Data from National Bureau of Statistics showed that exports climbed from ₦136.17 billion in the first half of 2025 to ₦249.70 billion in the corresponding period of 2026, an increase of ₦113.53 billion.
The growth was recorded across both quarters.
Solid mineral exports rose from ₦58.87 billion in the first quarter of 2025 to ₦102.80 billion in Q1 2026. The momentum strengthened further in the second quarter, when exports increased from ₦77.31 billion to ₦146.91 billion.
Q2 alone accounted for about 59% of total solid mineral exports in the first half of the year, compared with 41% in Q1.
Monthly exports in the second quarter stood at ₦50.43 billion in April, ₦39.27 billion in May and ₦57.20 billion in June, making June the strongest month of the quarter.
Solid minerals also increased their share of Nigeria’s total exports, although the contribution remains small.
The sector accounted for 0.49% of total exports in the first quarter, up from 0.29% a year earlier, while its share rose to 0.54% in Q2 from 0.34% in the corresponding period of 2025.
The stronger performance comes as Federal Government pushes reforms aimed at formalising mining activities, tightening licensing requirements, improving royalty collection and attracting investment into local processing.
Under reforms introduced through the Nigeria Tax Laws 2025, responsibility for collecting mineral royalties from operators was transferred to the Nigeria Revenue Service in April.
Government policies encouraging local value addition have also attracted more than $800 million in reported processing investments, while states are increasingly seeking private capital for mining projects.
Kaduna State, for instance, announced discussions in 2025 over a proposed $300 million solid minerals investment.
The sector has also begun generating more public revenue. Federal receipts from solid minerals rose to more than ₦38 billion in 2024 from about ₦6 billion in 2023, while the Federal Government collected ₦6.96 billion in mining fees in the first quarter of 2025 alone.
Despite the recent growth, Nigeria’s mineral sector remains far below its potential.
An export share of barely half of 1% shows that solid minerals are still a minor contributor to foreign-exchange earnings compared with crude oil and other major export categories.
The bigger opportunity lies in moving beyond the export of raw minerals to domestic processing and manufacturing, which could create more jobs, increase export values and generate substantially higher government revenue.
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