Tinubu: Businesses in West Africa Cannot Reach Full Potential with Fragmented Markets
Calls for Greater Economic Integration

By: Michael Mike

President Bola Tinubu has called for greater economic integration in West Africa, insisting that the region’s businesses cannot reach their full potential if markets remain fragmented.

The Nigeria’s President while lamenting that West Africa’s intra-regional trade remains a challenge at 10%, noted that this figure can no longer be ignored.

Speaking at the West Africa Economic Summit, Tinubu said, “Intra regional trade remains at 10%, a challenge you can no longer ignore. The low trade is not due to a failure of will, but a failure of coordination.”

The President noted that West Africa is one of the last great frontiers of economic growth, but however added that opportunity alone does not guarantee transformation.

He said: “Opportunities, not just wishful thinking, we must earn it through vision integration, policy coherence, collaboration, and capital alignment.”

The Nigerian President called for collective action, investment in infrastructure, and coordinated policies to drive growth, stating that: “We must together strengthen our regional value chains, invest in infrastructure and coordinate our policies.”

He stated that the region’s greatest asset is its youthful population, but however said this demographic promise can quickly become a liability if not matched by investments in education, digital infrastructure, innovation, and productive enterprise.

He said: “Our prosperity depends on regional supply chains, energy networks and data frameworks. We must design them together, or they will collate separately,” he said.

Tinubu, while citing the examples of joint projects that demonstrate what is possible when West African countries work together, said include the Lagos-Abidjan highway and West African power pool. “We must move from declarations to concrete deals, from policy frameworks to practical implementation,” he urged.

The President also stressed the need for West Africa to become more competitive and resilient, investing in local processing and regional manufacturing to unlock the region’s mineral wealth. He said: “The era of ‘from pit to port’ must end. We must turn our mineral wealth into domestic economic value, jobs, technology, and manufacture.”

He called for actionable outcomes from the summit, including a renewed commitment to ease of doing business, enhanced inter-regional trade, improved infrastructure, and innovative ideas to drive growth and prosperity.

He pleaded that: “Let us build a West Africa that is investable, competitive and resilient, one that lives with vision, responsibility and unity.”

On his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, reiterated the region’s potential for growth and development.

He said: “We’re here today to build on that enabling environment. We’re not reinventing the wheel. As an economic community, West Africa enjoys freedom of movement and a framework to facilitate trade, pool electricity, and integrate transport corridors.”

Tuggar however said West Africa’s economic trajectory is unsustainable, with only 8.6% of the region’s $166 billion exports in 2024 remaining within its borders.

He noted that: “Imports followed the same pattern, heavily tilted toward partners outside the continent. Machinery and manufactured goods from China, India, the United States, and the European Union dominate our import flows while we continue to export and process raw materials.”

Tuggar however called for more efforts to bring the informal sector into the formal economy, leveraging economies of scale and efficiencies to accelerate growth.

He said: “As governments, as states, and the region, we need to do more to make it easy to bring that activity within the formal sector,” he said.

He stressed the importance of local processing and investment in the region. “Bring that investment, bring that local processing, let’s see our transport, economic infrastructure and other building blocks for prosperity grow,” he asked .

Tuggar expressed optimism about the region’s potential, citing its rich natural resources and youthful population. He said: “West Africa can and should be part of this.

He said: “I read a couple of weeks ago in an American newspaper that China had a monopoly on some of the rare minerals vital to the new industry in which the future will be built. Not so. We have those same minerals here in Nigeria and across the region.”

Also speaking, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs. Jumoke Oduwole said, West Africa is poised to become a formidable economic bloc, capable of attracting capital, scaling industries, and delivering measurable outcomes across borders

The Minister claimed that Nigeria has made bold decisions under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s leadership, including exchange rate reforms, removing false subsidies, and aligning the economy to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA).

She said: “These reforms are yielding results, with Nigeria’s non-oil exports rising to $1.8 billion in Q1, a 24% increase over the same period last year.”

Oduwole cited several initiatives that demonstrate Nigeria’s commitment to regional integration and shared prosperity.

“Nigeria has reset its AFCFTA provisional schedule of tariff concessions, affirming its readiness to trade under a common African market.

“The country has also been designated as Africa’s co-champion on digital trade, with President Tinubu playing a pivotal role in the sector. Additionally, the National Talent Export Program (NATEP) has been launched, placing over 2,000 young Nigerians in international remote jobs and earning hard currency.”

“Furthermore, a new air cargo trade corridor has been opened with Eastern African countries, enabled with a market intelligence toolkit for their products, in collaboration with Uganda Air and UNDP.”

She also announced a landmark public-private partnership, the National Export Trading Company, aimed at aggregating, financing, and enabling exports of Nigerian commodities efficiently and competitively.

This initiative will create a pathway for farmers and MSMEs to access formal regional and global markets.

“The West Africa Economic Summit’s deal room showcased nearly $1 billion in live transactions, with over $400 million worth of transactions advancing into investor discussions.”

Oduwole commended the Minister of Foreign Affairs and his team for delivering a world-class summit, saying, “West Africa is open for business. The world is watching and is here with us. Let this summit be a prosperous turning point for us all.”

Tinubu: Businesses in West Africa Cannot Reach Full Potential with Fragmented Markets
Calls for Greater Economic Integration