Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon have signed the Abuja Declaration, forming a strategic alliance to end the export of raw cocoa beans and jointly negotiate with international buyers as a unified bloc controlling about 75 per cent of global cocoa production.
The declaration was signed on Tuesday at the 2026 Cocoa Value Addition Summit in Abuja, where governments, financiers and industry stakeholders unveiled plans to reposition Africa from a supplier of raw cocoa beans to a producer and exporter of finished cocoa products.
President Bola Tinubu, represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, declared that Nigeria would end the long-standing practice of exporting raw cocoa while importing finished chocolate products.
“Nigeria will no longer export raw beans while importing finished value,” the president said.
“We will grind our beans at home, we will press our butter at home, we will make our chocolate at home, brand it at home and sell it to the world on our own terms.”
Tinubu disclosed that investors are developing a 70,000-tonne cocoa processing facility in Sagamu, Ogun State, which he described as the largest in Nigeria’s history.
He added that Nigeria’s installed cocoa grinding capacity now exceeds 120,000 tonnes annually, while noting that the Bank of Industry (BOI) has financing available for viable cocoa value-addition projects.
The Managing Director of BOI, Olasupo Olusi, said Nigeria produces more than 300,000 tonnes of cocoa annually but currently utilises only about 50,000 tonnes of its installed grinding capacity.
Olusi said the bank disbursed more than N164 billion to over 3,500 agro-processing businesses in 2025 and recently secured a €60 million credit facility from the European Investment Bank to support cocoa value addition.
He said BOI would establish dedicated financing windows for cocoa processing, ingredient manufacturing, packaging and chocolate production.
“We are not approaching cocoa as a lending programme; we are building an industrial ecosystem,” Olusi said.
Speaking at the summit, the Minister of State for Industry, John Owan Enoh, said the new alliance would enable cocoa-producing countries to capture a greater share of the global chocolate market, valued at more than $130 billion.
“We are not interested in exporting anonymous sacks anymore. We are interested in exporting value,” Enoh said.
He also announced that the bloc would adopt a common position on the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which takes effect for large and medium-sized cocoa operators on December 30, 2026.
According to him, the four countries will seek international recognition of their national traceability systems while opposing efforts to transfer compliance costs to smallholder farmers.
Enoh further disclosed that Nigeria had adopted a Cocoa Value Addition Accord, committing the federal government, cocoa-producing states, farmer organisations, industry associations and development finance institutions to measurable targets on local processing and improved farmer incomes.
He said a delivery council would be established to oversee implementation of the accord and publish annual progress reports.
Also speaking, the Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Ransford Abbey, said although Africa produces between 75 and 77 per cent of the world’s cocoa, it receives less than 10 per cent of the value generated by the global chocolate industry.
“We do not need charity. We deserve equity. The time has come for Africa to process its own wealth, protect its farmers and negotiate with one voice in the global cocoa market,” Abbey said.
He added that global cocoa prices had fallen sharply after peaking above $11,000 per tonne in late 2024, forcing Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire to reduce producer prices.
The summit concluded with the formal adoption of both the Abuja Declaration and the Cocoa Value Addition Accord, signalling a coordinated push by Africa’s leading cocoa-producing nations to strengthen local processing, increase export earnings and capture a greater share of the global cocoa value chain.
Boluwatife Enome
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