Where Data Tells the Story
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A fresh wave of deadly xenophobic violence and anti-immigrant protests in South Africa targeting African foreign nationals, including Nigerians, has escalated into a major diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics published its Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics for Q1 2026 as part of its routine quarterly releases.
The figures for South Africa inside it are anything but routine, given current events.
According to NBS data, Nigeria imported N155.26 billion from South Africa and exported N887.13 billion to South Africa between January and March 2026.
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The xenophobic violence of 2026 has produced repatriations from Ghana, Malawi, and Mozambique, a formal African Union debate request from Ghana, and direct diplomatic engagement between Nigerian and South African foreign ministers.
The NBS data adds a specific economic dimension to that diplomatic picture.
That is because Nigeria’s approximately N1.04 trillion in quarterly bilateral trade with South Africa is at economic risk if the diplomatic fallout from the violence disrupts trade.
South Africa’s anti-immigrant groups do not appear to be operating with awareness of the NBS data.
The economic argument animating the attacks (that Nigerian nationals extract value from South Africa) is partially contradicted by the trade statistics of the country being attacked.
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