Nigeria's Palm Oil Conundrum: Billions Spent on Imports Despite Being Africa's Largest Producer

Nigeria, Africa's largest palm oil producer, is importing crude palm oil worth billions of Naira from its West African neighbours. According to trade data from the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first quarter of 2026, Nigerian businesses imported crude palm oil worth N23 billion from West African countries.

This figure nearly tripled to approximately N68 billion by the second quarter of 2026, with Liberia emerging as the largest source, supplying N51 billion worth of crude palm oil. Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana contributed N15 billion and N2 billion respectively.

Nigeria produces roughly 1.5 million metric tons of palm oil annually, about 2% of global output, but its production is not keeping pace with consumption. The Central Bank of Nigeria's Oil Palm Development Initiative in 2019 aimed to address an estimated annual supply gap of 1.25 million metric tonnes, but the initiative has not yet delivered the transformative results required.