Impact of Foreign Trade on Economic Growth in Nigeria

his study investigated the impact of foreign trade on the economic T growth of Nigeria for the period 1981–2018. Economists hold two contrasting opinions on the effect of foreign trade on a nation's economy. While the positive-sum game school of thought holds the view that, when nations engage in foreign trade, there are bound to be mutual gains as each country's utility is expanded, the negative-sum game school of thought holds the view that trade relations amongst nations of the world benefit one economy at the expense of the other. This study was embarked upon to ascertain which of these two conflicting opinions applies to Nigeria. Accordingly, the objective of the study was to determine the impact of foreign trade proxy by oil revenue, non- oil revenue, and foreign exchange rate on Nigeria's economic growth proxy by gross domestic product growth rate. The study adopted the ex post facto research design and secondary data were obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin. The study employed the Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model to evaluate the effect of foreign trade on economic growth in Nigeria. Findings suggest that oil revenue, non-oil revenue, and foreign exchange rate have a significant impact on economic growth in Nigeria. The study recommended that Nigeria's oil revenue be heavily invested in non-oil revenue- earning productive sectors such as agriculture and mining to create the desired multiplier effect on the economy.