WAES 2025: Leaders call for regional coordination, fair trade, local production to unlock benefits of AfCFTA

POLICYMAKERS and private sector leaders at the West Africa Business Summit (WAES 2025) have called for stronger coordination, practical reforms, and production-focused policies to unlock the full benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Among several strategic conversations held during the summit, one of the key panel sessions, titled “Overcoming Barriers to Harnessing AfCFTA for Stronger Intra-Regional Trade in West Africa”, featured high-level perspectives on production, trade fairness, and cross-border coordination.

Moderated by Yvonne Ike, Head of Sub-Saharan Africa at Bank of America, the panel brought together distinguished voices including Nigeria’s Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole; Benin’s Minister of Industry and Commerce, Shadiya Alimatou Assouman; Abubakar Suleiman, MD/CEO of Sterling Bank; Farouk Gumel, Vice Chairman of Tropical General Investments (TGI) Group; and Jubril Enakele, CEO of IRON Capital Partners.

Farouk Gumel urged stakeholders to recognise that informal systems of trade already function across the continent and must be understood rather than overridden. “We need to understand the difference between Africa and Africans. It is a tribal continent. The tribal connectivity is the driver of African trade today. So when you start to bring in paperwork and the African design which is countries and borders, you start to look at trade in a different way,” he said. “Free trade exists in Africa, it is not just fair,” he added.

On how to make AfCFTA work better, Gumel added: “There are no barriers. There is free trade. All we need to do is to make it fair and to make it fair, we have to talk to manufacturers. For you to have a fair African trade policy, it has to be fair to the producers, those producers create jobs. It has to be an African fair trade system policy where manufacturers, processors etc. are also factored into the conversation.”

Abubakar Suleiman, CEO of Sterling Bank, called for better data and smarter digital infrastructure to support small-scale cross-border traders.

 “The cost of payment today causes friction in the continent,” he said. “We need a framework to know all the small traders—only then can you bring in incentives that would allow them to grow.”

Dr. Jumoke Oduwole reinforced Nigeria’s commitment to AfCFTA, noting progress on ECOWAS tariff implementation and digital trade readiness. Wrapping up the session, she made a final call for synergy:

“The most catalytic element for this audience is coordination. So, coordination at the national level to make sure that the implementation, the operationalisation of national and regional trade is well coordinated. As West Africa, we have to be extremely coordinated in what we’re doing, how we’re doing, when we’re doing it, and very focused on the impact.”

Closing the summit, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chair of the ECOWAS Authority and President of Nigeria, highlighted Africa’s role in shaping its future through economic integration.

“This summit is not just an event, it is a bold step toward a prosperous, integrated West Africa powered by trade, innovation, and our most valuable asset: our people,” he stated.

“I invite the world to join us in building a stronger, more unified, and globally competitive West Africa.”

As WAES 2025 concluded, participants agreed that the region’s path to prosperity lies not only in removing trade barriers, but in creating a trade system that is inclusive, fair, and fundamentally supportive of local production and value addition. The message was clear: West Africa cannot trade what it does not produce. From smallholder farmers to industrial processors, empowering those who create products is critical to ensuring AfCFTA delivers real jobs and economic transformation.

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