Facebook is set to deepen its partnerships in Africas biggest economy following the news that 16m Nigerians visit the social network every month, with close to 100 per cent arriving via mobile. 7.2m people visit Facebook every day in the west African nation, with 7m of them using mobile.

“This is the year we deepen our partnerships with Nigerian businesses,” said Nunu Ntshingila, head of Africa for Facebook. “Were committed to Nigeria, and during this visit we shared insights with our business and agency partners on how to deliver personalised marketing, at scale, where people are – on their mobile phone. We want to make sure Nigeria – its people, its agencies and its businesses –  realise the opportunity that technology and mobile bring.

“We know the mobile platform people use the most in Nigeria is Facebook and up to 77 per cent of Nigerians on Facebook use their mobile device to discover new products and services. Nigerians are sophisticated mobile users and this sophistication is increasing fast – people are ahead of businesses, and were here to help businesses create mobile-first solutions to grow their business.”

According to Facebooks research, 65 per cent of Nigerians use two or more devices to access the internet, typically a desktop and a laptop (75 per cent of Nigerians still access the internet via fixed devices). Cross-device and dual screen consumption is common, with 38 per cent of online Nigerians using Facebook while watching TV, and 88 per cent watching videos online at least once a month.

“We have made amazing progress over the past year,” said Nicola Mendelsohn, vice president for EMEA at Facebook. “Were only one per cent done in Nigeria and inspired to do even more in this fast-moving, mobile first country.”