The Canadian Trade Commissioner to Nigeria, Temitayo Dada, has said Nigeria is Canada’s largest trading partner in Africa with $2.67bn in bilateral merchandise trade.
 
Dada said, “Nigeria is undeniably a key strategic partner for Canada on the continent and promoting trade and relations between Canada and Nigeria is a priority of the Canadian government.
 
“In 2021, Nigeria became Canada’s largest trading partner in Africa with $2.7bn in bilateral merchandise trade. That same year, Canadian merchandise imports from Nigeria amounted to $2.1bn, with Canada’s export to Nigeria totalling $605.4m.”
 
More details at:
https://punchng.com/nigeria-canada-trade-grows-hits-2-7bn 

The Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Godfrey Onyema, on Friday, disclosed that the trade volume between Nigeria and the Peoples’ Republic of China now stands at $25 billion.
 
Speaking at the official handover of a 46-metre patrol boat and several other military hardware to Nigeria by the Peoples’ Republic of China, held at the parade ground of the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Beecroft, Lagos, Onyema, stated that the relationship between the two countries dated back to 1971.
 
Also speaking at the event, the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Cui Jian Chun, revealed that the two countries are planning to commence the production of military hardware in Nigeria.
 
More details at:
https://dailytrust.com/nigeria-china-trade-volume-hits-n11trn
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 Telecommunication companies have registered 16.72 million subscribers in the first nine months of the year, according to new data from the Nigerian Communications Commission.
 
This brings the total number of active GSM lines in the nation to 211.85 million subscribers. The growth in the nation’s total number of subscribers has been sustained above the 200 million mark since April 2022.
 
It is also a recovery from the 13.63 million subscribers that were lost in the corresponding period of 2021. In the period under review, MTN Nigeria registered 7.62 million subscribers to increase its subscriber base to 81.21 million.
 
More details at:
https://punchng.com/telcos-register-16-million-subscribers-in-nine-months

The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) has revealed that over 83.3 million subscribers are on broadband networks of 3G and 4G networks, which are having practical and positive impacts across sectors of the economy, including household consumption, healthcare, education, agriculture, finance, transportation, commerce, governance, among others. This was revealed in a communiqué issued at the end of the NCC Broadband Technical Awareness Forum and obtained by New Telegraph. The regulatory agency and other stakeholders noted that there was the need to drive broadband further to enhance not only the economy but individual living as well.
 
It was expected that the deployment of 5G would push the broadband expansion, however, the network has been limited in the capacity as it is present only in Lagos State. Currently, Nigeria’s broadband penetration driven by 3G and 4G is at 44.5 per cent, while the country targets 70 per cent by 2025. They noted that the ICT sector, which has been the driver of the digital economy contributed 18.44 per cent to the total Nigerian real GDP in Q2’22, and, in particular, connectivity and digital technologies have always been responsible for economic development all over the world...
 
More details at:
https://www.newtelegraphng.com/broadband-83-3m-subscribers-in-nigeria-on-3g-4g-network  

Nigeria's consumption of Liquefied Natural Gas has increased by over 1000 per cent in the last 14 years, according to the Nigeria LNG Limited.
 
The assertion was made by the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, of NLNG, Dr Philip Mshelbila, at the Conference of the Nigerian Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association held in Lagos on Tuesday.
 
According to him, NLPGA and NLNG’s intervention had seen the supply of LPG grow from 60,000 MT in 2007 to over 1.3 million MT in 2021, a growth of over 1,000 percent.
 
More details at:
https://punchng.com/nigerias-lng-consumption-rises-to-1-3m-tons
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In a bid to drive economic growth in Nigeria, the Islamic Development Bank has sanctioned $1.8bn to finance several key projects in the country.
 
This was disclosed by the President of the Saudi-based bank, Dr Mohamed Jasser, at a meeting with the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, in Abuja on Monday.
 
Jasser disclosed that the Islamic Development Bank’s portfolio in Nigeria stood at $1.2bn, noting that the bank had completed 35 per cent of those projects and looked forward to strengthening the bilateral and regional initiatives with Nigeria.
 
More details at:
https://punchng.com/islamic-bank-approves-1-8bn-to-finance-nigerian-projects 

Taiwan is considering boosting its presence in Nigeria by exploring local solutions as the country’s trade with Nigeria soars by 200 per cent to $1 billion.
 
Taiwan’s Ambassador to Nigeria and Representative, Taipei Trade Office, Andy Yih-Ping Liu, said Taiwanese investors are looking to expand their footprint in Nigeria with local plants instead of focusing only on exporting to Nigeria.
 
The East Asian country, according to Liu, could make Nigeria a hub for steel pipe where it would reach other African markets.
 
Liu disclosed that the trade between the country and Nigeria has been growing exponentially as the 2021 figure showed a 200 percent recovery after the Covid-19 outbreak, showing a positive outlook. Sesame, groundnut and petroleum products are being shipped to Taiwan from Nigeria as the country exports automobile parts, hand tools and machinery for agriculture, among others.
 
More details at:
https://guardian.ng/business-services/industry/taiwan-eyes-local-content-as-trade-with-nigeria-soars-by-200 

The executive vice chairman (EVC) and the CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Garba Danbatta have disclosed that the technology-driven telecommunications industry has contributed $70 billion to Nigeria's economy in the last couple of years.
 
Represented by the principal manager, Digital Economy at the Commission, Mrs Eli Ella, the NCC boss, who spoke on the topic “Using Technology To Grow Nigeria’s GDP”, emphasised that Nigeria’s adoption of 5G, E-commerce, Fintech, Big data have boosted the country’s revenue generation capacity.
 
He said, “Nigeria’s adoption of digital technologies has enabled it to diversify its revenue and economy, created jobs, improved services and efficiency, reduced wastages, and optimised resources available.
 
“Telecommunications has contributed over $70 billion to the Nigerian economy, provided over 500,000 jobs in the formal and informal sectors, and improved the lives of millions of Nigerians.”
 
More details at:
https://leadership.ng/telecoms-sector-contributes-70bn-to-nigerias-economy-ncc
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Nigeria has been listed as one of the top financial market leaders in Africa and among 19 African countries that have lifted its performance in 2022 despite the difficult environment.
 
Consequently, Nigeria, South Africa and Mauritius reportedly maintained their positions in the top three this year on the Absa Africa Financial Markets Index (AFMI), as they continue to score highly on the measures of market depth, transparency and enforceability of legal agreements.
 
The report also showed that Uganda rose two places to fourth, while Namibia and Kenya improved their ranking within the top 10.
 
Scores for these three countries rose due to progress in adopting environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies and frameworks, according to the index produced by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) in association with Absa Group Limited.
 
More details at:
https://leadership.ng/nigeria-leads-developed-financial-market-in-africa
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Nigerians spent $5 billion on electronic bills such as power, PayTV, and other utilities in the first nine months of 2022, a 30.84 per cent increase from the $3.8 billion that was spent in the corresponding period of 2021.
 
According to data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, this is the first-time electronic channels have been used to process over $4.9 billion in utility bills.
 
E-bills include daily bill transactions that are accessible and seamless, with online real-time transaction reporting, biller notification, and easy reconciliation.
 
More details at:
https://punchng.com/nigerians-spend-n2tn-on-e-bills-in-nine-months