Representatives of member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have signed the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) governing the Nigeria-Morocco Africa-Atlantic Gas Pipeline, marking a major milestone in one of Africa’s most ambitious cross-border energy infrastructure projects.

The agreement was signed on Sunday in Freetown, Sierra Leone, following nearly a decade of diplomatic negotiations and technical planning aimed at advancing the transcontinental pipeline.

The project traces its origins to a shared vision first articulated in 2016 by King Mohammed VI of Morocco and Nigeria’s late President Muhammadu Buhari during the Moroccan monarch’s state visit to Nigeria. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has since reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to the initiative, ensuring continuity in the country’s support for the strategic project.

Technical implementation has been driven by close cooperation between Morocco’s National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.), with Moroccan officials describing the initiative as one personally supervised by King Mohammed VI as part of his broader vision for an integrated, prosperous and energy-sovereign Africa.

Although the Freetown ceremony represents a significant diplomatic breakthrough, officials stressed that it is one stage in a broader institutional process within ECOWAS. The signing formally incorporates member states into the legal framework governing the pipeline, while Morocco, which is not a member of ECOWAS, remains the project’s historical initiator and strategic partner.

The next major milestone is expected later this year in Morocco, where the agreement establishing the pipeline’s management company will be formally signed. The company will be headquartered in Morocco, marking the transition from institutional preparations to full operational implementation.

The ceremony is expected to bring together King Mohammed VI, President Tinubu and the President of Mauritania, underscoring the political importance attached to the project by the participating nations.

Officials involved in the initiative highlighted the Morocco-Nigeria partnership as the foundation of the project, describing it as a relationship built on mutual trust and a shared commitment to African integration. The collaboration between ONHYM and NNPC Ltd. has been presented as a model for South-South cooperation in the energy sector.

Beyond transporting natural gas, the pipeline is envisioned as a catalyst for regional development. It is expected to strengthen energy security across West Africa, stimulate industrial growth, create employment opportunities and provide diversified export routes to European markets.

The project also aligns with King Mohammed VI’s Atlantic Initiative, which seeks to transform the Atlantic corridor into a strategic gateway linking Africa with Europe and the Americas through enhanced energy, trade and economic cooperation.

Once completed, the Nigeria-Morocco Africa-Atlantic Gas Pipeline is expected to become one of the continent’s largest energy infrastructure projects, reinforcing regional integration while supporting long-term economic development and energy sovereignty across West Africa.

Morocco has emerged as Africa’s new industrial powerhouse, overtaking South Africa as the continent’s leading industrial economy, according to two major reports unveiled during the African Development Bank Group 2026 Annual Meetings in Brazzaville.

The reports, the 2025 Africa Industrialisation Index (AII) and the inaugural Africa Industrial Investment Barometer (AfIIB), identified Morocco as the continent’s standout performer, citing sustained industrial upgrading, export diversification, and a consistent long-term industrial strategy as the key drivers behind its rise.

Launched by the African Development Bank Group in partnership with WITBA Invest SA and Trendeo, the reports provide what analysts described as the most detailed assessment yet of Africa’s industrial transformation and investment landscape.

The findings showed that North Africa now dominates the continent’s industrial ecosystem, attracting 56 per cent of cumulative African industrial investment between 2020 and 2025, with Morocco and Egypt leading the surge.

Morocco’s emergence at the top of the continental rankings reflects years of investment in industrial infrastructure, manufacturing clusters, export-oriented production, and strategic sectors such as automotive manufacturing, aerospace, fertilisers, renewable energy, and agro-processing.

The report noted that while South Africa remains a major industrial force, its competitiveness has steadily declined, allowing Morocco to take the lead through stronger policy coordination and industrial expansion.

Speaking during the launch, Ousmane Fall described the findings as evidence that African industrialisation is advancing, even if unevenly.

“This report is a roadmap as much as a diagnosis. It shows that 41 of our 54 countries are now moving in the right direction. Still, industrialisation at scale demands resilient infrastructure, value addition close to source, and finance mobilised on African terms,” he said.

The reports observed that Africa is experiencing a “silent but irreversible” industrial transition, although major structural challenges remain. Intra-African trade still represents only 14.4 per cent of total trade, highlighting weak regional production linkages and fragmented industrial ecosystems across the continent.

Despite improvements recorded in 41 African countries between 2010 and 2024, Africa continues to account for less than two per cent of global manufacturing output and only 1.4 per cent of global manufacturing exports. Manufacturing value-added per capita has also fallen below pre-2014 levels.

