Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product growth rate slowed to 3.89 percent in the first quarter of 2026, down from 4.07 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Despite the decline on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the latest figure represents an improvement compared to the 3.13 percent growth recorded in the first quarter of 2025.
The NBS disclosed this in its Q1 2026 GDP report released on Monday.
According to the bureau, the agriculture sector grew by 3.15 percent during the quarter under review, improving significantly from the 0.07 percent growth recorded in the corresponding period of 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,” the report stated.
The statistics agency also noted that the services sector remained the biggest contributor to the country’s GDP in Q1 2026, accounting for 57.73 percent of total output compared to 57.5 percent in the same period of 2025.
In nominal terms, aggregate GDP stood at N110.78 trillion during the quarter, higher than the N94 trillion recorded in Q1 2025, representing a year-on-year nominal growth of 17.79 percent.
The report added that Nigeria’s real GDP stood at N51.26 trillion in Q1 2026.
The NBS further disclosed that Nigeria recorded an average daily crude oil production of 1.55 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2026.
The figure is lower than the 1.62 million barrels per day recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2025 and also below the 1.58 million barrels per day achieved in Q4 2025.
“The real growth of the oil sector was 2.57% (year-on-year) in Q1 2026, indicating an increase of 0.70 percentage points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2025 (1.87%),” the bureau stated.
“Growth decreased by 4.22 percentage 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.”
According to the report, the oil sector contributed 3.92 percent to total real GDP in Q1 2026, slightly lower than the 3.97 percent recorded in Q1 2025 but higher than the 2.87 percent contribution recorded in the previous quarter.
The NBS stated that the non-oil sector accounted for 96.08 percent of Nigeria’s GDP in real terms during the quarter under review.
This was higher than the 96.03 percent recorded in Q1 2025 but lower than the 97.13 percent posted in Q4 2025.
“The non-oil sector grew by 3.94 percent in real terms during the reference quarter (Q1 2026),” the report said.
“This rate was higher by 0.75 percentage 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.”
The bureau attributed growth in the non-oil sector mainly to activities in information and communication technology, particularly telecommunications, agriculture, trade, cement manufacturing, financial institutions, real estate, construction, and transportation and storage services.
