By Ime Silas
As global economies grapple with supply chain disruptions and Africa accelerates the operationalization of the $3.4 trillion African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, the stage is set for West Africa’s most anticipated transaction-driven agribusiness summit.
The 5th Agribusiness Roundtable International Conference, UYO 2026, has been scheduled to hold from October 25th to 28th, 2026, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
The landmark conference will hold at the prestigious Ibom Icon Hotels & Golf Resort, Uyo, with Watbridge Hotels & Suites also listed as a venue for the high-level gathering. The conference is organized by the Nigeria Agribusiness and Agro-Industry Development Initiative, NAADI, South-South Region and the Federation of Agricultural Commodity Associations of Nigeria, FACAN, in strategic collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, FMITI, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, FMAFS, and the Akwa Ibom State Government.
Convening under the theme: “Accelerating Agribusiness Transformation: Unlocking Value Chains to Achieve Food Security, Nutrition Sustainability, Job Creation, Poverty Alleviation, and National Prosperity,” UYO 2026 is designed to move beyond rhetoric to serve as a high-velocity commercial clearinghouse connecting policy, investment capital, and ground-level execution.
According to the Central Organizing Committee, the conference is a continental gathering to unlock multi-billion-dollar value chains, accelerate sub-national industrialization, and mobilize private capital for African food security.
Speaking in Abuja ahead of the event mobilization, Dr. Howard Usen, Zonal Coordinator of NAADI South-South and Chairman of the Central Organizing Committee, said the conference is engineered to deliver real deals and not just speeches.
“Africa can no longer afford to export raw poverty and import processed wealth. UYO 2026 is engineered not as another talk-shop, but as a continental boardroom where capital meets verified capacity,” Dr. Usen declared.
He added: “We are bringing together sovereign leaders, foreign trade missions, and industrial titans to sign contracts, commission processing hubs, and integrate our grassroots commodity producers into lucrative global trade corridors. The window to secure competitive market positioning is open now.”
The organizers said with over 84 million hectares of arable land and a burgeoning consumer market, Nigeria stands at an economic inflection point where oil-dependent revenues must give way to agro-industrial wealth.
UYO 2026, they said, provides sub-national governments with a sovereign deal-making arena. State governments across the Niger Delta, the South-East, and the wider federation are called upon to leverage the conference to showcase their investment-ready agricultural assets, Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones, SAPZs, and infrastructure concessions directly to international institutional financiers, multilateral development banks, and bilateral trade missions.
Following the economic blueprint of the host state — His Excellency Pastor Umo Eno’s ARISE Agenda — the conference demonstrates how sub-national political will can de-risk private capital and turn rural farm clusters into industrialized export corridors.
For commercial banks, development finance institutions, DFIs, agro-machinery fabricators, input manufacturers, telecommunications providers, logistics firms, and FMCG conglomerates, UYO 2026 offers an unparalleled corporate platform.
The conference highlights include the International Trade Pavilion, described as a global exhibition marketplace where domestic and international companies can display products, secure regional distributorships, and engage directly with pre-screened institutional buyers.
There will also be UNIDO SPX Investor Deal Rooms, which are closed-door, transaction-driven matchmaking sessions structured alongside UNIDO’s Subcontracting and Partnership Exchange network to negotiate binding off-take agreements, export contracts, and project financing.
Another major highlight is direct Business-to-Government, B2G, access, featuring face-to-face engagements with state governors, federal ministers, and procurement directors looking for technology partners, cold-chain systems, and agricultural inputs.
For individual farmers, youth agropreneurs, cooperative societies, and academic researchers, UYO 2026 represents a historic gateway for capacity building, market access, and financial inclusion. Participants will gain access to specialized masterclasses, research-to-market commercialization desks, and the gala night of the Agribusiness Development and Enterprise Award, ADEA 2026, celebrating the vanguards transforming African agriculture.
Expected dignitaries at the four-day summit include Executive Governors, Federal Ministers, Heads of Multilateral Agencies such as UNIDO, FAO, AfDB, World Bank, IFC, Foreign Ambassadors, Financial Institutions, and over 500 high-level industry executives.
Corporate organizations, state delegations, and prospective delegates are advised that exhibition booths within the International Trade Pavilion and access passes to the Investor Deal Rooms are strictly limited and allocated on a priority basis.
