Nigeria’s trade relations within Africa underwent a major shake-up in the second quarter of 2025, with Togo outpacing South Africa to become the country’s top African trading partner.
This is according to the latest Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The figures from the NBS show Togo’s rise in both exports and imports, highlighting the West African nation’s growing importance as a trade hub in the region.
Togo’s trade boom
In Q1 2025, Togo ranked fourth among Nigeria’s African export destinations with N134.8 billion in trade, all of it made up of non-crude oil goods.
By Q2, its position changed as exports to Togo surged to N811.97 billion, representing 27.4% of Nigeria’s total exports to Africa. Of this, N113.3 billion came from crude oil while N698.7 billion was from non-crude oil products.
This six-fold jump in trade volume signals Nigeria’s growing reliance on Togo’s re-export and logistics capacity. With the port of Lomé serving as one of West Africa’s busiest transshipment hubs, a significant share of Nigerian exports to Togo may be destined for redistribution across francophone West Africa.
On the import side, Togo also dominated in Q2, supplying Nigeria with goods worth N211.99 billion, representing 25.8% of total imports from Africa. This cemented Togo’s role as Nigeria’s largest African trade partner overall, not only on the export front but also as the top import origin.
South Africa’s decline
- South Africa, which led the list in Q1 with N708.7 billion worth of imports from Nigeria, fell to second place in Q2. Its exports from Nigeria shrank to N473.65 billion, a sharp drop of 33% compared with the previous quarter.
- Crude oil continued to account for the bulk of the trade, with N430.8 billion in Q2 versus N704.7 billion in Q1.
- On imports, South Africa supplied Nigeria with N115.15 billion in Q2, down from N125.38 billion in Q1. While it retained second place as a source of imports, the contraction shows Nigeria’s shifting trade flows away from South Africa toward West African partners.
Other movers in the rankings
Ivory Coast maintained its third-place position in both quarters, although its trade volume fell slightly from N428.56 billion in Q1 to N408.97 billion in Q2. Crude oil continued to dominate, accounting for N354.1 billion of the Q2 figure.
- Ghana rose to fourth place in Q2 with N307.47 billion in exports from Nigeria, up from fifth place and N122.07 billion in Q1. Notably, Ghana’s imports were balanced between crude oil (N154.9 billion) and non-crude goods (N152.6 billion), highlighting a more diversified trade relationship compared to South Africa.
- Mauritius entered the top five in Q2, recording N264.98 billion in exports from Nigeria, all of it in non-crude oil products. This is a new entrant this year into Nigeria’s top African partners, reflecting expanding trade with island economies.
- Senegal, which was third in Q1 with N346.26 billion in imports from Nigeria, slipped to sixth in Q2 with N222.31 billion. Cameroon rose to seventh place at N106.18 billion, while Equatorial Guinea climbed to eighth at N96.93 billion, both absent from the top 10 in Q1.
- Benin Republic and Niger Republic rounded out the top 10 in Q2, though with relatively small trade volumes of N37.58 billion and N26.19 billion respectively. Other Q1 partners such as Burkina Faso and Swaziland, fell out of the top 10 list entirely.
On the import side, Togo’s leap to first place in Q2 replaced Angola, which was Nigeria’s largest African import source in Q1 at N224.39 billion but dropped out of the top 10 entirely by Q2.
Equatorial Guinea emerged as a new entrant in Q2, supplying N97.93 billion worth of goods, enough to secure fourth place.
Other traditional suppliers like Egypt, Morocco, and Tanzania remained in the rankings but saw shifts in their relative positions. Ghana also entered the top 10 as a new import source in Q2, contributing N24.66 billion, or 3% of Nigeria’s imports from Africa.
What you should know
Nigeria recorded an upswing in its external trade position in the second quarter of 2025, as the country’s trade surplus widened by 44.3% to N7.46 trillion, up from N5.17 trillion in the previous quarter.
Nigeria’s total exports stood at N22.75 trillion in Q2, a 10.5% increase from Q1 and 28.4% higher than the same period in 2024. Imports, by contrast, slipped marginally by 0.9% quarter-on-quarter to N15.29 trillion.
This dynamic created the wider surplus that has boosted Nigeria’s external account.
