* Nigeria formally admitted into Arab-Africa Trade Bridges 

* FG urges increased reliance on regional markets, private capital

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

As negotiations continue at the ongoing 5th Arab-African Trade Business (AATB) Board of Governors meetings in Abuja, it has emerged that about $100 million investment deals are to be consummated on the sidelines before the event winds down.

The disclosure came at the 5th B2B Agribusiness Matchmaking Event, a major component of the Abuja meetings, where

Nigeria has been formally admitted into the Arab Africa Trade Bridges (AATB) Programme, following the signing of a landmark membership agreement on the sidelines of the meettings.

The agreement was signed by the Chief Executive Officer of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) and Secretary-General of the AATB Programme,

Adeeb Y. Al Aana, while the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy,  Mr. Wale Edun, signed for Nigeria.

The partnership offers a strategic framework to enhance Nigeria’s trade competitiveness, promote export diversification, strengthen priority value chains, and support capacity-building efforts aligned with national development goals.

The agreement provides areas of collaboration such as trade promotion, agribusiness modernisation, SMEs development, trade facilitation, logistics improvement, business missions, and digital trade readiness.

Welcoming Nigeria into the programme, E Al-Aana described the country as one of Africa’s most dynamic and resilient economies, with strong potential across agribusiness, energy, manufacturing and digital industries. 

The partnership, he noted, would expand regional market access, strengthen trade finance opportunities and support development priorities.

The AATB Programme, supported by Afreximbank, BADEA, the Islamic Development Bank, ITFC, ICIEC and ICD, aims to boost trade and investment flows between African and Arab OIC member states. 

Its interventions encompass agriculture and related industries, health and pharmaceuticals, infrastructure and transport, petrochemicals, construction materials, and technology.

In his remarks, Edun urged African countries to deepen intra-continental trade and investment amid dwindling global development aid to the country.

Addressing participants at the Matchmaking Event, Edun admonished African economies to rely more on regional markets and private capital to sustain growth.

According to him, recent trends showed a significant dip in global support to developing countries, noting that concessional financing and Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) have taken a downward trajectory.

Africa, he added, posted a 9 per cent drop in 2024, with projection indicating a further 17 per cent drop in 2025, citing African Development Bank (AfDB) estimates.

Noting that the shift in the global economic environment called for a new approach, Edun said: “African countries are faced with high debt burdens in many cases, high debt servicing requirements that are gulping up funds that could otherwise be used for public investment.” 

The minister remarked that multilateral support structures built over decades were fading rapidly.

“The world has turned away from multilateralism. If you take out maybe the willingness for international cooperation in perhaps the health sector in some cases and definitely in the area of climate, the multilateralism of the last decades since the Bretton Woods institutions rose is fast receding,” he said.

In an interview with journalists at the matchmaking event, a facilitator and Founder/Chief Executive Officer of Welcome 2 Africa International, Mrs. Bamidele Seun Awoola, disclosed that her organisation was collaborating with other partners, to facilitate about 10 trade agreements with a volume of $100 million between African and Arab markets.

According to her, her organisation had set clear internal targets aimed at unlocking new commercial linkages, boosting value addition, and strengthening regional ties.

One of her organisation’s priorities, she stated, was to drive industrialisation through joint ventures that bring manufacturers and processors into Nigeria.

According to her, Nigeria’s agricultural strength must be backed by processing capacity to create jobs, increase value addition and accelerate economic growth.

Awoola noted that the matchmaking event was designed to generate concrete business outcomes, adding that her team conducted detailed market analysis to determine which African countries, especially Nigeria, can competitively supply to the Arab market, and invited only participants positioned to close real transactions.

While expressing confidence that with the strong engagements recorded on the opening day, the event would produce partnerships, joint ventures and wealth-creating ventures aligned with Nigeria’s development goals.

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