FG unveils $1bn AfCFTA credit facility to boost Nigerian exports

Nigeria is taking a significant step to bolster its export-led growth under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) with the unveiling of a $1 billion credit facility. The AfCFTA Adjustment Fund Credit Facility is designed to enhance production, competitiveness, and intra-African trade for Nigerian businesses.

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The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to accelerating Nigeria’s export-led growth agenda under the African Continental Free Trade Area, unveiling opportunities for businesses to access a US$1 billion AfCFTA Adjustment Fund Credit Facility aimed at boosting production, competitiveness, and intra-African trade.

Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Jumoke Oduwole, announced the initiative during a meeting of the AfCFTA Central Coordination Committee in Abuja. She highlighted that the fund offers a major opportunity for local companies to expand operations, modernize production, and increase their reach into African markets. Despite progress in AfCFTA implementation, many Nigerian businesses still grapple with challenges such as export documentation, certification, standards compliance, and market access.

The government is actively addressing these bottlenecks through improved trade facilitation, simplified AfCFTA guidance, stakeholder engagement, and stronger collaboration with agencies like the Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council. Oduwole also emphasized the importance of strengthening Nigeria's legal and regulatory framework, particularly by domesticating the Digital Trade Protocol, to solidify the country's position in Africa's burgeoning digital economy.

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Many businesses still face challenges relating to export documentation, certification, standards compliance and market access.

Recent successes in Nigeria's AfCFTA implementation include the expansion of the Air Cargo Corridor Initiative to Rwanda, increased collaboration with development partners and the private sector, and sustained engagement with state governments. These efforts aim to deepen awareness and participation in the continental market. Mrs. Patience Okala, National Coordinator of the Nigeria AfCFTA Coordination Office, congratulated Oduwole on her appointment as Chairman of the AfCFTA Council of Ministers, recognizing it as a testament to Nigeria's growing influence in Africa's trade integration.

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The water sector has the material. We have the capital, we have the technology, we have the engineering knowledge, we have the political commitments and the private sector actors willing to invest. What it lacks is the arrangement, the institutional structure that determines how these materials come together in a way that is stable, scalable and self-sustaining.