By Muhammad Mamman
Nigeria’s economy is buzzing with energy! The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed on Monday that the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) surged by a cracking 3.13% year-on-year in real terms in the first quarter of 2025, outpacing the 2.27% growth seen in Q1 2024. This stellar performance, driven by a thriving services sector and a resurgent industrial base, has put Nigeria firmly on the global economic map.
The NBS report highlights a seismic shift after Nigeria rebased its GDP to 2019, with the economy valued at a whopping ₦372.8 trillion (£243 billion) in 2024. According to Statistician General Adeyemi Adeniran, this marks a colossal 41.1% leap from the previous base year of 2010, outstripping the 2014 rebasing’s 59.5% jump. The 2019 rebasing, covering 2019 to 2023, paints a vibrant picture: nominal GDP hit ₦205.09 trillion in 2019, climbing to ₦213.636 trillion in 2020, ₦243.302 trillion in 2021, ₦274.233 trillion in 2022, ₦314.023 trillion in 2023, and a staggering ₦372.822 trillion in 2024.
In real terms, growth rates tell a tale of resilience: a dip to -6.96% in 2020, a recovery to 0.95% in 2021, followed by robust gains of 4.32% in 2022, 3.04% in 2023, and 3.38% in 2024. Leading the charge are crop production (17.58%), trade (17.42%), real estate (10.78%), telecommunications (6.78%), and crude petroleum and natural gas (5.85%). Notably, real estate has nicked third place from oil and gas, thanks to better tracking of the informal sector.
The services sector reigns supreme, contributing 53.09% to GDP in 2019, followed by agriculture at 25.83% and industries at 21.08%. The informal sector, a powerhouse in its own right, accounted for ₦86.85 trillion (42.5%) of GDP in 2019—more than double the ₦39 trillion estimated in 2015. With this economic glow-up, Nigeria’s future looks brighter than ever!
