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• GDP: US$65.2 billion (2004).
• Main exports: Petroleum and related products, cocoa and rubber.
• Main imports: Machinery, chemicals, transport equipment, manufactured goods, food and live animals.
• Main trade partners: USA, Brazil, China (PR), UK, Spain, The Netherlands, France, Germany and Italy.
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Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer; the industry earns 90 per cent of the country’s export income and has underpinned
its economy for decades. Nigeria also has commercially viable quantities of tin, coal, iron ore, zinc and some uranium, plus
substantial but as yet largely untapped reserves of natural gas and coal. Agriculture occupies well over half of the population,
who produce rice, maize, cassava, sorghum and millet as staples, as well as groundnuts, cocoa, palm oil and rubber as cash
crops. Timber and livestock rearing have both developed during the last 20 years. Nonetheless, successive governments have
failed to restore Nigeria’s one-time self-sufficiency in food. Manufacturing was established during the 1960s, principally
with oil money, and now includes food processing and the production of vehicles, textiles, pharmaceuticals, paper and cement.
Despite its abundance of natural resources, Nigeria has suffered an almost permanent economic crisis during the last 10 years,
due to political instability, mismanagement and corruption. Per capita GDP is around US$650 annually, which is improved but
still not desirable. The country is weighed down by a massive foreign debt. Reduction negotiations have been completed with
the ‘Paris Club’ of leading creditors. As a condition of the rescheduling, the new civilian Government has begun to put into
effect economic reforms, including the sale of major state-owned industries. Recent economic performance has been determined
mainly by the state of the world oil market. Governmental deregulation of fuel prices and the privatisation of Nigeria's four
oil refineries in 2003, coupled with the rise in oil production, meant that recent GDP growth has been good, estimated at
around 4.6 per cent in 2005. Nigeria is the dominant member of the West African economic cooperation organisation, ECOWAS,
as well as a leading member of the oil producers’ cartel, OPEC.
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English is spoken in business circles. It is common for business meetings to take place without a prior appointment, although
these should be made for government visits. Business deals will often progress at a slower pace than is common in Europe.
Owing to the prevalence of commercial fraud targeting foreigners, business travellers should contact both their local Nigerian
Embassy and Chamber of Commerce before travelling to Nigeria. Office hours: Mon-Fri 0800-1600 (Government offices); 0830-1700 (private businesses). However, offices in the northern States may close
at 1300 as Muslim workers take part in Jumat services at 1400: business resumes after this.
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Overview 
