Nigeria’s imports of phones, generators, electrical transformers and other electrical products amounted to $3.47 billion in 2022, according to a recent report by the International Trade Center. The multilateral agency, which has a mandate with the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations, noted that Africa’s most populous country saw an 11.90% increase from the $3.09 billion it spent on imports in 2022.
As foreign exchange reserves fell, Nigeria’s spent $10.26 billion on importing electrical equipment over the past three years. The ITC’s electrical machinery and equipment category includes electric motors and generators, electric generating sets, electrical transformers, vacuum cleaners, electric shavers, hair clippers, and telephone sets such as smartphones, facsimile machines, teleprinters, and their parts.
The report disclosed that Nigeria spent a total of $773.56 million on phone imports in 2022, representing a 0.17% year-on-year increase from $772.25 million in 2021. Additionally, $468.65 million worth of electric motors and generating sets, and $357.36 million of electrical transformers were imported, contributing to 46.06% of total electrical equipment imports in Nigeria in 2022.
China, India, Germany, Türkiye, Sweden, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Austria, Italy, Vietnam, and France are Nigeria’s primary sources of imported electrical products. The Nigerian Communications Commission has reported that approximately 63 million technology devices are sold in Nigeria annually, while the National Bureau of Statistics disclosed in April 2023 that Nigeria has 222.5 million telephones.
