THE presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has claimed that Nigeria’s total export was less than 30 billion US dollars in 2021.
According to a report by The Punch, Obi made this claim while speaking in Umuahia, Abia State capital, on Saturday, 23rd of July, 2022 during a non-denominational prayer organized by the Catholic Diocese of Umuahia.
A report by Vanguard also quoted Obi making the claim.
“All I’m saying is that you should go and verify and ask those who want to become your president what they did and what they want to do.
“Nigeria is a country with 923000 square kilometres of land, and a population of 200 million people. God blessed us with oil and other resources. We have over 100 million people living in poverty.
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“But to show that we are not a producing country, last year, our total export including oil was less than 30 billion dollars, that is why we can’t find dollars today,” Obi said.
Obi is contesting for the office of President in Nigeria’s 2023 general election.
CLAIM
Peter Obi claimed that Nigeria’s total export was less than 30 billion dollars in 2021.
But is Nigeria’s total export less than 30 billion dollars in 2021?
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that Obi’s claim that Nigeria’s total export including oil was less than 30 billion dollars in 2021 is FALSE.
Nigeria’s exports are goods grown, extracted or manufactured in Nigeria and are transported to another country for sale or trade. It is a crucial element of a country’s economy.
In Nigeria, it is divided into oil and non-oil exports. However, oil exports are the dominant portion of Nigeria’s export revenues.
India remains the top export destination for Nigeria with 16.4% (US$7.8 billion) of total Nigeria exports in 2021. Others were Spain, France, The Netherlands, Canada, USA, Italy and Indonesia.
A report by the National Bureau of Statistics titled “Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics (Q4 2021)” shows that Nigeria’s total exports amounted to 18.9 trillion Nigerian naira (NGN) in 2021 while total imports stood at N20.84 trillion.
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The 18.9 trillion Nigeria naira is about $47 billion (U.S. dollars) based on the average exchange rate in 2021 – 403.5 naira per dollar.
If calculated by Nigeria’s central bank rate of 381 naira per dollar between January and April 2021, it would amount to over 49.6 billion dollars.
The results from the calculation show higher figures than the $30 billion (dollars) that Obi claimed.
THE VERDICT
The claim by Obi that Nigeria’s total export for 2021 was less than US$30 billion is FALSE; findings show that the amount was higher for this period.
Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.
