Ghana and Nigeria have used the margins of the Shea 2026 conference in Accra to launch targeted bilateral talks aimed at deepening cooperation across the shea value chain, with both countries committing to work together on financing, industrial processing, and cross-border trade.
President John Dramani Mahama held discussions with John Owan Enoh, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, on the sidelines of the 18th Annual Global Shea Alliance (GSA) conference, which opened at the Accra International Conference Centre on Monday. Deputy Trade Minister Sampson Ahi, representing Trade Minister Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, joined executives from the Ghana Export-Import Bank and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) in the discussions alongside their Nigerian counterparts.
The talks centred on expanding value addition, improving market access, and unlocking investment along the shea supply chain, with a particular focus on creating economic opportunities for the rural women who form the backbone of shea production across both countries.
Nigeria arrived at the summit asserting a strong leadership position, accounting for roughly 40 percent of global shea nut supply, while seeking to capture greater value from the sector under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. Enoh told delegates that Nigeria’s moratorium on raw shea nut exports had already produced measurable results, including stronger farm-gate prices, expanded domestic processing capacity, and growing interest from international buyers seeking local processing partnerships.
Ghana’s Vice President Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, who opened the conference, told attendees that African countries stand to make far greater economic gains by shifting from raw nut exports to processed shea products, noting that hundreds of thousands of Ghanaian women, particularly in the north, depend on shea for food and income.
The three-day conference, running under the theme “Beyond Borders,” brought together policymakers, industry players, investors, and development partners from more than 40 countries to address the structural gap that has long constrained Africa’s shea economy.
The bilateral engagement reflects broader regional efforts to reduce dependence on raw commodity exports and build industrial processing capacity as part of Africa’s trade integration agenda.
