Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar, advocates for stronger economic and regional integration in West Africa at a private sector roundtable ahead of WAES 2025, emphasizing collaboration and overcoming trade barriers

[dropcap]N[/dropcap]igeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has issued a compelling call for West African nations to foster greater economic and regional integration.

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Speaking at a Private Sector Roundtable in Lagos on Thursday, June 5, 2025, Amb. Tuggar emphasized the critical need for regional collaboration, urging countries to leverage their shared market potential and collective demographic advantages.

The roundtable, held at the Metropolitan Club, Victoria Island, brought together top business leaders as part of the build-up to the West Africa Economic Summit (WAES) 2025.

The summit, scheduled for June 20–21 in Abuja, Nigeria, aims to define the private sector’s role in driving regional economic integration.

At the gathering, Ambassador Tuggar reaffirmed the Nigerian government’s unwavering commitment to working hand-in-hand with the private sector.

“WAES is not just about policy, it’s about practical solutions. Your voice will shape the outcomes,” the Minister stated, encouraging candid discussions about prevalent trade barriers, infrastructure gaps, and regulatory challenges that currently impede growth across the sub-region.

The Minister further reiterated that in a global landscape marked by protectionist tendencies from leading market players and a weaponized reordering of the global tariff landscape, it is imperative for neighbouring nations and regional blocs to align for their common good.

WAES is not just about policy, it’s about practical solutions. Your voice will shape the outcomes.

“The West African response to these protectionist trends must be clear and deliberate for long-term success, rather than a reactionary and disjointed approach. This is why WAES is conceived as a platform to help shape the sub-region’s evolving response,” he added.

The West Africa Economic Summit is presented as a strategic legacy initiative championed by the President, with support from his colleagues across West Africa.

Its core objective is to shift the paradigm from dependency to productivity and from fragmented markets to integrated value chains.

The vision is to harness the region’s collective size to generate efficient productivity, thereby enhancing competitiveness in the global market.

The Private Sector Roundtable itself signifies a definitive shift, where the voice of business is not merely acknowledged at the periphery but systematically institutionalized within the core processes of policy formulation and regional economic diplomacy.