The Bank of Industry (BoI) has committed €85 million in affordable, long-term financing to shift Nigeria’s cocoa sector from raw bean exports to domestic processing—a move aimed at retaining value, creating jobs, and curbing the nation’s billions in lost revenue.
BoI Managing Director Olasupo Olusi announced the facility on Tuesday at the Cocoa Value Addition Summit 2026 in Abuja, themed “From Bean to Brand.” The €85 million European Investment Bank–BoI facility, backed by the European Union under the Global Gateway initiative, is specifically designed to strengthen Nigeria’s cocoa value chain.
“Financing must follow value addition, not just production,” Mr Olusi said, stressing that the bank would prioritise lending to processors, cooperatives, and micro, small and medium enterprises that add value locally, rather than to traders exporting raw beans.
He noted that at least 70 per cent of the facility would target cocoa and dairy sectors, which offer the fastest route to job creation and foreign-exchange retention. “The era of celebrating raw export volumes must end,” he declared, pointing out that Nigeria loses billions by shipping beans abroad only to import finished chocolate.
Mr Olusi emphasised that financing alone is insufficient: BoI will pair loans with technical assistance on regulatory compliance, climate standards, and access to the EU market. The bank will also support farmers and processors in meeting the EU Deforestation Regulation and other international environmental and social benchmarks. Smallholder farmers organised in cooperatives will have dedicated windows to access funds at concessionary rates.
“The goal is to create factories around cocoa communities so that value, jobs and taxes remain in Nigeria,” he said. “This agreement reinforces BoI’s commitment to unlocking long-term, affordable finance for priority sectors that drive inclusive growth.”
Mr Olusi added that BoI’s role at the summit was to ensure declarations translate into funded factories, enabling Nigeria to earn $30,000 per tonne from processed cocoa instead of $9,000 from raw beans.
Chris Isokpunwu, Permanent Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment—represented by Director of Industrial Development Mohammed Bala—said cocoa remains strategic to Nigeria’s industrialisation agenda. He noted that more than 80 per cent of Nigeria’s cocoa is exported raw despite enormous processing potential, and that local processing would generate higher export earnings, create jobs, and stimulate downstream industries including confectionery, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals.
Ransford Abbey, Chief Executive of Ghana’s Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), 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 hard-working cocoa farmers and our respective economies,” he said. 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 added, calling for stronger regional collaboration, investment, and technology transfer.
Massino Deluko, a representative of the EU, reiterated the bloc’s support for value addition, while urging governments to establish the proper regulatory frameworks necessary for the initiative’s success.
The summit concluded with a collective resolve to transform Africa’s cocoa sector—backed by concrete financial commitment from Nigeria’s premier development bank.
