Nigeria has expanded its African air cargo corridor by adding RwandAir as a second carrier and extending the network to three new destinations, giving Nigerian exporters affordable freight access to five East and Southern African markets at rates below two dollars per kilogram.

The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment announced the partnership on Africa Day 2026, exactly one year after it launched the original corridor through an agreement with Uganda Airlines that offered Nigerian exporters rebated rates of up to 70 percent below standard commercial prices for goods bound for Entebbe, Nairobi, and Johannesburg.

Under the new arrangement with RwandAir, the corridor extends to Kigali, Harare, and Lusaka, while also giving exporters a second carrier option on the Nairobi and Johannesburg routes. Rates on all five RwandAir destinations are fixed at under two dollars per kilogram, making Nigerian goods price-competitive in markets where cargo costs had previously ranged from three to ten dollars per kilogram and made export commercially unviable for most small and medium businesses.

The minister said the corridor had already delivered measurable results. Nigeria’s non-oil exports to other African markets grew from 150 million dollars in 2024 to 207 million dollars in 2025, a direct product of the cost reduction the corridor enabled. She said the RwandAir partnership would widen the corridor further and allow more Nigerian exporters to reach more markets at costs that allowed genuine competition.

The ministry said the RwandAir partnership would be formally flagged off in June 2026.