Key Takeaways:

• Maritime transport dominated Nigeria’s international trade in Q4 2024, accounting for 98.79% of total exports and 90.15% of total imports.
• Air transport contributed significantly to imports (9.03%) but played a minimal role in exports (0.64%).
• Road and other transport modes made negligible contributions to both imports and exports.
• Total trade across all transport modes reached ₦36.6 trillion, resulting in a positive trade balance.

• India tops the list with 651.6 million people offline — almost five times Nigeria’s number, but a smaller percentage (44.7%) of its population.
• China has 311.9 million unconnected people, but that’s only 22% of its population.
• With 78.7% of its population offline (105.2M people), Ethiopia has the lowest internet penetration among the top countries listed.
• Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Pakistan all have over 50% of their populations unconnected.
• Despite their smaller populations, over 70% of people in both Tanzania and Uganda remain offline.
• While Nigeria is a regional tech hub, it still has over 128 million people offline, pointing to a major disconnect between urban tech growth and rural internet access.

• Diesel prices in Adamawa skyrocketed by 92.77%, the most significant year-on-year increase nationwide, more than 4x the national average.
• Many northern states, including Plateau (72.12%), Benue (60.57%), and Kano (54.76%), experienced steep diesel cost increases, intensifying regional cost disparities.
• States like Gombe (-10%), Edo (-9.68%), and Kogi (-6.29%) bucked the national trend, offering some relief from rising energy costs.
• The Federal Capital Territory recorded the highest absolute diesel price in the country.
• Some states, such as Akwa Ibom (+2.17%) and Ebonyi (+2.23%), saw minimal changes.
• Despite being a commercial hub, Lagos recorded one of the lowest diesel prices at ₦1,222.22, with a relatively small increase of 5.21%.

• Diesel prices in the North East soared by 36.26%, the highest increase nationwide.
• All three northern zones—North East (36.26%), North Central (33.71%), and North West (15.44%)—saw the steepest fuel price increases, outpacing their southern counterparts.
• The South East (6.97%) and South South (9.23%) recorded the lowest diesel price increases.
• The South West experienced a moderate rise at 13.30%, positioning it between the extremes of northern and other southern zones.
• The uneven price changes point to a broader issue of fuel supply chain challenges, infrastructure, and perhaps market inefficiencies affecting certain regions more than others.

• Francophone Africa attracted $1.8 billion in private capital in 2021, about 9x the previous year (2020).
• That same year saw 34 deals, which is quite high when compared to some other years, indicating strong investor confidence.
• In 2024, deal value amounted to just $0.1 billion, and deal volume to 19, pointing to a significant cooling in activity.
• Between 2012 and 2015, the region saw low deal values, with both 2014 and 2015 recording just $0.01 billion in investments.
• A notable spike occurred in 2017 with $0.7 billion invested across 17 deals, marking the first major surge before 2021's breakout.
• Deal counts haven’t always aligned with capital volume. For instance, 2023 had 42 deals but only $0.4B, suggesting a trend of smaller-sized investments.

• Lagos State contributed ₦305B in VAT, making up over 53% of the national total and more than three times that of any other state.
• Rivers (₦90B) and Oyo (₦27B) followed Lagos as the second and third highest contributors, highlighting a steep drop after the top state.
• Only a few states, including Bayelsa, Kano, Kwara, and Edo, remitted above ₦5B, showing a highly uneven distribution of VAT contributions.
• Over 8 states, such as Kebbi, Osun, Imo, and Zamfara, contributed less than ₦2B each, indicating minimal VAT activity in many parts of the country.

• Kano State has the highest number of LGAs in Nigeria, with 44, far exceeding the national average of 21 LGAs per state.
• Bayelsa, Nasarawa, and the FCT have the fewest LGAs, recording 8, 13, and 6 respectively, despite varying population sizes and landmass.
• Northern states dominate the upper tier of the LGA count, with Katsina (34), Oyo (33), and Jigawa (27) all ranking among the top.
• Southern states tend to have fewer LGAs, with Lagos and Ogun, two highly urbanised states, having just 20 LGAs each, hinting at a denser governance structure per area.

• Lagos had the highest female representation in Nigeria’s 2023 elections, with 114 female candidates, more than any other state.
• Yobe recorded the lowest, with just 7 female candidates, highlighting a wide disparity in representation across regions.
• The South East and South South zones recorded some of the strongest numbers overall, with Imo (86) and Rivers (85) nearly matching Lagos.
• The South West led overall in female candidate numbers, while the North East trailed, with its highest (Gombe – 42) still lower than other zones’ peaks.

• The breakthrough year for tech in Francophone Africa was 2021, with 71% of deal volume going to tech-enabled firms, an all-time high.
• The growth of tech began slowly, from 0% in 2015 to just 12% in 2017, showing how recent the tech surge is.
• Between 2018 and 2020, tech’s share gradually rose from 15% to 27%, setting the stage for the explosive growth of 2021.
• Post-2021, tech dominance slightly softened—holding 52% in 2022, 50% in 2023, and 63% in 2024 H1, suggesting a more balanced diversification.
• The last year traditional sectors led in deal volume was 2020, accounting for 73%, right before tech flipped the narrative.

• The peak year was 2019 with 13 exits, marking the most successful exit year since tracking began in 2012.
• Zero exits occurred in 2020, likely reflecting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on exit strategies and deal closures.
• The years 2021 and 2022 saw a rebound, with 11 and 10 exits respectively, suggesting a recovery in investor confidence post-pandemic.
• Slower exit activity was recorded in 2023 and early 2024, with 6 and 3 exits, respectively (2024 is as of H1).
• From 2012 to 2016, annual exits ranged between 3 and 4, except for a spike in 2013 with 10 exits.
• The overall average exit volume is low, with fewer than 7 exits per year on average across the 12 years.

• The consumer staples sector attracted the highest private capital volume with 69 deals.
• The financial sector shows strong traction, especially as digital finance and fintechs continue to open access to banking services in underserved markets.
• Fifty-five deals in the consumer discretionary category suggest investors are interested in rising middle-class consumption, retail, and lifestyle-driven spending patterns.
• At 50 deals, industrials, including manufacturing and infrastructure, remain a backbone for private capital.
• Healthcare (24 deals) and utilities (37 deals) reflect increasing investor focus on sectors with long-term impact and scalable public value.

• With $1.2B in deal value (25%), Côte d’Ivoire stands far ahead, signalling strong investor confidence.
• At $697M (14.5%), Senegal is proving itself as a rising investment star.
• Despite being a small economy, Rwanda drew $166M (3.5%).
• DR Congo attracted $143M (3.0%), a modest share relative to its size.
• Twenty-four Francophone African countries collectively received 47.4% ($2.3B) of the deal value, suggesting huge untapped or underserved markets across Francophone Africa.