Nigeria’s energy firms are being positioned for a much larger stage as the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board maps out how local companies can tap into the US$3.4 trillion African Continental Free Trade Area market.

At a strategic webinar held ahead of the Nigeria Local Content AfCFTA Energy Summit scheduled for February 9, 2026, regulators and industry experts focused on a practical question that could determine whether Nigerian firms can compete across Africa. How can energy companies structure their production and operations to meet the rules of origin that unlock duty-free and preferential access to continental markets?

The webinar session, themed Meeting AfCFTA Origin Requirements in Energy Trade, brought together participants from the oil and gas, power and renewable energy industries. Discussions centred on helping Nigerian products and services qualify for trade across 54 African countries with a combined population of about 1.4 billion people.

The webinar forms part of preparations for the upcoming summit themed Unlocking Africa’s Energy Future through AfCFTA: Trade, Innovation and Regional Integration, an initiative backed by the NCDMB Executive Secretary, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, and the Acting Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, Mr Ene Ette.

Joseph Nwokedi, a communications analyst representing the Acting National Coordinator of Nigeria’s AfCFTA Coordination Office, Mrs Patience Okala, described energy as the backbone of Africa’s economic integration efforts. He urged Nigerian companies to expand their outlook beyond the country’s domestic market of roughly 200 million people and focus on the scale of the continental opportunity.

“Without energy, there is no industrialisation. Without energy, regional value chains remain aspirational,” Nwokedi said. “With AfCFTA, energy transforms from a domestic infrastructure issue into a tradable, investable and exportable sector within an integrated African market.”

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He added that capturing even one percent of the African market would translate to about 14 million consumers, a figure he said highlights the vast potential open to Nigerian energy businesses.

Discussions during the webinar outlined several routes through which Nigeria’s energy sector can plug into AfCFTA-driven trade. Nigeria’s Electricity Act of 2023 now allows independent power producers to supply electricity directly to industrial clusters and export processing zones, strengthening the link between power generation and trade-focused manufacturing. Nigeria has also submitted AfCFTA commitments that enable professionals such as engineers, electricians, geophysicists and energy auditors to export their services across African markets, subject to mutual recognition of qualifications.

Participants noted that refined petroleum products, gas derivatives, electricity and renewable energy components can move across borders under preferential tariffs when they satisfy AfCFTA origin standards. AfCFTA’s investment protocol, combined with recent domestic reforms, including the 2024 to 2025 Presidential Directives on Investment Incentives, was identified as improving Nigeria’s attractiveness for cross-border investments in energy infrastructure.

Assistant Comptroller of Customs Burhan Sulaiman provided a technical breakdown of how origin rules will shape access to AfCFTA benefits. He explained that tariffs on 90 percent of goods traded within the bloc will be eliminated over 5 to 10 years, with an additional 7 percent liberalised over 13 years. These benefits, he warned, depend entirely on strict origin compliance.

“Companies lose benefits because origin was treated as an afterthought,” Sulaiman said. “You must build in origin compliance from the beginning, not while already running your project. Origin determines whether you export duty-free or pay full tariffs.”

He stressed that origin is defined by where economic production takes place rather than company ownership. Foreign-owned companies that manufacture in Nigeria can export as Nigerian origin, while Nigerian firms that simply import finished goods cannot claim AfCFTA preferences.

According to Sulaiman, products can qualify as wholly obtained within AfCFTA member states, such as crude oil and natural gas extracted in Nigeria or electricity generated locally. Where foreign inputs are involved, companies must demonstrate substantial transformation through recognised industrial processes, tariff reclassification or value addition thresholds.

He offered sector-specific examples, noting that in oil and gas, locally extracted crude and qualifying refined products meet the criteria, while simple blending and basic distillation do not. In the power sector, locally generated electricity and deeply transformed regional equipment qualify, but installation-only activities and the mounting of imported components fall short.

“For renewables, regional solar cell and battery cell manufacturing with deep component processing qualify,” he said, adding that panel installation alone and the packaging of imported batteries fail to meet the required thresholds. He cautioned that many equipment exports would struggle to pass origin tests without stronger regional manufacturing integration.

Sulaiman also highlighted the Nigeria Customs Service verification process, which examines product classification, production records, operational thresholds, input origins and documentation consistency.

“Weak documentation kills origin claims. Even genuinely originating products can be denied if documentation is incomplete or inaccurate,” he said.

Both speakers agreed that companies must treat origin compliance as a core business strategy.

“Origin is not paperwork; it is strategy,” Sulaiman said. “It shapes where you locate facilities, how you source inputs, and where you sign regional contracts. Treat it as strategic from day one.”

Nwokedi encouraged firms to move quickly to secure an early advantage in shaping supply chains and partnerships. “AfCFTA is happening now. Early movers will shape supply chains, standards and partnerships. Are you going to lead, or simply follow?”

Officials provided updates on implementation progress, stating that 92 percent of origin rules have been agreed upon, with negotiations continuing in the textiles and automotive sectors. Nigeria has rolled out an electronic certification system to support paperless trade, while customs authorities are developing risk management frameworks that could enable exporter self-certification.

After a five-year implementation review led by the Minister of Industry and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, government awareness campaigns have expanded through partnerships with business associations, women-led chambers of commerce and nationwide outreach initiatives involving the press, private sector and public institutions.

“The government will not trade under AfCFTA, our exporters will,” officials said. “If they win, we win.”

Customs authorities reiterated their open-door policy for pre-export origin verification to help businesses avoid costly delays at the border. The webinar also reinforced Nigeria’s ambition to serve as a regional energy and transition fuel hub, supported by frameworks such as the West African Power Pool for cross-border electricity trade.

The organisers confirmed that the session serves as a technical precursor to the Nigeria Local Content AfCFTA Energy Summit, where policymakers and industry leaders will meet to refine strategies for unlocking Africa’s energy potential under the AfCFTA framework.

Meiza Nigeria