By Emmanuel Onyedika
President Bola Tinubu has called on African countries to end their long-standing dependence on exporting raw cocoa beans and focus on value addition to increase earnings from the global chocolate industry.
Tinubu made the call on Tuesday at the Africa Cocoa Summit in Abuja, themed “From Bean to Brand,” where stakeholders discussed strategies for strengthening Africa’s position in the global cocoa value chain.
Represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, the President said Africa produced about 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa but retained only a small fraction of the industry’s value. “We gathered in Abuja today not to lament that arithmetic. We gathered to end it,” he declared.
Tinubu said Nigeria was committed to processing cocoa beans locally, manufacturing chocolate products, building indigenous brands and competing effectively in international markets. He noted that investors were developing a 70,000-tonne cocoa processing facility in Shagamu, Ogun, while Nigeria’s cocoa grinding capacity had surpassed 120,000 tonnes annually.
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, said the summit aligned with the Federal Government’s goal of building a one trillion-dollar economy by 2030. She stressed that despite Nigeria’s significant contribution to global cocoa production, the country earned only a fraction of the value generated across the cocoa and chocolate industry.
Oduwole explained that government was promoting value addition through manufacturing incentives, investment promotion and stronger institutional collaboration, while also improving market access via trade partnerships and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Minister of State for Industry, Sen. John Enoh, described the summit as another milestone in implementing Nigeria’s Industrial Policy. He announced plans for a Cocoa Value Addition Alliance involving Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon, countries that account for about 75 per cent of global cocoa production. “We are not here to disrupt existing partnerships but to expand them,” he said, urging African nations to move beyond raw exports and produce branded cocoa products capable of competing globally.
The summit concluded with the signing of the Abuja Declaration on Cocoa Value Addition by participating countries, reaffirming their commitment to advancing cocoa processing and industrial development across Africa.