the Lagos-based oil facility, which reached a peak of 71 per cent in December.
The increased output from Dangote Refinery contributed to a rise in Nigeria’s total daily domestic PMS supply to 74.2 million litres in December, up from 71.5 million litres per day recorded in November.
The authority also reported a sharp increase in petrol consumption, rising to 63.7 million litres per day in December 2025, up from 52.9 million litres per day in the previous month.
In contrast, the domestic supply of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) known as diesel declined to 17.9 million litres per day in December from 20.4 million litres per day in November, even as daily diesel consumption increased to 16.4 million litres per day from 15.4 million litres per day.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) supply recorded modest growth during the period, rising to 5.2 metric tonnes per day in December from 5.0 metric tonnes per day in November.
Despite the gains recorded by Dangote Refinery and modular refineries, the NMDPRA disclosed that Nigeria’s four state-owned refineries recorded zero production in December.
It said the Port Harcourt Refinery remained shut down, though evacuation of diesel produced before May 24, 2025, averaged 0.247 million litres per day. The Warri and Kaduna refineries also remained shut down throughout the period.
On modular refineries, the report said Waltersmith Refinery (Train 2 with 5,000 barrels per day) completed pre-commissioning in December, with hydrocarbon introduction expected in January 2026. The refinery recorded an average capacity utilisation of 63.24 per cent and an average AGO supply of 0.051 million litres per day
Edo Refinery posted an average capacity utilisation of 85.43 per cent with AGO supply of 0.052 million litres per day, while Aradel recorded 53.89 per cent utilisation and supplied an average of 0.289 million litres per day of AGO.
Total AGO supply from the three modular refineries averaged 0.392 million litres per day, with other products including naphtha, heavy hydrocarbon kerosene (HHK), fuel oil, and marine diesel oil (MDO).
The report listed Nigeria’s 2025 daily consumption benchmarks as 50 million litres per day for petrol, 14 million litres per day for diesel, 3 million litres per day for aviation fuel (ATK), and 3,900 metric tonnes per day for cooking gas.
Actual daily truck-out consumption in December stood at 63.7 million litres per day for petrol, 16.4 million litres per day for diesel, 2.7 million litres per day for ATK and 4,380 metric tonnes per day for cooking gas.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has introduced a comprehensive revision of minimum capital requirements for nearly all capital market operators, marking the most significant overhaul since 2015.
The changes, outlined in a circular issued on January 16, 2026, obtained from its website on Friday, replace the previous regime. Operators have been given until June 30, 2027, to comply.
The SEC stated that the reforms aim to strengthen market resilience, enhance investor protection, discourage undercapitalised operators, and align capital adequacy with the evolving risk profile of market activities.
According to the circular, “The revised framework applies to brokers, dealers, fund managers, issuing houses, fintech firms, digital asset operators, and market infrastructure providers.”
Some of the key highlights of the new reforms include increment of minimum capital for brokers from N200 million to N600 million while for dealers, it was raised to N1 billion from N100 million.
For broker-dealers, they are to get N2 billion instead of the previous N300 million, reflecting multi-role exposure across trading, execution, and margin lending.
The agency said fund and portfolio managers with assets above N20 billion must hold N5 billion, while mid-tier managers must maintain N2 billion with private equity and venture capital firms to have N500 million and N200 million, respectively.
There was also dynamic rule as firms managing assets above N100 billion must hold at least 10 per cent of assets under management as capital.
“Digital asset firms, previously in a regulatory grey area, are now fully covered: digital exchanges and custodians must maintain N2 billion each, while tokenisation platforms and intermediaries face thresholds of N500 million to N1 billion. Robo-advisers must hold N100 million.
“Other segments are also affected: issuing houses offering full underwriting services must hold N7 billion, advisory-only firms N2 billion, registrars N2.5 billion, trustees N2 billion, underwriters N5 billion, and individual investment advisers N10 million. Market infrastructure providers carry some of the highest obligations, with composite exchanges and central counterparties required to maintain N10 billion each, and clearinghouses N5 billion,” the SEC added.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The founder and chief executive of Austin Laz and Company Plc, Mr Asimonye Austin Lazarus Azubuike, has sold off about 52.24 million shares of the organisation.
The stocks were offloaded in 11 tranches at an average price of N4.36 per unit, amounting to about N227.8 million.
The transactions occurred between December 2025 and January 2026, according to a notice filed by the company to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday.
Business Post reports that Austin Laz is known for producing ice block machines, aluminium roofing, thermoplastics coolers, PVC windows and doors, ice cream machines, and disposable plates.
The firm evolved from refrigeration sales to diverse manufacturing since its incorporation in 1982 in Benin City, Edo State, though facing recent operational halts.
According to the statement signed by company secretary, Ifeanyi Offor & Associates, Mr Azubuike first sold 1.5 million units of the equities at N2.42, and then offloaded 2.4 million units at N2.65, and 2.0 million units at N2.65.
In another tranche, he sold another 2.0 million units at a unit price of N2.91, and then 5.0 million units at N3.52, as well as about 4.5 million at N3.87 per share.
It was further disclosed that the owner of the company also sold 9.0 million shares at N4.25, and offloaded another 368,411 units at N4.66, then in another transaction sold about 6.9 million units at N4.67.
In the last two transactions he carried out, Mr Azubuike first traded 10.0 million units equities at N5.13, with the last being 8.5 million stocks sold at N5.64 per unit.
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