Nigeria-India trade hits $9bn as relations strengthen

By Ochiaka Ugwu

Nigeria and India have strengthened its constructive, strategic partnership with trade activities between the two nations reaching about $9bn in volume between 2025 and 2026.
Speaking in a media interaction in Abuja Wednesday, Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Amb. Abishek Singh while informing that the expanding relationship between his country and Nigeria was extending beyond traditional trade to healthcare, manufacturing, security, technology, agriculture, energy, and food, stated that Indian companies had invested around $4 billion in pharmaceutical manufacturing in Nigeria.
Amb. Singh, who stated that more than 200 Indian companies currently operate in Nigeria across sectors including manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, power, construction, healthcare and consumer goods, employing nearly 100,000 Nigerians, hinted that bilateral trade between the two nations increased from $7.13 billion between 2024 and 2025 to about $9 billion between 2025 and 2026, showing an increase of nearly 26 per cent in one year.
On the part of boosting local content and upscaling investment, Amb. Singh revealed that numerous Indian corporations were opting for local production by establishing manufacturing plants in Nigeria for goods production, noting that healthcare had emerged as one of the strongest pillars of the growing partnership.
Continuing, Amb. Singh disclosed that the companies were developing local economy and has created jobs for about 100,000 Nigerians making them the highest employer of labour after Nigerian government.
Expressing optimism, Singh said that Nigeria-India relationship had gone beyond shared historical background and oil trade into a multidimensional strategic, constructive partnership covering security, technology, food security, health, agriculture, energy and global governance.
Speaking on Indian’s progress on renewable and energy transition journey, Singh noted that his country hinged on a clear policy formulation and affective implementation to achieve success.
Singh, however described Nigeria, India relations as a promising one laced with mutual trust, respect and benefit for two equal partners.
Also speaking, Indian Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ms. Vartika Rawat who stated that India currently supplied about 40 per cent of Nigeria’s pharmaceutical imports, with its share exceeding 90 per cent for some categories of medicines revealed that Indian pharmaceutical exports to Nigeria reached $315 million in the 2024/2025 fiscal year.
While expressing Indian’s willingness to deepen health-sector cooperation as Nigeria pursued universal health coverage, particularly through the exchange of policy experience and capacity building, Rawat defined the health partnership of both nations as part of a larger cooperation made with shared priorities and development in mind.