Data were obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Abuja in February 2021 on pesticides imports into Nigeria to ascertain costs and quantity of pesticides that were used in agricultural and sundry activities in Nigeria from 2010 to 2020 to make an empirical analysis based on pesticide use in Nigeria, Africa and globally. The annual net weight of pesticides used in Nigeria was 23,412.5 Mt, thus ranking Nigeria as the second largest pesticide user after South Africa. The total quantities of each of pesticide types; herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, soil fumigants and mosquito repellants over the 11years periods were 965,558.98, 188,132.37, 66, 129.62, 67,243.97 and 623.56 metric tons respectively, while the mean annual tonnage of each of the pesticide types for the same periods were 87,778.08, 17,102.9, 6,011.8, 6,113.1 and 56.7 metric tons in that order. The quantities of pesticide types used over the periods represent 74.98 %, 14.61 %, 5.14 %, 5.22 % and 0.5 % herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, soil fumigants and mosquito repellant coils respectively. Nigeria spent about 244 million US Dollars annually on pesticides, out of which 74 %, 16.6 %, 4.7%, 5.0 % and 0.06 % were on herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, soil fumigants and mosquito repellant coils respectively. Therefore, it could be concluded that the essence of pesticide use in Nigeria is in agriculture.