Nigeria Sees 566% Surge in Capital Inflows, Hits $2.23bn
Investors from the United States injected $2.23bn into Nigeria’s economy in the first nine months of 2025, findings have shown.
This figure represents a 566.02 per cent surge compared to the same period of 2024, despite renewed tariff pressures under US President Donald Trump’s trade policies.
Data from the latest Capital Importation report released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that US capital inflows rose sharply from $334.71m in the first nine months of 2024 to $2.229bn in the corresponding period of 2025, an increase of $1.89bn year on year.
The surge occurred amid the imposition of reciprocal tariff measures on Nigerian exports to the United States, including a 15 per cent tariff on selected goods, as well as additional trade penalties linked to broader US foreign policy considerations.
Quarterly analysis of the data indicates that inflows from the United States accelerated progressively through 2025. In Q1 2025, US investors brought in $368.92m, more than four times the $89.27m recorded in Q1 2024.
The figure climbed further to $909.84m in Q2 2025, compared to $81.58m in Q2 2024, before rising again to $950.47m in Q3 2025, against $163.86m in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
In contrast, total capital importation into Nigeria stood at $16.78bn in the first nine months of 2025, up from $7.23bn in the same period of 2024. This places US investment as a major driver of the overall rebound in foreign capital inflows.
The data also shows a marked increase in the United States’ share of total capital imported into Nigeria. In the first nine months of 2024, US inflows accounted for 4.63 per cent of total capital importation. By the same period in 2025, the share had nearly tripled to 13.29 per cent.
On a quarter-by-quarter basis, total capital importation rose from $5.64bn in Q1 2025 to $5.12bn in Q2 2025, before increasing to $6.01bn in Q3 2025. The strong US inflows, particularly in the second and third quarters, helped offset fluctuations from other sources.
The rebound in US investment comes at a time of shifting trade dynamics between the two countries. The United States recently implemented tariff adjustments affecting several trading partners, including Nigeria, as part of a broader strategy to address trade imbalances and strategic concerns.
Also, the United States, under President Donald Trump, revised its visa reciprocity policy on July 8, 2025, so that most nonimmigrant and non-diplomatic visas issued to Nigerian citizens are now single-entry with a maximum validity of three months, a significant rollback from the multi-year, multiple-entry visas that were previously common.
A partial suspension of visa issuance for Nigerians was also set to begin on January 1, 2026, under Presidential Proclamation 10998, which restricts certain nonimmigrant and immigrant visa categories for nationals of several countries, including Nigeria, particularly for applicants outside the US without currently valid visas.
These measures are part of a broader expansion of travel restrictions under Trump, aimed at border and national security concerns. Nigerian applicants may still apply for visas, but approvals are more stringent and depend heavily on enhanced vetting and documentation.
However, the latest NBS data suggests that higher tariffs and visa barriers have not deterred American investors from deploying capital into Africa’s largest economy.
It was earlier reported that the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Richard Mills Jr., said the US will focus on private-sector-led investment rather than aid in its engagement with Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa.
Mills Jr. said this at the Fireside Chat held at the Lagos Business School under the theme ‘Toward a Robust US-Nigeria Commercial and Investment Partnership.’
He said, “Over the last few decades, the United States has invested billions of dollars in Nigeria’s health, education, and agricultural sectors, I believe, saving lives and also creating new economic opportunities on the ground. However, we have reached what President (Donald) Trump likes to call an inflexion point. Now is the time for us both to build on the strength of these aid investments, and for Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest economies with huge economic potential, to enter a new phase of vibrant, private-sector-led growth. Our approach, I want to be clear, I think, is three.
“We are making a shift from aid to trade. We want to engage African nations not as aid recipients, but as capable commercial partners. For us, as our chief of African Affairs, Ambassador Latrell, said, going forward, we will continue to invest in development, but we will do so through expanding trade and private investment, because it is the private sector, not assistance, ultimately, that drives the final stage of economic growth. By promoting two-way trade and investment, we believe we can drive mutual growth for both our nations. So, as the US Ambassador to Nigeria, I’ve been given a key priority for my mandate to increase trade, increase investment, and increase business linkages between our two countries.”
To achieve this goal, Mills Jr. stated that last year, the US Department of Commerce, working with Nigeria’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, signed a commercial and investment partnership agreement.