Tinubu urges coordinated regional growth at West Africa Economic Summit

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Saturday urged West African leaders to adopt a unified approach to regional development, warning that fragmented economic strategies and underutilised trade potential were limiting growth across the sub-region.

Speaking at the opening of the inaugural West Africa Economic Summit in Abuja, Tinubu, who also serves as Chairperson of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, said the region must move beyond declarations to implementation. He stressed that economic transformation in West Africa would depend on deliberate cooperation in infrastructure, policy, and investment planning.

“Intra-regional trade remains under 10 per cent,” Tinubu said. “The low trade is not due to a failure of will but a coordination failure. The global economy will not wait for West Africa to get its act together, and neither should we.”

He said regional countries must resist the urge to compete in isolation or remain dependent on external actors, calling instead for investment in cross-border value chains and infrastructure.

“Rather than competing in isolation or relying on external partners, we must strengthen our regional value chains, invest in infrastructure, and coordinate our policies,” he noted.

Tinubu highlighted the region’s youth population as its “greatest asset” but warned that without sufficient investment in education, innovation, and digital infrastructure, that asset could become a burden.

He pointed to Nigeria’s national efforts in skills development and digital connectivity but maintained that individual country efforts were not enough.

Our prosperity depends on regional supply chains, energy networks, and data frameworks. We must design them together — or they will collapse separately,” he said.

Citing ongoing projects such as the Lagos-Abidjan Highway and the West African Power Pool, Tinubu said these examples prove that regional cooperation is possible, but he emphasised the need for expanded action. “We must do more. We must move from declarations to concrete deals and from policy frameworks to practical implementation,” he added.

The Nigerian president also addressed Africa’s role in global industrial development, noting that the continent had missed previous industrial revolutions. He urged West African leaders to rethink the continent’s historical approach to its natural resources.

“It is not enough to be resource-rich; we must become value-chain smart and invest in local processing and regional manufacturing,” he said. “The era of pit to port must end.”

Tinubu acknowledged that governments alone cannot deliver economic transformation, underscoring the need for enabling policies that attract private sector participation. “Governments must provide the right environment—law, order, and market-friendly policies—while the private sector drives growth,” he said.

He also called for outcomes from the summit that will directly impact the region’s economic landscape, including improved ease of doing business, enhanced intra-regional trade, and strategies to lift citizens out of poverty.

“Let us build a West Africa that is investable, competitive, and resilient—one that leads with vision, responsibility, and unity,” he said.