The Bank of Industry (BOI) has secured a €60 million credit facility from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to accelerate Nigeria’s cocoa value addition drive, with a focus on processing, ingredient manufacturing and chocolate production.
The Managing Director of BOI, Dr. Olasupo Olusi, disclosed this on Tuesday at the Cocoa Value Addition Summit in Abuja, themed “From Bean to Brand.”
Olusi said the facility would establish dedicated financing windows for cocoa processing, ingredient manufacturing, packaging and chocolate production, enabling Nigerian processors to compete more effectively with multinational firms that enjoy cheaper financing.
“An example of this is the €60 million credit facility we received from the European Investment Bank to develop the cocoa sector. This will help Nigerian processors compete more fairly with multinationals that have access to cheaper finance,” he said.
According to him, the EIB facility forms part of BOI’s broader strategy to mobilise blended, concessional and long-term capital from development partners to transform Nigeria’s cocoa industry.
He said the bank also plans to finance shared infrastructure, including a Cocoa Value Addition Park in the cocoa-producing belt, equipped with shared processing lines, quality laboratories, reliable power supply, effluent treatment facilities and digital traceability systems.
“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.”
He noted that cocoa financing requires specialised structures, explaining that replanting projects need grace periods of three to five years, while processing plants require long-term financing of seven to 10 years—funding that commercial banks rarely provide.
Olusi said BOI disbursed more than ₦164 billion in 2025 to over 3,500 agro-processing and food businesses, supporting factories, mills, packhouses and cold-chain facilities, while integrating nearly 48,000 smallholder farmers into industrial value chains.
He stressed that although Nigeria produces over 300,000 tonnes of cocoa annually, the country has an effective grinding capacity of only about 50,000 tonnes, adding that expanding local processing could increase export value by two to four times.
He added that BOI would complement financing with business development support, technical advisory services and enterprise training to improve product quality, standards, costing and export readiness.
“Our role is not only to provide capital but also to build markets, convene partners and catalyse private investment many times the size of our own,” he said.
Olusi said the initiative aims to promote industrialisation, reduce imports through local cocoa powder production, expand exports of cocoa butter and liquor to ECOWAS and Gulf markets, and create jobs for young Nigerians.
Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Chris Isokpunwu, represented by the ministry’s Director of Industrial Development, Mohammed Bala, described cocoa as a strategic commodity for Nigeria’s industrialisation agenda.
He lamented that more than 80 per cent of Nigeria’s cocoa is still exported as raw beans despite the country’s significant processing potential.
According to him, expanding local processing would boost export earnings, create jobs and stimulate downstream industries, including confectionery, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
Also speaking, the Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr. Ransford Abbey, urged African cocoa-producing countries to deepen domestic processing.
“Africa produces about 75 per cent of the world’s cocoa but earns less than 10 per cent of the global chocolate industry’s wealth. This system cannot continue. We must shift from exporting raw poverty to creating refined wealth on the continent,” he said.
Abbey called for stronger regional collaboration, investment and technology transfer to enable African countries to capture greater value from the global cocoa economy.
The European Union representative, Massimo Deluko, reaffirmed the EU’s support for cocoa value addition and urged governments to establish the policy and regulatory frameworks needed to ensure the initiative’s success.
