Nigeria and India have agreed to deepen their economic relationship and work towards restoring bilateral trade to its previous peak of nearly $15 billion, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushing for renewed crude oil purchases from Nigeria.
The commitment followed a bilateral meeting between Vice President Kashim Shettima and Prime Minister Modi on the sidelines of the recently concluded BRICS Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi.
Trade between Nigeria and India reached about $14.95 billion in the 2021–2022 financial year before falling significantly, largely due to a decline in India’s purchases of Nigerian crude.
The value of bilateral trade dropped to $7.13 billion in 2024–2025 but later recovered to approximately $9 billion in 2025–2026, according to figures provided by the Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Abhishek Singh.
During the meeting, Modi called for India to increase its crude oil purchases from Nigeria, arguing that stronger energy cooperation could help push overall trade between both countries back towards previous levels.
In response, Shettima said Nigeria would consider the request as part of the Federal Government’s efforts to attract more investment and establish strategic partnerships that can expand the country’s productive capacity.
The Vice President identified pharmaceuticals, defence, digital technology and the creative industries as sectors where Nigeria is particularly interested in strengthening cooperation with India.
He stressed that such partnerships should generate employment, facilitate skills transfer and create more opportunities for Nigeria’s growing youth population.
The two sides also explored greater cooperation in renewable and clean energy, electricity, healthcare, capacity building, financial technology and other emerging areas.
Shettima said “the President Tinubu administration is particularly interested in moving Nigeria’s relationship with India beyond the traditional exchange of commodities towards investments that support domestic production and value addition.”
The renewed engagement builds on a long-standing economic relationship between the two countries, with crude oil historically accounting for a substantial portion of India’s imports from Nigeria.
Modi also expressed appreciation for Nigeria’s hospitality towards the large Indian community living and conducting business in the country.
The leaders agreed that stronger private-sector participation would be crucial to the next phase of Nigeria-India economic relations, particularly in sectors where Indian companies have significant expertise and Nigeria has strong demand.
Their discussions also covered increased collaboration in fintech and digital technology, building on the expanding digital economies of both countries and previous agreements involving digital public infrastructure.
Shettima said the Tinubu administration wants Nigeria’s international partnerships to result in increased investment, technology transfer, industrial expansion and concrete economic opportunities for Nigerians.
Nigeria and India also reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining high-level political and economic engagement through the India-Africa partnership framework and other multilateral platforms.
Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, said Nigeria was drawing lessons from India’s women-led self-help group model as part of efforts to improve financial inclusion and support grassroots businesses.
She said the approach was being introduced through the Nigeria for Women Programme Scale-Up, using Women Affinity Groups to connect women with financing, skills and markets.
According to the minister, the initiative is part of the Federal Government’s broader efforts to increase women’s participation in productive economic activities while strengthening social protection and measures addressing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence.
“Women’s economic empowerment is fundamental to our ambition of building a $1 trillion economy. We must deliberately bring millions more Nigerian women into productive economic activity,” she added.
