Nigeria’s foremost development finance institution, the Bank of Industry (BOI), has secured a €60 million credit facility from the European Investment Bank to fund Nigeria’s cocoa and dairy value-addition drive, with a focus on processing, ingredients, and chocolate manufacturing.

The Managing Director/CEO of BOI, Olasupo Olusi, disclosed this on Tuesday, during the Africa Cocoa Summit convened in Abuja by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.

With the summit, the ministry aims to transition Africa from exporting raw beans to local processing and branding.

Also known as the Cocoa Value Addition Summit, with the theme ‘From Bean to Brand,’ it was attended by leaders and stakeholders from Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon, who signed the Abuja Declaration to establish the Cocoa Value Addition Alliance (CVAA).

According to Mr Olusi, the €60 million forms part of the €85 million EIB–BOI facility, backed by the European Union under the Global Gateway initiative, and designed specifically to strengthen these critical sectors in Nigeria.

The BOI chief said the cocoa value chain initiative provides livelihoods for thousands of Nigerians, aims to enhance productivity, value addition, and market linkages that will directly improve the incomes of farmers and processors in the country.

“This agreement reinforces the Bank of Industry’s commitment to unlocking long-term, affordable finance for priority sectors that drive inclusive growth.

“Approximately 70 per cent of the €85 million financing facility will be channeled to Nigeria’s cocoa and dairy sectors, which BOI considers among the industries with the greatest potential to create jobs and retain foreign exchange earnings.”

“We are particularly focused on cocoa value chains, which provide livelihoods for thousands of Nigerians. Through this initiative, we aim to enhance productivity, value addition, and market linkages that will directly improve the incomes of farmers and processors,” Mr Olusi said.

The BOI MD said that the bank would prioritise lending to processors, cooperatives, and MSMEs that add value locally, rather than only to traders exporting raw beans.

He added that the era of celebrating volume of raw exports must end, as Nigeria loses billions by shipping beans and importing finished chocolate.

According to him, the goal is to create factories around cocoa communities so that value, jobs, and taxes remain in Nigeria.

Technical assistance

However, Mr Olusi noted that financing alone is not enough, and as such, BOI will complement the loans with technical assistance on compliance, climate standards, and access to the EU market.

BOI, he said, will also support farmers and processors to meet the EU Deforestation Regulation and other international environmental and social standards.

Citing BOI’s track record, Mr Olusi said the bank disbursed over ₦164 billion in 2025 to more than 3,500 agro and food-processing businesses.

The support financed factories, mills, packhouses, and cold chains, and linked nearly 48,000 smallholder farmers into industrial value chains, he stated.

The BOI boss said the new financing would target the entire ecosystem, from nurseries and farmer cooperatives to grinding plants, ingredient factories, packaging lines, and chocolate manufacturers.

Cocoa value addition

Speaking also at the summit, President Bola Tinubu, who was 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.

Mr Tinubu urged the stakeholders of the producing countries to prioritise value addition and capture a larger share of the global chocolate industry’s wealth.

He 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.

Mr Tinubu stressed that Nigeria was committed to processing more of its cocoa locally, expanding chocolate manufacturing, building indigenous brands, and competing more effectively in international markets, rather than continuing to export raw cocoa beans.

According to the president, 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.

One-trillion-dollar economy

Earlier at the summit, the, 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.

According to Ms Oduwole, the FG is promoting greater value addition through manufacturing incentives, inves,tment promotion and stronger collaboration among relevant institutions.

The minister added that the government would 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 to unlock the sector’s full economic potential.

Cocoa Value Addition Alliance

Also speaking, the 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, b,ringing together Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon, countries that collectively account for about 75 per cent of global cocoa production.

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According to Mr Enoh, 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,” the Minister of State for Industry, Mr Enoh, said.

He urged African cocoa-producing nations to move beyond exporting raw beans and instead focus on developing branded cocoa products capable of competing successfully in global markets.

On his part, the 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,” Mr Abbey said.

He said Africa produced about 75 per cent of the world’s cocoa but earned 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.

