Nigeria-India Trade Hits $9bn as Pharma Investment Reaches $4bn

Nigeria’s economic ties with India are deepening, with bilateral trade reaching about $9 billion in the 2025-26 financial year and Indian companies investing approximately $4 billion in pharmaceutical manufacturing in Nigeria.

The Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Abishek Singh, disclosed the trade figure on Wednesday during a media briefing in Abuja, attributing the growth to expanding commercial and strategic cooperation between the two countries.

Singh said more than 200 Indian companies were currently operating in Nigeria across sectors including manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, power, construction, consumer goods, healthcare and services.

He said the companies were increasingly moving beyond importing finished products to establishing production facilities in Nigeria, creating employment and strengthening local industrial capacity.

“I am very happy to report that the trade for the financial year 2025-26 stands at around US dollar nine billion, which is up from US dollar 7.13 billion in the financial year 2024-25,” Singh said.

According to him, the investments by Indian companies have created employment for nearly 100,000 Nigerians, making Indian businesses significant contributors to private-sector job creation in the country.

“They are also making in Nigeria. They are producing in Nigeria; they have set up plants in Nigeria. And this has translated into close to 100,000 brothers and sisters from Nigeria being deployed, employed by these companies,” he said.

The High Commissioner said the growth in trade reflected a broader transformation in Nigeria-India relations, which had expanded beyond traditional areas of cooperation to include technology, agriculture, energy, food security, healthcare and security.

He said both countries were increasingly pursuing areas of mutual economic interest rather than relying solely on historical ties and conventional trade.

The pharmaceutical sector has emerged as one of the strongest areas of the partnership, with India playing a major role in supplying medicines to Nigeria while also expanding its manufacturing footprint.

India’s Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ambassador Vertika Rawat, said Indian pharmaceutical exports to Nigeria stood at $315 million in the 2024-25 financial year.

She said Indian companies had invested about $4 billion in pharmaceutical manufacturing in Nigeria, reflecting a shift from exporting medicines to producing them closer to the Nigerian market.

According to Rawat, India currently accounts for about 40 per cent of Nigeria’s pharmaceutical imports, with its share exceeding 90 per cent in some categories of medicines.

“This is what it means in practice for India to be the pharmacy of the world. It means not only affordable medicines reaching Nigerian homes but also manufacturing medicines in Nigeria for Nigerian homes,” she said.

The investments could become increasingly significant as Nigeria seeks to expand local pharmaceutical production, reduce dependence on imported medicines and improve access to affordable healthcare.

Rawat said India was ready to support Nigeria’s efforts towards universal health coverage through policy exchange, institutional partnerships and training of healthcare professionals.

She pointed to India’s Ayushman Bharat healthcare programme as one of the models Nigeria could examine as it develops strategies to expand healthcare access and reduce the financial burden of medical treatment on households.

The Indian envoy also highlighted improvements recorded in India’s healthcare system, saying the experience offered opportunities for further cooperation between the two countries.

She said India’s latest National Family Health Survey recorded progress in maternal and child healthcare, immunisation, nutrition and healthcare financing.

According to her, antenatal care had reached 96 per cent of pregnant women, while institutional deliveries rose to 90.6 per cent. Full immunisation among children aged 12 to 23 months also increased from 83.8 per cent to 87.1 per cent.

Rawat said stunting among children under five had fallen from 35.5 per cent to 29.3 per cent, while health insurance or financing scheme coverage increased from 41 per cent to 60.2 per cent.

She said the experience could provide useful lessons for Nigeria as it continues efforts to achieve universal health coverage.

“As Nigeria charts its own path towards universal health coverage, India believes the Ayushman Bharat model and other Indian policy models offer a template well worth exploring together,” Rawat said.

She added that the two countries could strengthen medical training and knowledge transfer through India’s Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation programme.

Rawat also identified women’s digital and financial inclusion as another area where the two countries could exchange experiences.

She said the proportion of Indian women who had ever used the internet had risen from 33.3 per cent to 64.3 per cent, while about nine out of 10 women now operated their own bank or savings accounts.

According to her, the figures showed how digital access and financial inclusion could support women’s economic participation and provide lessons for Nigeria.

The growing pharmaceutical relationship comes against the backdrop of broader efforts by Nigeria to attract investments that can create jobs, expand domestic production and retain more value within the economy.

For India, Nigeria represents one of the continent’s largest consumer markets and a strategic base for expanding commercial operations in Africa. For Nigeria, Indian investment provides opportunities to strengthen manufacturing, particularly in sectors where the country remains heavily dependent on imports.

Singh said the expanding relationship was evidence that Nigeria and India were moving towards a broader strategic partnership built around shared economic and development interests.

He identified security, technology, agriculture, energy, food security, healthcare and global governance among areas where cooperation could be expanded.

The relationship, he said, was evolving from one largely associated with historical goodwill and oil-related trade to a partnership with a wider economic and strategic footprint.

Rawat similarly described the emerging relationship as one increasingly driven by shared development priorities, noting that both countries had historically experienced colonial rule and were now seeking greater cooperation to improve the welfare of their citizens.

“Now we are united in the pursuit of health, dignity and shared prosperity of our people,” she said.

With bilateral trade rising by nearly $2 billion in one financial year, more than 200 Indian companies operating in Nigeria and close to 100,000 Nigerians employed by them, the latest figures point to a relationship increasingly anchored in investment, manufacturing and job creation.

The $4 billion pharmaceutical investment further highlights the potential for Nigeria-India relations to move beyond the exchange of goods towards deeper industrial cooperation, particularly in a sector considered critical to the country’s health security.

For Nigeria, the next challenge will be to convert the growing investment relationship into sustained local production, skills development, technology transfer and wider economic opportunities for its growing population.