India and Nigeria are deepening their strategic partnership across trade, investment, defence, energy, healthcare, agriculture and technology, with bilateral trade climbing to about $9 billion in the 2025–26 financial year, the Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Abhishek Singh, has disclosed.
Singh made the disclosure during a media briefing in Abuja, where he outlined the expanding relationship between the two countries and identified new opportunities for stronger economic and strategic cooperation.
The latest trade figure represents a substantial increase from the $7.13 billion recorded in 2024–25, reinforcing the growing importance of economic relations between Africa’s largest economy and one of the world’s major emerging powers.
According to the envoy, India-Nigeria relations have evolved significantly from their traditional foundations of historical goodwill and oil trade into a broad-based strategic partnership covering security, technology, food security, healthcare, agriculture and global governance.
“India-Nigeria relations are no longer defined only by historical goodwill or oil trade,” Singh said, stressing that the partnership was increasingly becoming multidimensional.
Over 200 Indian companies operating in Nigeria
Singh disclosed that more than 200 Indian companies are currently active in Nigeria, with investments covering pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, power, construction, consumer goods, healthcare and services.
He said many of the companies were not simply importing products into Nigeria but had established factories and production facilities in the country.
The investments, he added, have resulted in employment for close to 100,000 Nigerians, making Indian companies collectively one of the country’s largest private-sector employers.
The High Commissioner said the growing presence of Indian businesses reflected the confidence of investors from his country in Nigeria’s market and its long-term economic prospects.
Energy security takes centre stage
Energy security, he said, remains a critical pillar of the strategic relationship, with crude oil and liquefied natural gas continuing to play important roles.
But cooperation, according to Singh, is expanding beyond traditional oil trade to include Indian investments in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, pipeline security, compressed natural gas conversion and liquefied petroleum gas infrastructure.
He stressed that India’s population of about 1.4 billion and Nigeria’s population of more than 230 million create enormous energy demand in both countries.
“This is all the more reason that the two great democracies, India and Nigeria, should cooperate more in the field of energy security,” he said.
Defence partnership gains momentum
The High Commissioner described defence and maritime security as another important pillar of the relationship, noting that cooperation between the two countries dates back several decades.
India, he said, supported Nigeria in establishing the National Defence Academy in Kaduna as well as the Naval College in Port Harcourt.
The two countries also face common security challenges, including terrorism, violent extremism, piracy, organised crime and illicit trafficking.
Singh said cooperation therefore covers intelligence sharing, counter-terrorism, defence training and maritime security, particularly in the Gulf of Guinea.
He disclosed that a Nigerian naval delegation was scheduled to travel to India for bilateral discussions, describing the continuing engagement as evidence of the depth of defence relations between the two countries.
Defence equipment and sales, he added, also remain areas of collaboration.
The High Commissioner said India’s development partnership with Nigeria had also produced tangible results, including $395 million in concessional lines of credit.
He said India had further provided extensive technical and professional training to Nigerians through the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme.
Nigerians have benefited from ITEC training in areas including auditing, teaching, rural development, electrification and other specialised fields, while members of the Nigerian Armed Forces have continued to receive training at leading Indian defence institutions.
Singh said India’s development assistance was based on sharing its strengths in areas that correspond with Nigeria’s own development priorities.
Among the areas identified are affordable medicines, Digital Public Infrastructure, agriculture, skills development, food security, climate-resilient development and space applications.
Pharmaceuticals, technology and agriculture emerging as growth areas
Healthcare is another major area of bilateral cooperation.
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