President Bola Tinubu, Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has called on West African countries to urgently pursue economic integration, policy alignment, and aggressive investment to secure a prosperous future for the region.
Speaking on Saturday at the second day of the West African Economic Summit in Abuja, Tinubu emphasized the need for regional leaders to move beyond symbolic gestures and deliver tangible results.
“Your presence here signals our shared commitment to shaping a new economic future for our region. We gather at a decisive moment,” he said. “Today is not about celebrating how far we have come, but forging a new path that leaves behind fragmentation amidst opportunities, and moves forward towards deeper integration, collective action, and shared prosperity.”
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The president warned that West Africa must act swiftly and not rely solely on international partners. “The global economy will not wait for West Africa to get its act together. Nor should we,” he stated. “Rather than competing in isolation or relying on external partners, we must together strengthen our regional value chains, invest in infrastructure, and coordinate our policies.”
Tinubu lamented that intra-regional trade in West Africa remains below 10 percent, attributing the low figure not to a lack of political will but to a failure in coordination.
Highlighting the region’s youthful population, he said, “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.”
He noted Nigeria’s investment in skill development, digital connectivity, and youth empowerment, adding that “no one country can do this alone. Our prosperity depends on regional supply chains, energy networks, and data frameworks. We must design them together, or they will collapse separately.”
Tinubu called for a shift from rhetoric to implementation. “We must move from declarations to concrete deals, from policy frameworks to practical implementation,” he said. He also emphasized the need for local processing of raw materials and regional manufacturing. “It is not enough to be resource-rich. We must become value chain smart and invest in local processing and regional manufacturing. The era of one pit to the port must end.”
He concluded with a rallying call: “Let us emerge from this summit with actionable outcomes, a renewed commitment to ease of doing business, enhanced inter-regional trade, improved infrastructure connectivity, and innovative ideas that move our people from poverty to prosperity. Let us build a West Africa that is investable, competitive, and resilient. One that lives with vision, responsibility, and unity of purpose.”
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, also addressed the summit, stressing the importance of private sector-led growth and pragmatic governance. “Our purpose today is to reset the vision for the economic future of the West African region,” he said. “It is up to the creative talents, enterprise, and ingenuity of our people to deliver that transformation.”
Tuggar argued that governments should act as facilitators. “Governments and organisations are at their best when they realise the limits of their influence and power. So we are here today to build on that enabling environment.”
He pointed out that only 8.6 percent of West Africa’s $166 billion in exports in 2024 remained within the region. “The trajectory is untenable, and the issue is not just capacity, but orientation,” he said.
Tuggar urged regional governments to support the private sector and challenged global narratives about resource monopolies. “We have those same minerals here in Nigeria and across the region,” he stated, referencing claims of China’s monopoly on vital rare minerals.
The summit emphasized collaboration, trade expansion, infrastructure development, and strategic planning as key to West Africa’s economic future.
