Germany’s trade with Nigeria hit the €3 billion mark in 2022, up from €2 billion in 2021, according to German Ambassador to Nigeria Annett Günther.

Germany remains Nigeria’s second biggest trading partner after the United States. Germany’s main exports to Nigeria are machines, food products, and chemical products, while Nigeria’s main exports to Germany are crude oil, food products, and other raw materials.

German companies operating in Nigeria create 17,000 jobs directly and a minimum of 10-fold indirectly, while all European Union countries together generate around 160,000 jobs in Nigeria.

Germany has also invested over €600 million in development projects across all sectors of Nigeria’s economy, in addition to €50 million invested on humanitarian assistance in 2022 alone. 

The European country has also committed a total of €620 million to Economic Community of West African States in current projects.

Regarding humanitarian assistance, Germany remains the second biggest donor, with €50 million in 2022 on activities such as protection, food security, health, and shelter.

In the area of energy, the 2018 Presidential Power Initiative which aimed at improving the energy distribution network in Nigeria has led to the provision of 10 mobile substations and 10 power transformers.

There are also 22 University cooperations between Germany and Nigeria, with 4,000 Nigerian students currently schooling in Germany, more than 1,000 of whom are on scholarships. 2,000 Nigerians passed the German language examinations at the Goethe Institute in 2022.

Other areas of support to Nigeria include training 600 police trainers, refurbishing training colleges, and providing mobile barracks in support of the Nigerian Police Reform and Transformation Office within NPF as a hub for reform.