President Bola Tinubu has urged West African leaders to move beyond fragmentation and missed opportunities, working towards deeper regional integration, collaboration, and shared prosperity.
While speaking at the just concluded inaugural West Africa Economic Summit (WAES) in Abuja, Tinubu stated that West Africa is one of the last great frontiers of economic growth, but opportunity alone does not guarantee transformation.
“Opportunity is not destiny. We must earn it through vision, integration, policy coherence, collaboration, and capital alignment. Intra-regional trade remains under 10 per cent, a challenge we can no longer afford to ignore. The low trade is not due to a failure of will but a coordination failure. The global economy will not wait for West Africa to get its act together, and neither should we.
“Rather than competing in isolation or relying on external partners, we must strengthen our regional value chains, invest in infrastructure, and coordinate our policies. Our region’s greatest asset is its youthful population.
“However, this demographic promise can quickly become a liability if not matched by investments in education, digital infrastructure, innovation, and productive enterprise.
“Our prosperity depends on regional supply chains, energy networks, and data frameworks. We must design them together or they will collapse separately. From the Lagos-Abidjan Highway and West African Power Pool to digital and creative industry initiatives, our joint projects demonstrate what is possible when we work together. But we must do more. We must move from declarations to concrete deals; from policy frameworks to practical implementation,” Tinubu said.
He further stated the need for West Africa to process its rare minerals locally, rather than just exporting raw resources, advocating for regional manufacturing and value addition.
“The era of pit to port must end. We must turn our mineral wealth into domestic economic value jobs, technology, and manufacturing. The fundamental transformation will not come solely from the government but from unleashing our people’s entrepreneurial spirit. Governments must provide the right environment, law, order, and market-friendly policies while the private sector drives growth.
“Our task is to find new and effective ways to invest in our collective future, improve the business climate, and create opportunities for our youth and women,” he added.
Also speaking, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, noted that only 8.6 per cent of West Africa’s trade in 2024 remains within the region, with the majority of exports going to partners outside the continent. (Premium Times)