By Tijjani Sarki
Public Policy Analyst and Good Governance Advocate
30 August 2026
Nigeria is receiving a powerful message from the changing global trading environment: the world is offering opportunities, but opportunities will not wait for an unprepared nation.
China’s zero-tariff policy for products from African countries has already begun creating new possibilities for Nigerian exporters. Nigeria’s exports to China reportedly rose by about 81 per cent year-on-year to $2.25 billion in the first half of 2026.
This is encouraging. But it should also make us uncomfortable.
Why? Because the real question is not simply how much Nigeria exports, but what Nigeria exports, who produces it, and how much value Nigerians retain from it.
For decades, Nigeria has possessed enormous agricultural resources, solid minerals, energy resources, human capital and a huge consumer market. Yet we have too often remained exporters of raw materials and importers of finished products.
China’s new market access therefore presents Nigeria with more than a commercial opportunity; it is an invitation to industrialise.
The Federal Government itself has acknowledged the need to prioritise value-added exports rather than simply increasing the volume of raw commodities.
At the same time, Nigeria must prepare for a more difficult global trading environment. The United States has imposed a 12.5 per cent tariff on certain Nigerian exports, prompting concerns among businesses about the competitiveness of Nigerian products in the American market.
These developments should compel Nigeria to diversify its markets and strengthen domestic production.
There is also a positive lesson from the petroleum sector. Nigeria’s seaborne petroleum-product exports have increased seven-fold since 2023, driven substantially by the Dangote refinery.
The lesson is simple: when production capacity improves, trade can become an engine of economic transformation.
Government must therefore make competitiveness a national priority by improving electricity, transport infrastructure, ports, standards certification, access to affordable finance and the ease of doing business.
The private sector must equally embrace quality, innovation, packaging and international standards.
Nigeria does not lack opportunities. What we lack is the scale, consistency and productive discipline required to convert those opportunities into broad-based prosperity.
The world is opening doors. Nigeria must now produce the goods capable of walking through them.
Our ambition should no longer be to become Africa’s biggest market for other nations, but one of Africa’s most competitive producers for the world.
