The need for Nigeria and other West Africans countries to take advantage of their relative strengths in cocoa production to grow their economies has again been re-emphasized at the just concluded Global Trade Review’s West Africa Trade and Export Finance Conference held in Lagos.


In his remarks, Head of Research, Ecobank, Edward George reiterated that the natural brilliance of West Africans will come to play only when the region starts pulling its weight with its 70 percent production capacity of cocoa and then focus on its industrialization.

According to him, such steps would also help boost local production capacity. “That to me is when validation comes in; validation comes when you create a local market, because if we do not, the cocoa produced by West Africa will always be taken up by Western processors,” he added.

The Head of Africa Trade, Barclays Africa Group, Jason Barras moderated the discussion on energy, the oil sector, power, manufacturing and infrastructural projects, while Dolapo Oni, Head of the Oil and Gas Analysis Desk at Ecobank dwelt on the discussion, “Cooking Beyond NNPC’s Reforms and the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB)”, among others.

The producer of the programme, Paul  Greetham, while making his contribution said; “Despite the region enduring a challenging period due to a sharp drop in oil prices, many fundamentals remain within the Nigerian and wider West African economies.

This conference brought together the people that really make a difference in the market to discuss new strategies, address industry opportunities and strategically align their export policies with international financing standards”.

“The Annual West Africa Trade and Export Finance Conference has rightly become a flagship event within the GTR calendar”, said Peter Gubbins, Managing Director Global Trade Review (GTR).