WAES: From $208bn trade to economic rebirth in West Africa, by Omoniyi Joshua

At the heart of the West Africa Economic Summit (WAES) 2025, held at the International Conference Centre in Abuja, lies a bold ambition: to significantly increase intra-regional trade within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which currently averages just $208bn annually.

More than a gathering of political leaders and economic experts, WAES signals a critical turning point in the region’s economic direction—an urgent call for deeper integration, smarter collaboration, and transformative action.

In his opening address, President Bola Tinubu, who was rounding up his tenure as the Chairperson of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, made it clear: West Africa cannot afford to squander another decade of “fragmentation and missed opportunities.”

He urged the region to move from declarations to implementation, from “pit to port” to value-added transformation, and from dependence on external markets to internal strength and resilience.
“Intra-regional trade remains under 10 per cent — a challenge we can no longer afford to ignore. The global economy will not wait for West Africa to get its act together, and neither should we,” Tinubu said.
Despite having a combined population of over 400 million and vast resources—ranging from agricultural potential and critical minerals to human capital—West Africa’s trade networks remain underdeveloped and underutilised.
The annual $208bn in trade is heavily skewed toward partners outside the continent, while only 8.6 per cent of West African exports stay within the region.

However, WAES 2025 aimed to change that.
Nigeria’s Foreign Minister and Chair of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers, Amb Yusuf Tuggar, described the summit’s purpose as “resetting the vision for the economic future of the West Africa region.”
He reminded delegates that long before colonial borders and modern statehood, the people of West Africa traded freely—through trust, interdependence, and market dynamism.

“Markets are a West African story. A story about trade, innovation and the generation of wealth and opportunity… We still believe in free markets—not a free-for-all, but markets regulated by cooperation and purpose,” Tuggar said.
WAES created space for governments, industry leaders, and development partners to come together in a regionally rooted, African-owned dialogue—one not outsourced to international summits or steered from foreign capitals.

In Tuggar’s words, “We are not here to transplant ourselves, shivering, to one summit or another in wintry venues. It’s good to talk—better still to deliver.”

Key themes: Integration, Infrastructure, Investment
As West Africa looks inward to unlock its vast economic potential, WAES conference emerged as a critical forum for reshaping the region’s trade trajectory. The regional bloc is now aiming to significantly grow the $208bn trade figure by promoting deeper integration, infrastructure development, and private sector-led initiatives—goals that WAES is strategically positioned to advance.

A dominant theme of WAES was the need to strengthen regional supply chains. From the Lagos-Abidjan highway project to the West African Power Pool, ECOWAS is already engaged in joint infrastructure projects. But the call at WAES was to scale up—to design energy networks, digital frameworks, and trade corridors that serve the region first.
Tinubu said, “We must become value-chain smart. It is not enough to be resource-rich. The era of pit to port must end.”

This shift requires investment, not just in hard infrastructure but in people—especially youth and women, whose untapped economic potential is the region’s greatest asset. As President Tinubu noted, “Our demographic promise can quickly become a liability if not matched by education, innovation, and productive enterprise.”
WAES also emphasised private sector participation as key to sustainable economic growth. Participants agreed that governments must focus on enabling environments, legal certainty, and predictable policy. At the same time, the private sector must lead in creating jobs, processing resources locally, and scaling up production for regional markets.

Held at a time when global trade uncertainties continue to challenge emerging economies, WAES serves as a bridge between policy, investment, and innovation, gathering government officials, investors, business leaders, and development experts under one roof. The conference facilitates robust discussions on how to reduce trade barriers, harmonise regulations, and scale up value addition across member states—pivotal steps toward boosting regional competitiveness.

The significance of WAES lies not only in the economic ambitions it articulates but also in its timing. With the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in motion, ECOWAS countries are uniquely positioned to become a thriving hub for cross-border commerce and manufacturing.

