Africa’s growth hinges on regional collaboration, cross-border investments – NESG chair

…Africa’s economic transformation cannot be achieved through donor dependence – Tuggar

Olaniyi Yusuf, the Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), has emphasised that Africa’s economic transformation and long-term prosperity depend largely on strengthening regional collaboration, unlocking trade barriers, and accelerating cross-border investments.

Speaking at the 31st Nigerian Economic Summit (NES31) in Abuja, Yusuf said the continent must move beyond rhetoric to action by deepening integration across borders and mobilising regional capital to finance growth and development.

According to him, “Nigeria’s economic transformation, as well as Africa’s, will remain elusive without collaboration across borders, propelled by shared markets, talent, and resources.”

He noted that while Africa accounts for 17 percent of the world’s population, its share of global trade remains just 3 percent, with intra-African trade standing at a mere 14.4 percent compared to 49 percent in North America and 38 percent in Asia.

Yusuf said the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) presents a historic opportunity to reverse this trend, unlock regional value chains, and boost Africa’s GDP by an additional $140 billion by 2035, if effectively implemented.

He called for urgent efforts to remove non-tariff barriers, harmonise regulations, and mobilise African institutional capital to power regional industries and infrastructure.

“We continue to rely heavily on external financing when over $2.9 trillion in assets are available within the continent. Imagine what we could achieve if we deployed this to support trade and investment across Africa,” he said.

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The NESG Chair also underscored the importance of mobilising pension and sovereign wealth funds to drive cross-border investments and industrial expansion, noting that Nigeria’s pension assets alone are valued at over ₦20 trillion.

He urged governments and private sector leaders to prioritise the creation of regional capital markets and investment instruments that promote intra-African trade and development.

“Reforming at home without aligning with Africa will leave our progress incomplete and fragile. When Africa truly invests and grows together, Nigeria will rise with it.”

He reaffirmed NESG’s commitment to institutionalising the Rising Together initiative, a platform designed to advance Nigeria’s regional footprint and support Africa’s collective economic transformation.

Yusuf also called for public–private partnerships, policy coherence, and cross-border trust to build a future where, “Africa’s prosperity knows no borders.”

In his remarks, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, minister of foreign affairs, said Nigeria’s foreign policy must directly serve its economic priorities by unlocking trade borders, attracting investments, and driving industrialisation across the continent.

According to him, foreign policy and economic policy are inseparable in today’s interconnected world, and Nigeria’s diplomacy must focus on advancing trade, securing partnerships, and promoting regional prosperity.

“At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we recognise that foreign policy must serve economic policies. Our diplomacy will choose to unlock trade borders, attract investment, secure partnerships, and expand opportunities for Nigerian businesses,”

He explained that the ministry is strengthening economic diplomacy as a core pillar of Nigeria’s international engagement, guided by the government’s 4D foreign policy agenda, Democracy, Development, Demography, and Diaspora.

Highlighting lessons from Asia’s industrialisation model, Tuggar said Nigeria has the potential to replicate the “Flying East” paradigm by driving industrial growth through strategic collaboration, regional integration, and private sector participation.

“With our demographic weight, market size, and strategic position, we have the capacity to drive industrialisation not only in Nigeria but across Africa. However, this requires policy alignment between foreign affairs and economic planning, between public institutions and private enterprise, and between national ambition and global competitiveness,”

Tuggar warned that Africa’s economic transformation cannot be achieved through donor dependence, but through sound industrial policies and regional coordination that attract private capital.

He cited the West African Economic Summit as a key platform for deepening trade, infrastructure, and policy integration across the subregion, aligning closely with the goals of the Nigerian Economic Summit.

He further urged closer collaboration between government, academia, and research institutions to strengthen “policy intelligence” and build a pipeline of ideas and innovation to guide Nigeria through an increasingly competitive global landscape.