Africa must move beyond exporting raw materials and prioritise value addition to its natural resources to fully unlock the opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area.

The National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria AfCFTA Coordination Office, Patience Okala, stated this on Thursday at the Streamsowers & Köhn 20th Anniversary Business Forum, stressing that value addition and beneficiation are critical to driving Africa’s industrialisation and achieving sustainable long-term economic growth.

“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,” she said.

Okala added that Africa’s economic transformation would hinge on the effective implementation of the AfCFTA, noting that signing trade agreements alone would not deliver the desired outcomes.

“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.

She noted that under the leadership of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, Nigeria had stepped up efforts to implement the agreement, including
producing simplified AfCFTA guides in six languages to help businesses understand and take advantage of opportunities offered by the trade pact.

Okala called for stronger collaboration among governments, regulators and the private sector to remove barriers to trade and investment, stressing that such cooperation is essential to building a truly integrated African market.