Challenges, proposal
However, challenges remain: fragmented logistics, inconsistent trade policies, limited infrastructure, and inadequate access to finance have stifled the region’s ability to maximize its internal market.
WAES confronts these issues head-on. Panels and breakout sessions dig deep into sector-specific opportunities—from agribusiness and digital finance to renewable energy and transport corridors—aiming to leverage West Africa’s population of over 400 million and growing urban consumer base. The emphasis is on value chains that retain economic benefits within the region, as opposed to continuing dependence on raw exports.

In practical terms, expanding intra-regional trade beyond $208bn means creating jobs, improving livelihoods, and strengthening local industries. For ECOWAS, it’s about transforming trade statistics into shared prosperity—and WAES is providing both the platform and the roadmap.

Toward a Self-Reliant West Africa

At its core, WAES was about self-determination—reclaiming control over West Africa’s economic destiny. Tuggar captured this sentiment clearly: “Let’s stop outsourcing the future and take back control of our destiny.”

As industrial revolutions and green technologies redefine the global economy, WAES pushed the message that West Africa can no longer afford to be a bystander. The region’s rare minerals, entrepreneurial drive, and strategic location must be leveraged not just for exports, but for home-grown manufacturing, technology, and innovation.

With the ECOWAS leadership fully behind it, WAES 2025 sets a precedent: that regional summits can be deal rooms, not talk shops. That integration is not a slogan, but a pathway to shared prosperity.

As delegates departed Abuja, the message was clear: The time for declarations is over. The era of delivery has begun. WAES is actually not the end of a conversation—but the beginning of West Africa’s economic renaissance.

Nigeria–Benin pact sets tone for regional integration
One of the most symbolic moments of WAES 2025 came with the signing of a landmark bilateral agreement between Nigeria and the Republic of Benin—a bold move toward deeper regional integration that echoed the summit’s core theme: turning aspiration into action.

Witnessed by Presidents Tinubu of Nigeria and Patrice Talon of Benin Republic, the agreement was signed by Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Amb Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, alongside Benin’s Minister of Industry and Trade, Shadiya Alimatou Assouman, and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Shegun Adjadi Bakari.

“President Tinubu and I have agreed on full integration between Benin and Nigeria. The responsibility now lies with our ministers to implement it. Benin and Nigeria are more than twins—we are the same people. Let us show the region that integration is possible,” President Talon declared.
His remarks struck a chord with the wider frustrations voiced at the summit: that despite decades of frameworks and treaties, ECOWAS remains mired in low intra-regional trade, policy incoherence, and unfulfilled infrastructure promises.

Talon did not mince words, describing ECOWAS as “in crisis” and citing the West African Gas Pipeline and the West African Power Pool as failed regional ventures plagued by bottlenecks. He shared that due to persistent delays and dysfunction, Benin now imports gas from Qatar via a floating storage and regasification unit—an indictment of the region’s missed opportunities.
“The road exists. But a businessman should be able to travel from Lagos to Abidjan in hours—not days—without harassment at multiple checkpoints. That is not integration,” Talon said.

Beyond logistics, he issued a stark warning: poverty is the greatest threat to the region’s democracy and security. Regional integration, he argued, is no longer a choice but an urgent necessity.
“If we cannot create wealth and opportunity, all our other values—democracy, liberty—cannot be sustained. Integration must be real. Integration must be delivered.”

The Nigeria–Benin agreement, announced on WAES’s global stage, was widely welcomed as a model of bilateral action in a multilateral context.
Other leaders—including Presidents Joseph Boakai of Liberia and Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone—echoed the call for greater commitment to ECOWAS trade protocols, policy harmonisation, and the establishment of a single regional currency to reduce exchange rate volatility and foster price stability.

WTO Director-General, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, in their recorded remarks, reaffirmed international support for West Africa’s push for economic transformation—urging bold leadership, private sector partnerships, and implementation of regional trade frameworks like the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme and the Common External Tariff.

From the signing of bilateral deals to the urgent calls for harmonised infrastructure, youth inclusion, and value chain development, WAES 2025 demonstrated that regional integration is no longer just a vision. It is a task. And it has begun.