Africa (Commonwealth Union) _ Nigeria‘s exports of raw materials keep going up unrelentingly even as the federal government tries to discourage such and promote local value addition. Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that raw material exports jumped by a staggering 159 percent y/y in the first half of 2025 to N1.87 trillion compared to N719.66 billion in the same period of 2024.
Quarter-on-quarter (q/q), exports also improved by 67.8 percent from N1.11 trillion for the second half of 2024, showing a continuous upward trend for three consecutive years. To provide context for H1 2024’s export value, it was already 108.3 percent higher than the H1 2023 figure of N345.51 billion.
The majority of these were commanded by urea, whether or not dissolved in water, exported primarily to Brazil, with follow-up nonmonetary gold exported in powder form to Switzerland.
The increase indicates a paradox in Nigeria’s trade policy. Despite repeated calls to first add value before export, raw commodities still leave the country in massive tons. The Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Uche Geoffrey Nnaji, last year released a 10-year plan for targeting 60 percent value addition by 2034. The minister labelled the existing 25 percent level of processing as unacceptable, emphasizing that value-added exports would generate employment, consolidate local industries, and improve the naira. The African Development Bank (AfDB) collaborated with the Minister to create the roadmap, which marked a significant shift in Nigeria’s industrial policy.
This action follows a similar move by the Senate to approve a bill amending the Raw Materials Research and Development Council Act, 2022, to ensure at least 30 percent of processing locally before export. The non-compliant exporters will be subjected to a 15 percent charge on the value of their exports and risk suspension or withdrawal of their certification. Such exports produced in violation of this requirement will be categorized as “smuggled” and prosecuted under existing customs law.
Industry players have endorsed the decision. In the opinion of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) Director General, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, the export of raw materials in unprocessed form empowers industrial development, discourages innovation, and denies Nigeria employment. “Requiring local processing is a step in the right direction for industrialization and economic diversification,” he said.
With exports still on the rise in defiance of the new policy, the government is faced with the daunting challenge of converting its value-addition agenda from policy declaration to practice—converting Nigeria from a raw commodity exporter to an industrial growth base.
