President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has unveiled plans to transform Nigeria’s cocoa sector by expanding local processing, industrialisation and value addition to boost economic growth and increase foreign exchange earnings.
Tinubu, represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, disclosed this at the Cocoa Value Addition Summit 2026 in Abuja, with the theme, “From Bean to Brand: The Bean in My Hand, The Brand in Our Future.”
The President said the Federal Government’s plan would promote a sustainable cocoa economy by increasing production and industrialisation, driving domestic consumption, improving farmers’ incomes, engaging more youths and increasing foreign exchange earnings from the export of quality cocoa beans and finished products.
According to the statement signed by Ezeaja Ikemefuna, Head, Department of Information, on July 15, 2026, Tinubu said, “Nigeria is shifting from exporting raw cocoa to processing it domestically, to create jobs, attract investments and earn more foreign exchange from the cocoa sub-sector.”
He said Africa produces about 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa but earns only a small share of the over $130bn global chocolate industry because most processing, branding and manufacturing activities take place outside the continent.
He stated that “Seven of every ten cocoa pods on this earth ripen under the African sun. They are grown by African hands on African soil with African knowledge passed down through generations, and yet of a global chocolate economy now valued at well over $130bn and by some recent estimates approaching $165bn.”
The President said the Federal Government would prioritise domestic processing across the cocoa value chain.
He said, “We will grind our beans at home, we will press our butter at home, we will make our chocolate at home, brand it at home and sell it to the world on our own terms.”
Tinubu disclosed that investors in Sagamu, Ogun State, were building a 70,000-tonne cocoa processing facility, which he described as the largest in the country.
He added that Nigeria’s national cocoa grinding capacity had exceeded 120,000 tonnes annually and was still expanding, while the Bank of Industry was prepared to support bankable projects in the sector.
According to him, more than 350,000 Nigerian farming families cultivate cocoa on over 1.4 million hectares of land, making Nigeria one of the world’s leading cocoa producers, accounting for about six to seven per cent of global output.
He added that cocoa generated more than N3tn in export earnings when global prices exceeded $10,000 per tonne, contributing almost a quarter of Nigeria’s non-oil exports.
Tinubu also disclosed that the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, launched the One Million Improved Cocoa Seedlings Roll-Out Programme on July 1, 2026, at the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria in Ibadan, Oyo State.
He said the seedlings, developed by Nigerian scientists, were designed to mature faster, produce higher yields, resist diseases and withstand changing climatic conditions.
The President said, “There has never been a moment when processing of origin made more commercial sense than it does today. Nigeria is not asking for charity. Nigeria is offering the best open position in the global food economy. We are open for business, and we are serious.”
He added, “Take it to our farmers, the true owners of this crop. I make a promise, and I make it in the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Value addition is not a project to be done around you. It is a covenant to be kept with you. For a century, the reward of this harvest has been far from the hands that raise it.”
The Minister of State for Industry, Senator John Owan Enoh, said the summit marked a major step towards implementing the Tinubu administration’s Nigerian Industrial Policy, which seeks to expand domestic manufacturing and reduce dependence on raw commodity exports.
Enoh said Nigeria’s focus should no longer be on the volume of cocoa exported but on the value created before the commodity leaves the country.
