Nigeria’s economy grew by 4.43 per cent year-on-year in real terms in the second quarter of 2026, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The latest growth rate is higher than the 4.23 per cent recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2025 and represents an improvement from the 3.89 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2026.

The NBS disclosed this in its Gross Domestic Product Report for the second quarter of 2026, released on Monday.

The latest figure indicates that economic activity continued to expand during the quarter, extending a gradual recovery recorded over the past year.

Nigeria’s economy grew by 3.87 per cent in real terms in 2025, compared with 3.38 per cent in 2024, according to the NBS data.

The latest quarterly performance was also the strongest growth recorded since the third quarter of 2024, when the economy expanded by 3.86 per cent, based on the NBS quarterly series.

In nominal terms, the country’s GDP stood at ₦119.29 trillion in the second quarter of 2026, while real GDP was estimated at ₦53.47 trillion.

The improvement came as both the oil and non-oil sectors recorded stronger growth compared with the preceding quarter, although the contribution of the non-oil economy remained overwhelmingly dominant.

Services remain dominant

The services sector remained the largest contributor to Nigeria’s real GDP during the quarter, accounting for 56.62 per cent of total output.

It also recorded real growth of 4.60 per cent, up from 3.94 per cent in the corresponding quarter of 2025.

Agriculture contributed 26.15 per cent to real GDP and grew by 4.39 per cent, a significant improvement from the 2.82 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2025.

The improvement in agriculture is notable, as the sector remains an important source of employment and income for millions of Nigerians, even as farmers continue to contend with insecurity, high input costs, climate-related pressures, and infrastructure constraints.

The industrial sector, however, recorded slower growth.

Industry grew by 3.96 per cent in the second quarter, compared with 7.46 per cent in the corresponding period of 2025. It accounted for 17.23 per cent of real GDP during the quarter.

The slowdown means that the stronger headline GDP figure was not reflected uniformly across all major sectors of the economy.

Oil production rises

Meanwhile, the oil sector recorded a stronger performance during the quarter, aided by higher crude oil production.

Nigeria’s average daily oil production rose to 1.72 million barrels per day (bpd) in the second quarter, from 1.55 million bpd in the first quarter of 2026.

Production was also higher than the 1.68 million bpd recorded in the second quarter of 2025.

The increase in production coincided with stronger growth in the oil sector.

The sector grew by 7.31 per cent year-on-year in real terms, compared with 2.57 per cent in the first quarter of 2026. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, oil-sector growth stood at 10.91 per cent.

Despite the improvement, oil remained a relatively small part of Nigeria’s overall economic output.

The sector contributed 4.16 per cent to real GDP in the second quarter, up from 4.05 per cent in the corresponding quarter of 2025 and 3.92 per cent in the first quarter of 2026.

By contrast, the non-oil sector accounted for 95.84 per cent of real GDP.

The non-oil sector grew by 4.31 per cent in real terms during the quarter, compared with 3.64 per cent in the second quarter of 2025 and 3.94 per cent in the first quarter of 2026.

According to the NBS, agriculture, information and communication, real estate, trade, financial and insurance services, manufacturing and construction were among the activities that supported non-oil growth during the quarter.

Growth improves but remains moderate

The latest GDP figures suggest that Nigeria’s economy is gaining momentum, but the pace of expansion remains moderate relative to the country’s development needs.

President Bola Tinubu’s administration has repeatedly set a target of achieving 7 per cent annual economic growth by 2027. The 4.43 per cent quarterly growth, therefore, remains below the pace required to reach that broader target if sustained annual growth is the benchmark.

The economy has nevertheless recorded a gradual improvement since the contraction and weak growth rates that characterised earlier years.

The annual growth rate rose from 0.95 per cent in 2021 to 4.32 per cent in 2022, before moderating to 3.04 per cent in 2023. It then increased to 3.38 per cent in 2024 and 3.87 per cent in 2025, according to the NBS data.

The latest figures, therefore, point to a continued, although still gradual, strengthening of economic activity.

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However, stronger GDP growth does not necessarily mean that households are immediately experiencing improved living standards.

GDP measures the value of goods and services produced in the economy and does not, on its own, show how income is distributed or whether households can afford basic goods and services.

For Nigerians, the impact of the latest expansion will ultimately depend on whether stronger economic activity translates into more jobs, higher incomes, increased investment and lower production and living costs.

The continued dominance of services and the improved performance of agriculture also highlight the growing importance of the non-oil economy to Nigeria’s growth story.

At the same time, the slowdown in industrial growth shows that challenges related to electricity, financing, infrastructure, logistics, and production costs continue to weigh on the productive sectors.

The latest NBS figures provide further evidence that the Nigerian economy is expanding faster than a year ago.

