German-Nigerian trade volume hits new record

The bilateral trade between Germany and Nigeria hit the €3 billion mark in 2022, German Ambassador to Nigeria, Annett Günther, has announced. This is against €2 billion recorded in 2021.

The envoy, who disclosed this at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, said Germany remains Nigeria’s second biggest partner behind the United States.

”Germany contributed a total trade volume of €3 billion in 2022 (up from €2 billion in 2021) and the European Union is Nigeria’s most important trading partner with total trade volume of €45.8 billion,” she said at the interactive session with diplomatic correspondents in the Nigerian capital.

“Germany’s foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Nigeria would prospectively surpass the €1 billion mark,“ Ms Günther also assured.

Germany’s main export to Nigeria are machines (28%), food products (20%) and chemical products (19%) while Nigeria’s main exports to Germany are crude oil (83%), food products (12%) and other raw materials (4%).

The ambassador said no less than 90 German companies operate in Nigeria, creating 17,000 jobs directly and a minimum of 10-fold that figure indirectly. She added that all the European Union countries put together had generated around 160,000 jobs in Nigeria.

In the area of development cooperation, she said Germany had invested over €600 million in development projects across all sectors.

“This is besides the €620 million pledged to the Economic Community of West African States.”

Ambassador Günther also disclosed that 2,000 Nigerians passed the German language examinations at the Goethe Institute in 2022 while about 4,000 Nigerians currently study in Germany, 1000 of whom are on scholarship.

In terms of humanitarian assistance, she said Germany remains the second biggest donor “with €50 million in 2022 on activities such as protection, food security, health and shelter that save lives every day.”

Kola Tella