President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday declared that Nigeria would no longer export raw cocoa beans while importing finished chocolate products, unveiling a plan to transform the country’s cocoa industry through local processing, industrialisation and value addition.
Represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, at the Cocoa Value Addition Summit 2026 in Abuja, the President said the era of exporting raw agricultural commodities without capturing their full economic value must end as Nigeria seeks to create jobs, attract investments and earn more foreign exchange from cocoa.
The summit, themed “From Bean to Brand: The Bean in My Hand, The Brand in Our Future,” brought together ministers, governors, development partners, financiers, cocoa-producing countries, and investors to launch a new roadmap for Africa’s cocoa industry.
Tinubu noted that although Africa produces about 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa, it earns only a small share of the more than $130bn global chocolate industry because processing, branding and manufacturing take place overseas. He said, “Nigeria will no longer export raw beans while importing finished value.”