The bigger test, however, will be whether that growth can be sustained and broadened across productive sectors and translate into tangible improvements in Nigerians’ economic well-being.

Nigerians consumed 8.52 million terabytes (TB) of internet data in the first half of 2026 as broadband penetration climbed to 56.8%, highlighting the rapid expansion of digital connectivity and growing reliance on internet-based services.

Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) show that total data consumption increased from about 5.96 million TB in the first half of 2025 to 8.52 million TB between January and June 2026.

The increase represents a 42.9% year-on-year rise, with Nigerians consuming about 2.56 million TB more data in the first six months of 2026 than during the corresponding period last year.

The growth in data usage coincided with a significant expansion in broadband connectivity, with broadband subscriptions rising from 115.04 million in January to 123.11 million in June.

Broadband penetration consequently increased from 53.07% at the beginning of the year to 56.79% by June, according to NCC industry statistics.

Data consumption climbs monthly

The NCC figures show that data consumption maintained an upward trajectory throughout the first half of the year.

Monthly consumption rose from 1.39 million TB in January to 1.53 million TB in June 2026.

June’s figure was 46.7% higher than the 1.04 million TB recorded in June 2025, highlighting the acceleration in Nigerians’ demand for internet connectivity.

The increase means Nigerians were consuming larger volumes of data even as the number of broadband connections continued to expand.

The trend reflects the growing use of data-intensive services, including video streaming, social media, digital payments, online education, cloud applications, e-commerce and remote work.

It also points to a gradual transformation of Nigeria’s telecommunications market from one traditionally dominated by voice services to one increasingly driven by data.

Broadband subscriptions add 8m connections

Broadband subscriptions increased by about 8.07 million between January and June, moving from 115.04 million to 123.11 million.

The increase pushed broadband penetration closer to 57%, although the subscription figure should not be interpreted as the number of unique Nigerians connected to broadband because an individual can have multiple subscriptions.

Total telecommunications subscriptions also increased during the six-month period, rising from 182.23 million in January to 192.23 million in June.

Teledensity rose alongside the increase in subscriptions, moving from 84.06% to 88.67%.

The simultaneous growth in total subscriptions, broadband connections and data consumption suggests that Nigeria’s digital ecosystem is expanding both in terms of the number of connections and the intensity with which existing connections are being used.

Faster networks support data growth

The technology mix supporting Nigeria’s connectivity is also changing.

NCC figures show that 4G accounted for 54.31% of mobile-generation market share in June, up from 53.41% in January.

5G also increased its share from 3.94% in January to 4.61% in June.

Meanwhile, 2G’s share declined from 36.97% to 36.22%, while 3G fell from 5.67% to 4.86%.

The shift towards 4G and 5G provides greater network capacity for services that require higher speeds and larger volumes of data.

For consumers, this increasingly supports activities such as high-definition video, social networking, online gaming, digital financial services and other bandwidth-intensive applications.

NCC stresses meaningful digital participation

The surge in data consumption comes as connectivity becomes increasingly important to economic and social activities in Nigeria.

Dr Aminu Maida, Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, has previously stressed the need to move beyond simply expanding access to ensuring Nigerians can meaningfully benefit from connectivity.

“As connectivity becomes more central to everyday life, responsibility goes beyond access alone. Nigerians must be able to participate meaningfully in the digital economy,” Maida said.

The latest NCC figures provide a measure of that growing demand, with Nigerians consuming 8.52 million TB of data in just six months.

Telecoms operators benefit from data demand

The increasing appetite for data is also reflected in the financial performance of major telecommunications operators.

Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria, reported ₦1.699 trillion in data revenue in the first half of 2026, up 38.4% from ₦1.229 trillion recorded in H1 2025.

The operator also recorded a 25.8% increase in network data traffic, while average data usage per subscriber rose by 15.2% to 14.8GB.

MTN Nigeria identified rising data demand, underpenetrated home broadband and accelerating enterprise digitalisation as major structural growth opportunities.

Airtel Africa has similarly reported strong growth in its data business, with group data revenue increasing by 27.2% in constant-currency terms in the quarter ended June 2026.

The company’s data customer base increased by 15.5%, while data average revenue per user rose by 10.3%.

Airtel’s subscriber base increased from 62.04 million in January to 66.12 million in June, while Globacom’s subscriber base rose from 22.46 million to 23.68 million.

The figures collectively point to a telecommunications market where data is becoming increasingly central to consumer behaviour, operator revenues and network investment.

With Nigerians consuming 8.52 million TB of data in six months and broadband penetration approaching 57%, the challenge for the industry is increasingly shifting from simply connecting Nigerians to ensuring that network capacity, infrastructure investment and service quality keep pace with the country’s growing digital appetite.