Expanding fair access to foreign exchange and trade finance could unlock Nigeria’s export potential and strengthen regional commerce, a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) official has said.
Assistant Director of Imports and Trade Relations at the CBN’s Trade and Exchange Department, Mr Tiku Allu made the remarks at the 2026 Ecobank Nigeria customer forum on Tuesday in Lagos.
“All recent policy measures are designed to ensure transparency and broaden access to foreign exchange across all market participants,” Allu said.
“Our focus is to create a level playing field so that access is not concentrated among a few large corporates. When access is broadened, the real sector feels the impact and trade expands.”
Allu added that equitable allocation mechanisms improve market confidence and enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to participate more actively in cross-border trade.
Supporting this view, Group Chief Economist and Managing Director of Research and Trade Intelligence at the African Export-Import Bank, Dr Yemi Kale emphasized that affordable and widely accessible financing is crucial for boosting production and exports.
“Access to finance is one of the most important costs of production,” Kale said.
“Improving the availability and affordability of financing will increase output, lower production costs, and support export growth. Credit expansion must be inclusive to deliver meaningful impact.”
From the payments sector, Mr Robert Kotei, Operations Director for Africa at RIA Money Transfer, highlighted the role of digital payments and remittance flows in enabling intra-African trade.
“Digitisation is fueling trade and economic growth across Africa. In Nigeria, nearly 80 per cent of inflows now go directly into bank and digital accounts, reflecting a rapid shift in financial behaviour,” he said, while noting that high transfer costs remain a barrier.
In agribusiness, Alhaji Taiwo Ayoade, Deputy Managing Director of Agro Trader Group, urged a shift toward value addition and regional value chains.
Using cocoa as an example, he explained that West Africa dominates global production but processes only a small share locally, leading to export of jobs and industrial growth.
“The issue is not just increasing production; it is adding value. Only when we process and manufacture locally can we truly trade within Africa,” Ayoade said, calling on policymakers to remove structural barriers such as import duties on manufacturing equipment, export levies, and high logistics costs.
“Moving goods within West Africa can cost more than shipping them to Europe. Addressing infrastructure gaps and policy bottlenecks is essential to boosting regional trade,” he added.
