The Bank of Industry (BoI) has secured a €60 million credit facility from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to accelerate cocoa value addition and strengthen Nigeria’s dairy industry through increased local processing and manufacturing. The financing package was announced by the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of BoI, Dr. Olasupo Olusi, during the Africa Cocoa Summit held in Abuja on July 14. The summit, organised by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, focused on repositioning Africa’s cocoa industry by encouraging local processing, branding and manufacturing rather than the continued export of raw cocoa beans.
According to Olusi, the €60 million allocation forms part of a broader €85 million financing arrangement between the European Investment Bank and the Bank of Industry. The facility is supported by the European Union’s Global Gateway initiative and is specifically designed to strengthen Nigeria’s cocoa and dairy value chains. The intervention will target investment in cocoa processing, ingredient production, chocolate manufacturing and other activities capable of increasing local value addition while expanding opportunities for agribusinesses.
The Abuja gathering, held under the theme “From Bean to Brand,” brought together government officials, industry leaders and stakeholders from Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon.
One of the major outcomes of the summit was the signing of the Abuja Declaration, through which participating countries established the Cocoa Value Addition Alliance (CVAA). The alliance is expected to promote collaboration among Africa’s leading cocoa-producing nations in developing local processing capacity, expanding manufacturing and increasing the continent’s participation in the global chocolate industry.
President Bola Tinubu, represented at the summit by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, urged African cocoa-producing countries to move beyond their traditional role as exporters of raw cocoa beans. He called for greater investment in cocoa value addition, saying Africa must position itself to capture a larger share of the global chocolate market by processing, branding and manufacturing finished products locally.
The President noted that increasing domestic processing capacity would create jobs, strengthen industrial development, boost export earnings and improve the economic value derived from the continent’s cocoa resources. Industry stakeholders at the summit expressed optimism that stronger regional collaboration, strategic financing and expanded processing capacity would help transform Africa’s cocoa industry from a supplier of raw materials into a globally competitive manufacturing sector.
