Africa must stop exporting raw materials and prioritise value addition and beneficiation on the continent if it is to fully harness the opportunities created by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Nigeria’s AfCFTA coordinator Patience Okala has said.

Okala, the National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria AfCFTA Coordination Office, said value addition was critical to Africa’s industrialisation, job creation and long-term economic transformation.

She was speaking on Thursday at the Streamsowers & Köhn 20th Anniversary Business Forum.

According to a statement issued on Friday by the Nigeria AfCFTA Coordination Office, Okala said the AfCFTA should be viewed as more than an agreement to eliminate tariffs, describing it as a framework for industrialisation and the development of value chains across Africa.

“AfCFTA is not only about tariffs; it is also about value addition. Africa has to stop exporting raw materials. We need to add value and ensure that beneficiation is done on the continent,” she said.

Okala said the success of the trade agreement would ultimately depend on its implementation and the extent to which African businesses could take advantage of the expanded market.

“We have moved beyond negotiations. The success of AfCFTA will be measured by the extent to which businesses can access new markets, trade seamlessly across borders, and benefit from the opportunities created by the agreement,” she said.

She said Nigeria had stepped up efforts to implement the agreement under the leadership of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole.

Among the measures, she said, was the development of simplified AfCFTA guides in six languages to help businesses understand the agreement and identify opportunities within the continental market.

Okala also called for closer cooperation among governments, regulators and the private sector to remove barriers to trade and investment and accelerate the creation of an integrated African market.

She said the focus should be on ensuring that the benefits of AfCFTA translated into tangible opportunities for businesses, particularly micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), women-owned businesses and young entrepreneurs.

“As we move from policy to implementation, our collective responsibility is to ensure that the opportunities created by AfCFTA become practical realities for businesses, particularly MSMEs, women-owned enterprises, and young entrepreneurs across the continent,” she said.