By Abubakar Yunusa
The Bank of Industry (BOI) says it has secured a €60 million credit facility from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to support cocoa value addition in Nigeria, with financing targeted at processing, ingredient manufacturing, packaging and chocolate production.
Olasupo Olusi, managing director of BOI, announced the facility o at the Cocoa Value Addition Summit in Abuja, themed ‘From Bean to Brand’.
Olusi said the funding is part of the bank’s strategy to mobilise blended and concessional financing for the cocoa sector while addressing the high cost of capital faced by local processors.
“An example of this is the €60 million credit facility we received from the European Investment Bank to develop the cocoa sector,” he said.
“This will help Nigerian processors compete more fairly with multinationals that have access to cheaper finance.”
The MD said BOI would establish dedicated financing windows for cocoa processing, ingredient manufacturing, packaging and chocolate production.
The BOI boss added that the bank is also exploring the development of a Cocoa Value Addition Park in Nigeria’s cocoa-producing belt, with shared processing facilities, quality laboratories, reliable power supply, effluent treatment systems and digital traceability infrastructure.
“We are not approaching cocoa as a lending programme; we are building an industrial ecosystem,” Olusi said.
“Our goal is to finance everything from nurseries and cooperatives to grinding plants, ingredient factories, packaging lines and chocolate manufacturers.”
According to him, financing for the cocoa industry must reflect the realities of the sector, noting that replanting requires grace periods of three to five years, while processing plants need long-term capital of seven to 10 years that commercial banks rarely provide.
He said BOI disbursed more than N164 billion to over 3,500 agro-processing and food businesses in 2025, supporting factories, mills, packhouses and cold chain projects while integrating nearly 48,000 smallholder farmers into industrial value chains.
Olusi said Nigeria produces more than 300,000 metric tonnes of cocoa annually but has an effective grinding capacity of only about 50,000 tonnes.
He said expanding local processing capacity could increase the country’s export value by between two and four times while creating jobs and reducing dependence on exports of raw cocoa beans.
“The goal is industrialisation, import substitution through local cocoa powder production, export promotion of butter and liquor to ECOWAS and the Gulf, and job creation for young Nigerians,” the MD said.
“For at the Bank of Industry, we hold to a simple conviction: we are not in the business of financing commodities. We are in the business of financing value creation.”
Chris Isokpunwu, permanent secretary of the federal ministry of industry, trade and investment, said more than 80 percent of Nigeria’s cocoa is still exported as raw beans despite the country’s processing potential.
Represented by Mohammed Bala, director of industrial development at the ministry, Isokpunwu said expanding local processing would boost export earnings, create jobs and support downstream industries such as confectionery, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
Also speaking, Ransford Abbey, chief executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), urged African cocoa-producing countries to increase domestic processing.
Abbey said Africa produces about 75 percent of the world’s cocoa but earns less than 10 percent of the value generated by the global chocolate industry.
“This system cannot continue. We must shift the paradigm from exporting raw poverty to creating refined wealth right here on the African continent,” he said.
Massino Deluko, representative of the European Union, reaffirmed the bloc’s support for cocoa value addition and called on governments to provide the policy and regulatory framework needed to attract investment into the sector.
