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Nigeria-West African response to protectionist trends must be clear, deliberate
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar has said that “in a world witnessing protectionist tendencies from global market leaders, alongside a weaponised reordering of the global tariff landscape, it is only right that neighbours and regional blocs align for the common good of their people. The West African response to these protectionist trends must be clear and deliberate for long-term success, rather than a reactionary and disjointed approach”. Speaking at High-Level Private Sector Roundtable Ahead of the West Africa Economic Summit
(WAES) 2025, he said “this is why WAES is conceived as a platform to help shape the sub-region’s evolving response. WAES is a strategic legacy initiative by the President, supported by his colleagues accross West Africa, aimed at shifting the paradigm from dependency to productivity and from fragmented markets to integrated value chains. The idea is to use our size to generate efficient productivity in order to outcompete others in the global market. A broader West African market will drive down costs and enable our businesses to outcompete others.
“The Summit, scheduled for the 20th to 21st of June in Abuja, will bring together Heads of State, Ministers, investors, and regional institutions from across West Africa. More importantly, it will include you.
We recognise that governments alone do not build economies; enterprises do. It is your investments, distribution networks, factories, innovations, and your ability to navigate risk that drive economic growth, not only in Nigeria but across the sub-region. This gathering is special not only because it marks our first formal interaction in the lead-up to the West Africa Economic Summit (WAES), but also because it signifies the depth of integration and cooperation that we hope to establish with you. Moreover, this moment signifies a definitive shift in which the voice of business is not merely recognised at the margins, but is systematically institutionalised within the core processes of policy formulation and regional economic diplomacy. It reflects a deeper entanglement of corporate interests and statecraft, wherein the private sector emerges not as a peripheral stakeholder but as a central architect of economic governance frameworks.
“Nigeria’s economic stature within the West African sub-region is both significant and uncontested. Nevertheless, national strength alone is not sufficient enough to sustain long-term growth or to assert effective regional leadership. In an increasingly interconnected global economy, the imperative is clear: West Africa must transcend fragmented national pursuits and pursue greater regional integration. By leveraging our collective demographic advantage of over 400 million people and unlocking the latent potential embedded in our shared markets, we can cultivate a more resilient and inclusive regional economic architecture. Such a collaborative approach is not merely desirable; it is essential for sustainable development, competitive positioning, and the realisation of a common prosperity across the sub-region.
“The empirical data presents a sobering reality: intra-African trade remains limited, constituting approximately 15% of the continent’s total trade volume. Within the West African sub-region, this figure is even more modest, fluctuating between 12% and 13%. When juxtaposed with the robust intra-regional trade levels observed in Asia (circa 60%) and Europe (approaching 70%), the comparative deficit is striking. This disparity underscores a critical insight: the constraint on Africa’s, and more specifically, West Africa’s economic integration is not a function of lacking potential, but rather of deficits in coordination, cross-border infrastructure, and sustained political commitment. The challenge, therefore, lies not in envisioning a prosperous, interconnected region but in establishing the institutional mechanisms, logistical frameworks, and governance consensus required to actualise that vision.
“Yet, it is not only a tale of challenges; in recent years, we have seen a more efficacious commitment to implementing the sub-region’s objectives, which include fostering legal and regulatory convergence towards a Customs Union, the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme, SIGMAT, the Abidjan-Lagos and Abidjan-Dakar corridors, the West African Power Pool, and the framework for the African-Atlantic Gas Pipeline. These are just a few West-Africa-led initiatives that will be advantageous to businesses across the sub-region in the near future. As I stated during my welcome address at the recent ECOWAS at 50 celebration in Lagos, the Atlantic world has long played a defining role in shaping the architecture of the modern global order. The wealth of the West African coast—our gold, our labour, our very people—fuelled empires and financed revolutions; yet we have been denied a fair stake in the prosperity we helped create. While others developed on the back of Atlantic commerce, West Africa has remained short-changed. Today, we are no longer spectators. We now stand at the threshold of a new Atlantic era of prosperity. This time, we will shape its terms. This time, we will ensure equity. This time, West Africa will rise not as a resource base for others, but as a fully engaged and empowered actor in global trade and transformation.
“Today, we embark on what we hope will be an ongoing conversation, one in which your contributions and insights shape the structure, content, and outcomes of the Summit. WAES must reflect the realities of business. This requires us to speak frankly, think boldly, and act collaboratively.
We want to hear from you on:
• What barriers are you facing in cross-border trade?
• What policies or regulations are stifling expansion?
• What financing gaps do you need addressed?
• And what reforms would genuinely transform your operating landscape? “Your feedback will directly influence the thematic sessions, speaker selections, and, most importantly, the actionable outcomes we hope to see emerge from the Summit. I would like to emphasise that this is not simply another high-level conference where declarations are made and forgotten. WAES focuses on deliverables, identifying the appropriate tools, policies, infrastructure, and financing, and deploying them to facilitate business in West Africa, making it faster, cheaper, and more predictable.
This vision requires all of us—government and business, regulators and entrepreneurs, local firms and multinationals—to move in alignment. Let me conclude with this: We often discuss West Africa’s potential, and rightly so. However, unstructured potential is wasted potential. WAES presents an opportunity to refocus, fostering structured engagement between governments and the private sector that endures beyond summits.”
Cardano (ADAUSD) climbed amidst tight trading activities in the crypto market, up by 1.05% in the past 24 hours, showing resilience near key support.
The price ticked up on Sunday amidst negative movements in the global crypto market. The gain has reduced its negative movement in the week to 1%. Cardano is showing strength with a $70 million ADA treasury push and a bullish December setup, but it faces key resistance amidst competing traders.
