Nigeria's President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called for the establishment of a continent-wide African commodity exchange platform that would allow countries to trade directly with one another using local resources and currencies.
- •The Nigerian leader argued that Africa’s current trade structure is deeply flawed, with most countries exporting raw materials abroad while importing finished products at far higher costs.
- •Speaking during a presidential panel in Kigali on transforming continental alliances into strategic economic assets, Tinubu said Africa must urgently build its own internal trade architecture to unlock industrialisation, strengthen regional supply chains and retain more value from its vast natural resources.
- •Also participating in the panel was Gabonese President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, who similarly called for African countries to move up the value chain by processing their natural resources locally rather than exporting raw commodities.
“Look around the entire continent, 54 countries. There is none of us without a particular commodity available in one country or the other,” Tinubu said at the ongoing Africa CEO Forum, “Why not start an exchange commodity platform where we can trade with one another?”
He said a continental commodity exchange could help African nations trade directly in oil, minerals, agricultural produce and industrial raw materials without constantly converting transactions into US dollars.
Tinubu linked the proposal to broader efforts to deepen implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), saying Africa must stop operating in fragmented national silos and instead begin treating its resources as strategic continental assets.
“Africa needs to put its money where its mouth is,” he said. “We need collaboration, effective utilisation of our resources and not working in silos.”
The proposal comes at a time when African economies are facing rising pressure from global currency volatility, inflation and supply chain disruptions triggered by geopolitical conflicts, including tensions around the Strait of Hormuz.
Facilitating Africa's Future
Tinubu said Africa could no longer rely on external systems to drive its development and must instead mobilise domestic resources, strengthen intra-African trade and create financing systems suited to the continent’s realities.
The Nigerian president also highlighted Nigeria’s decision to support local refining and conduct some crude supply arrangements in naira rather than dollars as an example of how African economies can reduce exposure to foreign exchange instability.
“I gave the refinery crude in naira. No letter of credit, no bank scrambling and no exchange-rate instability,” he said while discussing government support for the Dangote Refinery.
Tinubu further argued that Africa’s minerals and commodities should increasingly be treated as strategic financial assets capable of backing industrial growth and raising investment capital.
“No one can take metals out of Nigeria without adding value,” he declared. “Gone are the days when you excavate minerals and leave.”
The Nigerian leader also criticised international credit rating systems for consistently undervaluing African economies, saying the continent needed stronger African-led financial institutions capable of supporting its own growth agenda.
The discussions in Kigali focused heavily on how Africa can close its estimated $1.6 trillion Sustainable Development Goals financing gap through regional integration, industrialisation, cross-border infrastructure and stronger continental economic coordination.
