BOI secures €60 million EIB facility for cocoa and dairy processing
The Bank of Industry (BOI) has secured a €60 million credit facility from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to fund Nigeria's cocoa and dairy value-addition drive, with a focus on processing, ingredients, and chocolate manufacturing. The facility is part of a larger €85 million EIB–BOI arrangement backed by the European Union under the Global Gateway initiative.
BOI MD outlines strategy at Africa Cocoa Summit
The Managing Director/CEO of BOI, Olasupo Olusi, disclosed the financing on Tuesday during the Africa Cocoa Summit convened in Abuja by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. The summit, themed 'From Bean to Brand,' aimed to transition Africa from exporting raw beans to local processing and branding. Leaders and stakeholders from Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon attended and signed the Abuja Declaration to establish the Cocoa Value Addition Alliance (CVAA).
According to Olusi, approximately 70 per cent of the €85 million financing facility will be channeled to Nigeria's cocoa and dairy sectors. “This agreement reinforces the Bank of Industry’s commitment to unlocking long-term, affordable finance for priority sectors that drive inclusive growth,” he said. He added that the cocoa value chain initiative provides livelihoods for thousands of Nigerians and aims to enhance productivity, value addition, and market linkages to directly improve farmers' and processors' incomes.
Focus on local processing over raw exports
Olusi stated that BOI would prioritise lending to processors, cooperatives, and MSMEs that add value locally, rather than only to traders exporting raw beans. “The era of celebrating volume of raw exports must end, as Nigeria loses billions by shipping beans and importing finished chocolate,” he said. The goal is to create factories around cocoa communities so that value, jobs, and taxes remain in Nigeria.
He noted that financing alone is not enough; BOI will complement loans with technical assistance on compliance, climate standards, and access to the EU market. The bank will also support farmers and processors to meet the EU Deforestation Regulation and other international environmental and social standards. Citing BOI’s track record, Olusi said the bank disbursed over ₦164 billion in 2025 to more than 3,500 agro and food-processing businesses, financing factories, mills, packhouses, and cold chains, and linking nearly 48,000 smallholder farmers into industrial value chains. The new financing will target the entire ecosystem, from nurseries and farmer cooperatives to grinding plants, ingredient factories, packaging lines, and chocolate manufacturers.
President Tinubu calls for shift from raw bean exports
President Bola Tinubu, represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, called for a decisive shift from Africa's long-standing dependence on exporting raw cocoa beans. He urged stakeholders to prioritise value addition and capture a larger share of the global chocolate industry’s wealth. Tinubu noted that although Africa accounts for about 70 per cent of global cocoa production, the continent retains only six cents of every dollar generated by the global chocolate industry. He stressed that Nigeria is committed to processing more cocoa locally, expanding chocolate manufacturing, building indigenous brands, and competing more effectively in international markets. Cocoa value addition remains a key component of his Renewed Hope Agenda and the country’s broader industrialisation strategy. He further disclosed that investors are developing a 70,000-tonne cocoa processing facility in Shagamu, Ogun State, while Nigeria’s cocoa grinding capacity has already surpassed 120,000 tonnes annually.
Minister outlines one-trillion-dollar economy ambition
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Jumoke Oduwole, said the summit aligns with the Federal Government’s ambition of building a one-trillion-dollar economy by 2030. She observed that despite Nigeria’s significant contribution to global cocoa production, the country continues to earn only a small fraction of the value created across the cocoa value chain. The FG is promoting greater value addition through manufacturing incentives, investment promotion, and stronger collaboration among relevant institutions. The government will also deepen market access by leveraging existing trade partnerships and opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), while encouraging investors to take advantage of regional and global value chains.
Establishment of Cocoa Value Addition Alliance
Minister of State for Industry, John Owan Enoh, described the summit as another milestone in implementing Nigeria’s Industrial Policy and announced plans for the establishment of the Cocoa Value Addition Alliance, bringing together Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon—countries that collectively account for about 75 per cent of global cocoa production. The alliance is designed to strengthen regional cooperation, promote local processing, and enable producing countries to capture greater value from the global cocoa market. “We are not here to disrupt existing partnerships but to expand them,” Enoh said. He urged African cocoa-producing nations to move beyond exporting raw beans and focus on developing branded cocoa products capable of competing globally.
Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Ransford Abbey, urged African cocoa-producing countries to deepen domestic processing. “I am here to support the effort and commit to a joint effort towards increasing value for our hardworking cocoa farmers and our respective economies,” he said. Abbey noted that Africa produces about 75 per cent of the world’s cocoa but earns less than 10 per cent of the global chocolate industry’s wealth. “This system cannot continue. We must shift the paradigm from exporting raw poverty to creating refined wealth right here on the African continent,” he said, adding that stronger regional collaboration, investment, and technology transfer will help African countries capture greater value from the global cocoa economy.
Head of Cooperation of the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Massimo De Luca, reiterated the importance of value addition in the cocoa value chain. While expressing the EU’s support, he called on governments to ensure a proper framework necessary for the initiative's success is established and clarified.
