Nigeria’s manufacturing investment rises 17% in Q1 2026

Nigeria’s capital importation into the manufacturing sector surged by 17.2 percent in the first quarter of 2026, indicating an increased appetite among investors for industrial production during the period.

Foreign investments in the sector surged year-on-year to $152.3 million in QI 2026 from $129.92 million in 2024, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The sector’s share of total capital importation also grew by 1.47 percent in the first quarter of 2026, accounting for $10.37 billion of the total capital importation for the period. The surge occurred in line with the country recording a surge in total foreign direct investments for the period.

On a quarter-quarter basis, foreign capital importation into the sector plunged 51 percent to $308.9 million.

The investment surge is in line with the sector’s year-on-year growth of 3.29 percent in the first quarter of 2026, doubling from 1.69 percent in Q1 2025, as reforms in foreign exchange began to ease long-standing constraints on factory output.

The acceleration marks the sector’s strongest quarterly performance in four years, when the sector grew 5.89 percent in the first quarter of 2022, according to NBS data.

The report also showed that the sector’s real contribution to GDP in the third quarter was 9.57 percent, lower than the 9.62 percent recorded in the same period of 2025 and higher than the 7.40 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The first quarter’s investment surge signals tentative momentum for President Tinubu’s reform agenda, though analysts caution the sector remains fragile.

Also, the country recorded the greatest improvement in business activity among eight major African economies in May, defying mounting inflationary pressures triggered by escalating tensions in the Middle East that have pushed up global oil, fuel and fertiliser prices.

BusinessDay’s analysis of the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) reports from S&P Global showed that the PMI in Africa’s most populous nation rose by 3.24 percent to 54.1 in May from 52.9 in April, marking the highest reading since April 2025.

Among the countries tracked, the West African nation posted the strongest month-on-month growth in business activity, followed by Egypt, whose PMI increased by 1.07 percent to 47.1, while Mozambique’s index edged up 0.20 percent to 49.9.