Nigeria’s oil sector is on the rise again, recording an impressive 20.46% growth in the second quarter (Q2) of 2025, according to fresh data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This strong performance outpaced the non-oil sector and marked one of the most significant jumps in recent years.

The NBS explained that this leap was partly due to the recent rebasing of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in July, which updated the base year to 2019. Rebasing is a periodic adjustment that reflects more accurate economic realities by using newer benchmarks, often reshaping how growth rates are reported.

When compared to previous periods, the improvement is striking. The oil sector grew by 10.38 percentage points above the 10.08% recorded in Q2 2024. It also surged 18.59 percentage points higher than Q1 2025’s 1.87%, while surpassing growth in Q3 (5.66%) and Q4 (2.08%) of 2024. On a quarter-to-quarter basis, the industry expanded by 6.01%.

In terms of contribution, the oil sector added 4.05% to Nigeria’s real GDP in Q2 2025, up from 3.51% in Q2 2024 and slightly higher than 3.97% in Q1 2025.

These figures underscore the oil sector’s renewed significance in Nigeria’s economy, even as the country continues to pursue diversification.