Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) soared to N372.82 trillion in 2024, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its latest report, “Rebasing of Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” which adopts 2019 as the new base year. The rebased figures show significant growth from N205.09 trillion in 2019, rising to N213.63 trillion in 2020, N243.30 trillion in 2021, N274.23 trillion in 2022, and N314.02 trillion in 2023.
The rebasing, using 2019 as a benchmark due to its relative economic stability, resulted in a 41.7% increase in nominal GDP estimates for 2019 compared to the previous 2010 base year. Subsequent years saw upward revisions of 39.0% in 2020, 38.7% in 2021, 36.1% in 2022, 34.6% in 2023, and 35.4% in 2024. Real GDP growth was reported at -6.96% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, recovering to 0.95% in 2021, 4.32% in 2022, 3.04% in 2023, and 3.38% in 2024.
The agricultural sector led growth in 2020 with a 2.66% increase, while the industrial and services sectors contracted by 22.72% and 5.37%, respectively. By 2024, the services sector rebounded strongly at 4.43%, followed by industry at 2.80%, with agriculture growing at 1.69%. The rebased data reflects a structural shift in Nigeria’s economy, with agriculture’s share rising to 25.83% and services to 53.09% in 2019, while industry’s share fell to 21.08%, compared to 22.12%, 50.22%, and 27.65% respectively under the 2010 base year.
The top five economic activities in the rebased 2019 figures are crop production (17.58%), trade (17.42%), real estate (10.78%), telecommunications (6.78%), and crude petroleum and natural gas (5.85%), with real estate surpassing crude oil due to improved coverage of the informal sector, which now contributes 42.5% to GDP, up from 41.4%.
The NBS’s rebasing, announced in January, aims to provide a more accurate reflection of Nigeria’s economic landscape, highlighting the growing prominence of agriculture and services amid evolving economic dynamics.
