Nigeria

Covering an area of 923,768km², Nigeria shares borders with Chad and Cameroon in the east, Benin in the west and Niger in the north. To the south lies the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Guinea, and its coastline spans 853km. The Niger and Benue Rivers converge and empty into the oil-rich Niger Delta, which is one of the largest river deltas in the world. Nigeria comprises a federal capital territory and 36 states, which are subdivided into districts, each with its own local government.

It has a population of 213.4 million, the largest in Africa, and a GDP of US$440.8bn making it also the largest economy in Africa. Services make up the biggest share of GDP at 43.8%, followed by industry and construction (31%) (of which manufacturing makes up 15%) and agriculture (23%).

The majority of Nigerians do not have access to affordable housing and basic services such as sanitation, clean water and electricity. Prior to the pandemic, 40% of the population lived below the poverty line, and it is estimated that seven million Nigerians fell into poverty in 2020.

While Nigeria remains one of the biggest oil producers in Africa, contributing 7.33% to GDP and 80% of export revenue, crude oil production has declined in recent years due to underinvestment, sabotage, and oil theft which is estimated to account for about 10% to 20% of the country’s oil production.

The country has six refineries, including four owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Dangote Refinery (in which NNPC has a 20% share) and a small one owned by Niger Delta Petroleum Resources (NDPR). The four NNPC-owned refineries are under maintenance and not operating, while the NDPR’s 1,000b/d refinery is operating. After numerous delays, the 650,000b/d Dangote Refinery was commissioned in May 2023, and will become the largest on the continent when it becomes fully operational, which is expected to be by 2025.

The sector is dominated by international oil companies that include Royal Dutch Shell, Total Energies from France, BP from the UK, and Oryx Energies from Switzerland. Nigeria contains unexploited deposits of copper, diamonds, ilmenite, lithium, manganese, nickel, phosphate rock, rutile, salt, silver, tungsten and uranium, while barite, clay, coal, columbite-tantalite, gold, gypsum, iron ore, kaolin, lead, limestone, tin, zinc and zircon are produced. The priority minerals listed by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development for focused development are barite, bitumen, coal, gold, iron ore, lead/zinc and limestone.

Nigeria has a 195 million subscribers in the telecoms sector which is dominated by four big mobile operators – MTN, Airtel, Globacom and 9Mobile, and the sector contributes 12.66% to GDP.




Sources: Who Owns Whom sector reports, CIA Factbook, African Development Bank, World Bank, Trading Economics, African Statistical Yearbook and IMF.