Nigeria and India are broadening their relationship beyond oil, with bilateral trade reaching $9 billion in 2025-26 and collaborations spanning defence, energy, healthcare, and technology, reflecting a significant shift in their strategic partnership.
Nigeria and India are broadening a relationship that once centred heavily on oil and historical links but is now stretching across trade, defence, energy, healthcare, agriculture and technology. Abhishek Singh, India’s high commissioner to Nigeria, said in Abuja that bilateral trade reached about $9 billion in the 2025-26 financial year, up from $7.13 billion the year before, reflecting what he described as a deepening strategic partnership between Africa’s largest economy and one of the world’s biggest emerging markets.
Singh said the commercial relationship is being driven by more than 200 Indian companies operating in Nigeria, with investments in pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, power, construction, consumer goods and healthcare. He said many firms are now producing locally rather than simply importing goods, helping to create jobs for close to 100,000 Nigerians and opening the door to skills transfer, industrial development and stronger links to international supply chains.
Energy remains a central pillar of the relationship, but the focus has widened beyond crude oil and liquefied natural gas. According to Singh, Indian investment is increasingly extending into Nigeria’s petroleum sector, pipeline security, compressed natural gas conversion and liquefied petroleum gas infrastructure. Defence cooperation is also expanding, with the two countries maintaining links that date back decades and now covering intelligence sharing, counter-terrorism, training and maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea. Indian media and African outlets reported after Narendra Modi’s November 2024 visit to Nigeria, the first by an Indian prime minister in 17 years, that both sides pledged to strengthen ties across defence, energy, trade, technology and development.
The high commissioner said India’s development support for Nigeria includes $395 million in concessional credit lines and technical training through the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation programme. He pointed to growing opportunities in affordable medicines, digital public infrastructure, agriculture, climate-resilient development and space applications. Singh also said President Bola Tinubu has been invited to the BRICS leaders’ summit in New Delhi in September 2026 and noted mutual backing between the two countries for seats on the UN Security Council, alongside a sizeable Indian community in Nigeria that he described as an important bridge between the two nations.
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