The 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 support of the EU, Mr De Luca called on governments of the various countries to ensure they play their part in ensuring that a proper framework necessary for the success of the initiative was established and clarified.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued detailed operational guidelines for Bureau De Change (BDC) operators to purchase foreign exchange from authorised dealer banks through the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM).

The framework introduces an electronic tracking portal and compliance requirements to improve transparency, efficiency, and liquidity in the retail foreign exchange market.

In a circular addressed to authorised dealer banks and licensed BDC operators on Thursday, the apex bank said the guidance follows its 10 February circular, which granted BDCs access to foreign exchange from the NFEM through authorised dealer banks of their choice.

According to CBN, the new framework provides the regulatory guidance and operational modalities for implementing the policy and supporting sustained liquidity in the retail segment of the foreign exchange market.

CBN said the guidelines take immediate effect and apply to all licensed BDCs, authorised dealer banks, and all foreign exchange transactions conducted between them through the NFEM.

Framework

Under the framework, CBN will deploy a centralised electronic platform known as the FX BDC Purchase Tracker (FXBT) to enable BDCs to submit purchase requests electronically and provide real-time transaction data for regulatory oversight.

The apex bank said every licensed BDC is free to purchase foreign exchange from any authorised dealer bank of its choice, stressing that banks must not impose exclusivity arrangements or referral fees.

“No Authorised Dealer Bank shall impose exclusivity arrangements, referral fees, or any condition that restricts a BDC’s freedom to select its preferred counterparty bank,” CBN said.

Requirements

CBN said only BDCs with valid and subsisting licences would be eligible to participate in the framework, while operators under regulatory sanctions or with suspended licences would be excluded until such restrictions are lifted.

Before executing any foreign exchange transaction, authorised dealer banks are required to complete Know Your Customer (KYC) and Customer Due Diligence (CDD) checks on BDCs.

Banks must also obtain and retain the BDC’s licence certificate, Tax Identification Number (TIN), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) incorporation documents, beneficial ownership information, and details of principal officers.

The regulator added that enhanced due diligence should be conducted for higher-risk BDCs, while KYC records must be updated annually or whenever there are significant ownership or management changes.

“No foreign exchange shall be disbursed to any BDC that has not satisfied the Bank’s KYC and due diligence requirements,” it stated.

Settlement rules

The guidelines require authorised dealer banks to acknowledge purchase requests within two business hours through the electronic portal and immediately communicate approval or rejection.

Where requests are rejected, banks must provide reasons, including incomplete KYC documentation, unresolved compliance issues, internal risk considerations, or where the BDC has already reached the weekly $150,000 purchase limit through another bank.

CBN also directed that all settlements between banks and BDCs, as well as between BDCs and customers, must be conducted exclusively through accounts held with licensed financial institutions.

It prohibited third-party transactions, stating that foreign exchange purchased by a BDC must be credited only to its registered settlement account.

“Disbursement to any account other than the BDC’s own registered account shall constitute a regulatory violation and shall be reported immediately to the CBN,” the circular stated.

The apex bank further directed BDCs not to retain unused foreign exchange purchased from the NFEM.

It said any unutilised balance must be sold back to the market within 24 hours after the expiry of the utilisation period.

“Failure to comply shall attract regulatory sanctions, including but not limited to forfeiture of the unutilised balance and suspension of the BDC’s NFEM access,” CBN said.

The bank clarified that the 24-hour rule also applies to foreign exchange obtained from other autonomous sources.

Reporting, sanctions

Under the framework, licensed BDCs are required to continue submitting weekly electronic returns to the CBN detailing total foreign exchange purchased, sales to end-users by transaction category, unutilised balances and how they were disposed of, as well as settlement breakdowns.

CBN warned that violations of the guidelines could attract sanctions under the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020 and the Foreign Exchange Act.

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These include monetary fines, suspension of NFEM access, withdrawal or suspension of BDC licences, revocation of authorised dealer status for banks found complicit in violations, and referral to law enforcement agencies where criminal conduct is suspected.

The Trade and Exchange Department will oversee compliance through on-site and off-site examinations, which may be conducted without prior notice.

CBN added that, while BDCs may continue their existing relationships with authorised dealer banks, all future transactions must comply with the new operational framework with immediate effect.