Nigeria’s economy recorded a real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 3.89% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026. The latest figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) mark an improvement over the 3.13% recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.
Agriculture emerged as the most improved performer during the period under review, growing by 3.15% in Q1 2026, a significant rebound from the marginal 0.07% growth recorded in Q1 2025. The growth of the industry sector stood at 3.50% from 3.42% recorded in the first quarter of 2025, while the services sector recorded a growth of 4.31% from 4.33% in the same quarter of 2025.
In terms of share of the GDP, the services sector contributed more to the aggregate GDP in the first quarter of 2026 at 57.73% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2025 at 57.50%. In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP at basic price stood at N110,786,347.01 million in nominal terms.
This performance is higher when compared to the first quarter of 2025, which recorded an aggregate GDP of N94,051,733.20 million, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 17.79%. The nation in the first quarter of 2026 recorded an average daily oil production of 1.55 million barrels per day (mbpd), lower than the daily average production of 1.62 mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2025 by 0.06 mbpd and lower than the fourth quarter of 2025 production volume of 1.58 mbpd by 0.03 mbpd.
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Growth decreased by 4.22% points when compared to Q4 2025, which was 6.79%. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the oil sector recorded a growth rate of 9.31% in Q1 2026. The Oil sector contributed 3.92% to the total real GDP in Q1 2026, down from the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2025 at 3.97%.
and up from the preceding quarter, where it contributed 2.87%. The non-oil sector grew by 3.94% in real terms during the reference quarter (Q1 2026). This rate was higher by 0.75% points compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2025, which was 3.19%, and lower than the 3.99% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025.