In the lead-up to the 14th World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference (MC14), scheduled for March 26 to 29, 2026, in Yaoundé, Cameroon, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, has intensified regional and international engagements to advance Nigeria’s trade agenda within the multilateral trading system.

These efforts seek to secure outcomes at MC14 that promote inclusive growth, economic transformation and sustainable development for Nigeria and the African continent.

Speaking at the First Quarter Meeting of the AfCFTA Central Coordination Committee (CCC), Oduwole noted that Nigeria’s preparations for MC14 are closely aligned with the country’s broader continental trade strategy under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
She emphasised that Nigeria’s leadership within the AfCFTA framework strengthens Africa’s collective negotiating position at the global level.

She further highlighted that the momentum generated from the AfCFTA Public–Private–Press (P3) Summit held in November 2025, continues to guide Nigeria’s implementation approach.

The summit reinforced the importance of coordinated, measurable and simplified implementation mechanisms anchored on institutional accountability. The AfCFTA CCC National Action Plan outlines key pillars for implementation, including governance and coordination, policy and legal alignment, private sector and continental engagement and monitoring and evaluation.

As part of efforts to improve business access to AfCFTA opportunities, she announced the presentation of Volume 1 of the AfCFTA Business Connector (ABC) Simplified Tools, developed by members of the CCC. The publication provides practical guidance on how Nigerian businesses can engage relevant government institutions and leverage AfCFTA opportunities for regional market expansion, investment and export growth.
The AfCFTA CCC serves as the Government’s principal inter-agency mechanism for coordinating Nigeria’s AfCFTA implementation, ensuring policy coherence, strengthening institutional collaboration and monitoring progress under the National Action Plan.

Noting that she also participated in the African Ministers of Trade (AMOT) meeting held last month in Maputo, Mozambique, she explained that the meeting consolidated Africa’s negotiating positions ahead of the conference and highlighted systemic challenges within the multilateral trading system, including unresolved development and concerns of developing country priorities.

She said they agreed on several priority issues for MC14, including WTO reform, agriculture negotiations, digital trade discussions, adoption of the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement (IFDA), securing permanent observer status for the African Union at the WTO and modernising decision-making processes within the organisation.

She emphasised Nigeria’s commitment to ensuring that Africa approaches global trade negotiations from a position of continental coherence, noting that stronger alignment between WTO processes and the AfCFTA framework is essential to protect Africa’s industrial policy space, advance digital transformation and strengthen regional value chains.

“Nigeria will continue to advocate for development-oriented WTO reform that preserves policy space for developing countries to pursue industrialisation and structural transformation. AfCFTA must move beyond federal-level coordination into our states, industrial clusters, special economic zones and export corridors. Over the past months, we have intensified engagements with state governments, State Investment Promotion Agencies, MSME networks and productive clusters to ensure that export readiness, standards compliance and logistics capacity are aligned with continental market opportunities. Our productive base must reflect continental ambition,” she said.

Furthermore, she also called for progress on agriculture negotiations, including Public Stockholding (PSH), the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) and cotton, critical issues for addressing food security and livelihood challenges across developing economies.

Further emphasising the importance of strengthening the WTO Multilateral Work.

Programme on Electronic Commerce with a strong development focus, she said this would enable Nigeria and other African countries to upgrade digital infrastructure, expand digital services and participate more effectively in the global digital economy.

In addition, Oduwole, who has been appointed Ministerial Facilitator for the MC14 Session on the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement (IFDA), encouraged African Ministers to support the agreement’s incorporation into the WTO legal framework to boost investor confidence and promote development-oriented investment flows.

Stressing the importance of the private sector, she promised to continue to listen closely to structured feedback from the private sector and provide reduced logistics costs, transparent, cost-effective and rapid certification systems, expanded access to trade finance, effective deployment of payment systems and better market intelligence.

She concluded by stating that the ministry will continue technical consultations with public and private sector stakeholders to ensure Nigeria’s negotiating positions remain evidence-based and aligned with the country’s economic diversification objectives.