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By Chukwuma Umeorah
Despite its vast natural resources and youthful workforce, West Africa remains trapped in a cycle of raw material exports, missing out on the economic benefits of industrial value addition.
With Africa contributing only 2 per cent to global manufacturing value add, resource-rich nations continue to capture just 30 per cent of the potential value of their exports. This heavy reliance on primary commodities has left economies vulnerable to price shocks, currency depreciation, and external market control.
In a bid to break this cycle, stakeholders across the region are rallying around a new industrialisation agenda, which will take center stage at the upcoming West Africa Industrialisation, Manufacturing & Trade (West Africa – IMT) Summit and Exhibition in Lagos.
Slated for May 2025. The summit, themed “Accelerating West Africa’s Sustainable Industrial Revolution for Economic Prosperity,” seeks to provide practical solutions for reversing the trend of exporting raw materials while importing finished goods at a premium.
Experts note that industrialisation remained the missing link in Africa’s economic transformation.
According to them, “Ghana’s $12 billion Petroleum Hub Project, Côte d’Ivoire’s $10 billion ENI-backed offshore investment, and Nigeria’s $3 billion industrial park project funded by Afrexim Bank signal growing efforts to shift towards processing and manufacturing.”
However, despite these commitments, industrial output remained low due to weak infrastructure, policy inconsistencies, high production costs, and geopolitical risks affecting trade and energy prices.
