Nigeria’s AfCFTA coordinator calls for industrialisation, value addition and stronger intra-African trade
Africa must urgently move away from exporting raw materials and instead develop the capacity to process and add value to its natural resources on the continent, the National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria AfCFTA Coordination Office, Patience Okala, has said.
Okala made the call on Thursday at the Streamsowers & Köhn 20th Anniversary Business Forum, where she stressed that value addition and beneficiation are critical to Africa’s industrialisation, job creation and long-term economic transformation.
According to a statement issued on Friday by the Nigeria AfCFTA Coordination Office, Okala said the African Continental Free Trade Area should not be viewed solely as a mechanism for reducing or eliminating tariffs.
She argued that the agreement provides a broader framework through which African countries can strengthen industrial production, create jobs, develop businesses and retain greater economic value from the continent’s abundant natural resources.
“AfCFTA is not only about tariffs; it is also about value addition. Africa has to stop exporting raw materials. We need to add value and ensure that beneficiation is done on the continent,” Okala said.
She maintained that Africa’s economic transformation would depend largely on how effectively countries implement the AfCFTA rather than merely signing trade agreements.
According to her, the continent has moved beyond negotiations and must now concentrate on converting the opportunities created by the trade agreement into tangible economic benefits for businesses and citizens.
“We have moved beyond negotiations. The success of AfCFTA will be measured by the extent to which businesses can access new markets, trade seamlessly across borders, and benefit from the opportunities created by the agreement,” she said.
Okala noted that Nigeria has intensified efforts to implement the agreement under the leadership of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole.
She disclosed that simplified AfCFTA guides had been developed in six languages to assist businesses in understanding the agreement and identifying opportunities available under the continental trade framework.
The initiative is particularly significant for small and medium-sized businesses that may face difficulties navigating complex trade procedures, regulations and cross-border market requirements.
Okala also called for stronger cooperation among governments, regulators and private-sector stakeholders to remove barriers that continue to hinder trade and investment across African borders.
She said such collaboration would be essential to building a genuinely integrated African market in which businesses can operate more efficiently and consumers can benefit from greater access to goods and services produced across the continent.
“As we move from policy to implementation, our collective responsibility is to ensure that the opportunities created by AfCFTA become practical realities for businesses, particularly MSMEs, women-owned enterprises, and young entrepreneurs across the continent,” she said.
The AfCFTA is designed to deepen economic integration among African countries by creating a single continental market for goods and services and encouraging increased intra-African trade.
For Nigeria and other resource-rich African economies, the emphasis on local processing could potentially shift the continent’s economic model from one heavily dependent on the export of unprocessed commodities to one driven increasingly by manufacturing, industrial production and higher-value exports.
The challenge, however, remains the ability of African countries to address infrastructure deficits, financing constraints, energy shortages, regulatory barriers and other factors that can increase the cost of production and make locally processed goods less competitive.
Okala’s call therefore places the focus firmly on the next phase of AfCFTA implementation: turning continental trade policy into measurable opportunities for African businesses, workers and entrepreneurs.
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