Nigeria's economy has shown significant growth in the third quarter of 2024, outperforming its previous performance. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.46% in real terms, year-on-year, compared to the previous quarter's 3.19%.

This growth is also higher than the GDP performance recorded during the same period last year. The services sector, which generated 53.58% of the total GDP, saw a growth of 5.19%. The non-oil industry also grew by 3.37%, while the oil sector recorded a real growth of 5.17%.

The NBS report highlights that the services sector made a larger contribution to the overall GDP in the third quarter of 2024 compared to the same quarter in 2023. The industry sector also grew by 2.18%, better than the 0.46% increase recorded in the third quarter of 2023.

In nominal terms, the aggregate GDP stood at N71,131,091.07 million, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 17.26%. This performance is higher when compared to the third quarter of 2023, which recorded an aggregate GDP of N60,658,600.37 million.

The oil sector, which has been struggling with high production costs due to tumbling global crude prices, recorded an average daily oil production of 1.47 million barrels per day (mbpd) in the third quarter of 2024. This is 0.02 mbpd higher than the daily average production of 1.45 mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2023 and 0.07 mbpd higher than the second quarter of 2024 production volume of 1.41 mbpd.

The real growth of the oil sector was 5.17% (year-on-year) in Q3 2024, indicating an increase of 6.02% points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2023 (-0.85%). On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the oil sector recorded a growth rate of 7.39% in Q3 2024.

The non-oil sector, which contributed 94.43% to the nation's GDP in the third quarter of 2024, grew by 3.37% compared to the 3rd quarter of 2024. This rate was higher than the 2.80% recorded in the second quarter of 2024 and by 0.62% points higher than the rate of 2.75% recorded in the same quarter of 2023.

This growth in Nigeria's economy is a positive sign for the country, which has been working to diversify its economy and reduce its dependence on oil. The growth in the services sector and non-oil industry is particularly encouraging, as it indicates a shift towards a more sustainable and diversified economy.

As Nigeria continues to navigate the challenges of a global economy, this growth in GDP is a welcome development. It will be interesting to see how the country's economy continues to perform in the coming quarters, and whether this growth can be sustained in the long term.