However, Morocco’s performance was singled out as a model of how targeted industrial policies, export diversification, and investment-friendly reforms can transform an economy into a continental production hub.

The Africa Industrial Investment Barometer further assessed industrialisation using indicators such as industrial diversification, investment attractiveness, and productive anchoring, which measures how deeply investments are integrated into local economies. Morocco ranked strongly across all three categories.

President of WITBA Invest, Harouna Kaboré, said Africa’s greatest challenge was no longer the absence of industrial strategies but the failure to implement them consistently.

“The continent’s real deficit is no longer the absence of industrial strategies. What is still lacking is execution discipline, continuity in public policy, and systemic coherence between financing, energy, infrastructure, human capital, governance, and industrial vision,” he stated.

The report contrasted Morocco’s industrial depth with the situation in several other African regions. While Southern Africa attracts large-scale industrial investment, it was criticised for weak local integration, particularly in the automotive sector where assembly plants rely heavily on imported components.

West and Central Africa, meanwhile, were described as being trapped largely in first-stage commodity processing, with products such as cocoa, bauxite, gold, and uranium exported in raw or semi-processed form without downstream industrial development.

The reports called for African countries to move beyond tariff reductions under the African Continental Free Trade Area and focus instead on building integrated industrial corridors, harmonised standards, reliable energy systems, and cross-border infrastructure.

They also urged African industries to begin decarbonising production processes to avoid being disadvantaged by future carbon-border trade regulations expected from Europe and the United States.

For investors, the reports identified strong opportunities in construction materials, agro-processing, fertilisers, and generic pharmaceuticals, stressing that long-term success in Africa would depend on strategic partnerships and patient capital.

Other panellists at the launch included Ismaël Nabé, Mutesi Rusagara, Michel Djombo, and Victor Djemba.

• Summary

• * Trump’s signature to start appearing on $100 bill in June, marking 250th US anniversary
• * Change to delete the US treasurer’s signature for the first time since 1861
• * Signature plan, latest Trump move to put his name on buildings, programs, ships, money

U.S. paper currency will bear ‌President Donald Trump’s signature starting this summer, the first time a sitting president has signed American money, the Treasury Department said on Thursday.

The redesigned notes, planned to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence, will also for the first time in 165 years drop the signature of the ​U.S. treasurer, who reports to the Treasury Secretary and oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the U.S. ​Mint and other Treasury functions.

The first $100 bills with Trump’s signature and that of U.S. Treasury Secretary ⁠Scott Bessent will be printed in June, followed by other bills in subsequent months. The new bills may take several ​weeks to circulate through banks.

The Treasury is still producing notes bearing the signatures of former President Joe Biden’s Treasury secretary, Janet ​Yellen, and former Treasurer Lynn Malerba.

Malerba will be the last of an unbroken line of treasurers whose signatures have appeared on U.S. federal currency since 1861, when the U.S. government first issued it.

The signature change is the latest effort by the Trump administration and its allies to put the ​president’s name on buildings, institutions, government programs, warships and coins. A federal arts panel, whose members Trump appointed, approved last ​week the design for a commemorative gold coin with Trump’s image.

Bessent said in a statement that the move was appropriate for the U.S. 250th ‌anniversary, given ⁠strong U.S. economic growth and financial stability during Trump’s second term.

“There is no more powerful way to recognise the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J. Trump than U.S. dollar bills bearing his name, and it is only appropriate that this historic currency be issued at the Semiquincentennial,” Bessent said.

An effort to circulate a circulating $1 Trump coin was set back by ​laws prohibiting the depiction of ​living individuals on U.S. coins.

A ⁠statute governing the printing of Federal Reserve notes gives the Treasury broad discretion to change designs to guard against counterfeiting. The law requires keeping certain elements, including the words “In God We ​Trust,” and only allows portraits of deceased individuals.

The overall designs of bills will not change, ​except for Trump’s ⁠signature replacing the Treasurer’s, Treasury officials said. A mock-up of the $100 bill with Trump’s signature was not immediately available.

Malerba, the former treasurer, declined to comment on the Trump administration’s move.

Her predecessor, Jovita Carranza, who served as treasurer in Trump’s first term, called the change “a powerful ⁠symbol of ​American resilience, the enduring strength of free enterprise and the promise of ​continued greatness.”

The current treasurer, Brandon Beach, whose name has not appeared on the currency, also issued a supportive statement, saying Trump was the architect of a “golden ​age economic revival.”

Vanity Fair was the first to report the news.

-Reuters

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