The token is trading at $0.4165 at the time of filing the report on Sunday, gaining more than 1% on the day as volume traded reached $359.252 million. The token is in a notable correction from its November highs. Recent trading activity reflects pronounced investor caution. Over a 30-day period, ADA has declined approximately 15%, mirroring the broader pressure on risk assets from macroeconomic uncertainties.
Sentiment trades mixed, as retail and mid-sized investors are accumulating at lows, but large holders remain sceptical. Cardano’s privacy-centric Midnight Network went live after years of development, introducing NIGHT – the first native asset on Cardano.
According to crypto analysts, Short-term speculation around NIGHT airdrops and interoperability boosted ADA demand. ADA rebounded from $0.371–$0.416 after testing an ascending trend line connecting 2023–2025 lows. Traders interpreted the bounce as a bullish divergence, but ADA remains below critical resistance of $0.5113 and its 200-day EMA of $0.68.
ADA’s minor rally reflects optimism around Midnight’s launch and oversold technicals, but scepticism about its ecosystem impact and whale selling caps upside. While the price surges, analysts stated that Cardano balances technical hope against macroeconomic headwinds, with Midnight’s adoption trajectory and $0.51 resistance serving as critical watch points.
While governance upgrades signal maturing decentralisation, crypto analysts are still querying whether ADA can leverage these developments to reverse its 2025 underperformance.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has recovered over 7.6 million pills of tramadol and a total of 76,273.4 kilograms of different strains of cannabis.
The agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja. Mr Babafemi said that the drugs, including Colorado, Loud and Skunks, had several members of drug trafficking organisations linked to the seizures arrested.
He said that out of the total opioids seized during the raids, not less than 3,874,000 pills of tramadol, 225mg and 100mg, and others, as well as 252.2litres of codeine syrup were recovered. He said that they were recovered from a warehouse at Oko market, Asaba, Delta, on Saturday. He also said that no fewer than 1.2 million tablets of tramadol 225mg were seized from a suspect on December 3.
This, he said, was when NDLEA operatives on patrol at Orogwe, along the Onitsha-Owerri road, Imo, intercepted his vehicle conveying the consignment, which was loaded at Aba, Abia, and heading to Onitsha, Anambra. Meanwhile, in Adamawa, NDLEA officers on December 1 intercepted a Toyota Hiace bus marked MGU 554 XB along Maraba-Mubi, coming from Jos, Plateau state, and heading to Mubi, with a total of 1,577,112 capsules of tramadol.
“Other drugs intercepted were Exol-5 tablets, all concealed inside jumbo bags mixed with new rubber sandals and slippers. Two suspects were arrested in connection with the seizure. Similarly, another 27-year-old suspect was nabbed along Zaria-Kano road, Kano state, with 197,000 pills of exol-5,” he said.
The NDLEA chairman, Buba Marwa, commended the officers and men of the SOU commands in Delta, Adamawa, Imo, Ondo, Lagos, and Kano for the arrests and seizures. Mr Marwa said that their operational successes, along with those of their compatriots across the country, especially their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction, were well appreciated. NAN
The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has released the 2025 Subnational Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) Report, with Lagos emerging as the best-performing state, scoring 85.6 per cent.
The report released by the director-general of PEBEC, Zahrah Mustapha-Audu, has Kaduna in second position with 65.1 per cent. Oyo, FCT, and Ogun rounded up the top five with scores of 62.7 per cent, 61.0 per cent, and 59.9 per cent, respectively. Others include Enugu (56.2 per cent) in sixth position, with Plateau (56.2 per cent), Ekiti (55.8 per cent), Kano (54.8 per cent), and Nasarawa (53.4 per cent) rounding out the top 10 states.
The EoDB report is a comprehensive data-driven assessment of how Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT are shaping business competitiveness through regulation, infrastructure, and administrative efficiency.
The report assesses performance across 16 indicators and 36 sub-metrics covering electricity, infrastructure, digital connectivity, land administration, taxation, trade logistics, justice delivery, investor support and skilled labour readiness.
According to the DG, these states distinguished themselves through consistent reform momentum, improved digital processes, and more predictable regulatory environments. “The 2025 Report also highlights five priority interventions states can implement immediately. These include establishing investor aftercare systems, strengthening MSME credit enablement, harmonising interstate trade rules, upgrading commercial justice processes, and improving power reliability for industrial clusters,” she said.
According to her, PEBEC will continue to support state-led reform adoption, particularly under the $750 million State Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) programme. She added that “the 2025 Subnational EoDB Report provides a critical foundation for policy action, investment decisions, and long-term competitiveness across Nigeria.”
The DG said the Subnational Ease of Doing Business Report is available for download at www.pebec.gov.ng/reports
PEBEC had earlier released its 2025 Business Facilitation Act (BFA) Performance Report, covering MDAs’ performance from January to October. This performance report is part of the council’s effort to track and measure the compliance of federal government MDAs with the BFA’s requirements on promoting Transparency and Efficiency of government-delivered services to the business community.
The report presents a data-driven assessment of 69 priority MDAs, drawing on monthly compliance submissions, independent mystery shopping, website audits, ReportGov analytics, and targeted process-verification exercises.
According to the report, the top five performing MDAs include the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), with an impressive 90.6 per cent score, followed by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at 89 per cent. The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), ranks third with 86.6percent, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) secured the fourth and fifth positions, scoring 85.3 per cent and 84.2 per cent, respectively.
PEBEC, currently chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima, was established in July 2016 by the federal government to oversee Nigeria’s business environment intervention. It has a dual mandate of removing bureaucratic and legislative constraints to doing business and improving the perception of the ease of doing business in Nigeria. NAN
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