President Bola Tinubu has urged West African leaders to harness the region’s youthful population and vast natural resources to drive industrialisation, innovation, and economic prosperity.
Speaking at the opening of the inaugural West Africa Economic Summit (WAES) held yesterday in Abuja, Tinubu described the region’s youth as its “greatest asset,” but warned that this demographic advantage could turn into a burden if not backed by deliberate investment in education, digital infrastructure, innovation, and enterprise. “However, this demographic promise can quickly become a liability if not matched by investments in education, digital infrastructure, innovation, and productive enterprise,” the president said.
He called for strengthened regional cooperation, pointing to Nigeria’s ongoing investments in skills development, digital connectivity, and youth empowerment. “No one country can do this alone. Our prosperity depends on regional supply chains, energy networks, and data frameworks. We must design them together, or they will collapse separately,” Tinubu stressed.
Expressing concern over low intra-regional trade, currently below 10 per cent, President Tinubu warned that West Africa must “coordinate or collapse” in the face of global economic competition.
He advocated dismantling trade barriers and emphasised the need for interconnected infrastructure and policies that encourage value-added industries.
“The era of ‘pit to port’ must end. We must turn our mineral wealth into domestic economic value, jobs, technology, and manufacturing,” he declared. “Being resource-rich is not enough; we must also become value-chain smart.” As Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Authority of Heads of State and Government, Tinubu stressed that transformation would not come from government alone but from an empowered private sector.
“Governments must provide the right environment, law, order, and market-friendly policies, while the private sector drives growth,” he said.
He also called for bold, actionable commitments from participants at the summit, urging them to improve the business climate, boost regional trade, enhance connectivity, and move the region from poverty to prosperity.
In his words, “Let us emerge from this summit with actionable outcomes: a renewed commitment to ease of doing business, enhanced intra-regional trade, improved infrastructure connectivity, and innovative ideas that move our people from poverty to prosperity.”
Tinubu charged summit participants, heads of state, policymakers, business leaders, and development partners with building an investable, competitive, and resilient West Africa by leading with vision, responsibility, and unity.
