The Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has urged the Federal Government and Nigerian businesses to adopt a coordinated strategy to maximise the extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) through December 2028.
The Chamber said the extension provides Nigeria with a strategic opportunity to improve its export competitiveness, diversify the economy, create jobs and increase non-oil exports.
The ACCI President, Chief Emeka Obegolu, SAN, PhD, made the call in a policy statement titled “From AGOA Opportunity to Sustainable Export Competitiveness.”
Obegolu said Nigeria must use the 2026–2028 window to address persistent challenges that have hindered the country’s effective utilisation of AGOA.
He identified inadequate market intelligence, product quality and certification, regulatory compliance, poor packaging, limited production capacity, inadequate financing, weak aggregation systems, logistics challenges and insufficient value addition as some of the major constraints.
The Chamber called for a decisive shift from the export of raw commodities to the processing, packaging, branding and value addition of Nigerian products.
It identified shea butter, cashew, ginger, hibiscus, sesame and sesame oil, textiles and apparel, processed agricultural products, selected solid minerals and creative-industry products as areas with significant potential in the United States market.
According to the ACCI, increasing domestic processing will help retain more value within Nigeria, stimulate industrial development and generate employment opportunities.
The Chamber also called for increased support for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and small-scale exporters, noting that many businesses have exportable products but lack the production volumes, financing, warehousing and logistics capacity required to compete internationally.
It said it would promote an open-access export enablement programme to provide practical export information, compliance support, market intelligence, buyer linkages and aggregation opportunities for Nigerian businesses.
The ACCI added that it would facilitate business-to-business engagements, trade missions, reverse trade missions and direct connections between Nigerian exporters and buyers in the United States.
On the role of government, the Chamber urged the Federal Government and relevant agencies to urgently tackle policy and infrastructure bottlenecks affecting the competitiveness of Nigerian exports.
It recommended faster and digitally enabled Certificates of Origin, targeted duty relief for export-oriented machinery and packaging equipment, improved electricity supply, reduced inland logistics costs and simplified export documentation.
The Chamber also advocated an effective single-window system for export-related permits and approvals to reduce delays and improve the ease of doing business.
Obegolu stressed that Nigeria’s export strategy must extend beyond the lifespan of AGOA, urging businesses to build sustainable competitiveness through quality, certification, innovation, ethical sourcing, branding, technology, productivity and value addition.
He said the capabilities developed through AGOA should also enable Nigerian businesses to expand into the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and other international markets.
The ACCI president reaffirmed the Chamber’s commitment to collaborating with government, the private sector, financial institutions, development partners, export-support agencies and regulatory institutions to build a competitive export economy.
He warned that the AGOA extension must not become another missed opportunity for Nigeria.
“This is not merely an AGOA opportunity. It is a national export imperative,” Obegolu said.
