WAES 2025: Minister Tuggar Calls for Regional Economic Reset, Urges West Africa Take Charge Future
In a bold and visionary address at the opening ceremony of the 2025 West Africa Economic Summit (WAES), Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chair of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers, His Excellency Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, OON, challenged the region to “reset the vision for the economic future of West Africa” and build a new foundation of prosperity anchored in regional cooperation, private sector growth, and historical trade legacies.
The summit, themed “Resetting the Vision for the Economic Future of the West Africa Region,” convened top government officials, business leaders, diplomats, and development partners at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, to chart a new course for the region’s economic transformation.
In his keynote remarks, Ambassador Tuggar emphasized that while governments and institutions play a vital role, true transformation must be driven by the creativity, enterprise, and resilience of the West African people.
“Governments and organisations are at their best when they realise the limits of their influence and power,” he said, adding that the goal of the summit was to create an enabling environment where public and private actors can work together to spur sustainable economic development.
He pointed out that West Africa already has critical frameworks such as free movement, trade facilitation, electricity pooling, and integrated transport corridors. However, he stressed the need to move beyond treaties into practical, impactful actions that enhance intra-regional trade, create jobs, and foster peace and stability.
Tuggar painted a picture of a historically vibrant trading region, where communities once thrived on trust and exchange across natural economic zones, predating modern borders.
“Markets like Salaga, Katsina, and Kano were thriving engines of commerce before the modern state,” he said, arguing that the spirit of enterprise must be rekindled to rewrite the region’s economic narrative.
Highlighting trade statistics, Tuggar noted that in 2024, West Africa exported goods worth over \$166 billion, yet only 8.6% of this trade stayed within the region. He called this trend unsustainable, urging a shift from exporting raw materials and relying on imports from industrialized nations to a more self-reliant and value-added model.
He also spotlighted the dominance of the informal sector and stressed the need to integrate it into the formal economy to benefit from scale, regulation, and increased efficiency.
Referring to the vision of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who initiated WAES as ECOWAS Chair in 2023, Tuggar said the summit was designed to create a homegrown platform for dialogue and economic action, without the need to “transplant ourselves to wintry venues abroad.”
“Let’s stop outsourcing the future and take back control of our destiny,” he told regional stakeholders and global investors. “There is literally a deal room at this Summit — use it!”
The minister also touched on the untapped potential of West Africa’s vast natural resources, especially critical minerals essential for future industries. He criticized global narratives that credit monopoly of such minerals to other nations, declaring that West Africa has equal, if not greater, reserves.
“Bring that investment, bring that local processing, and let’s grow our infrastructure and build blocks for shared prosperity,” he declared.
Ambassador Tuggar concluded by calling for fair access to global markets, climate justice, and a commitment to homegrown solutions to lift the region into a new era of economic relevance.
“West Africa has the scale, the talent, and the critical mass that no individual state alone can match. Let this summit — and those that follow — prove themselves to be part of the fabric of change.”
WAES 2025 continues over the weekend, with high-level panel sessions, bilateral investment meetings, and private sector engagement activities aimed at unlocking opportunities for regional integration and sustainable growth.
