The 2025 Lagos International Trade Fair, held from November 7 to 16 at Tafawa Balewa Square, once again highlighted the growing commercial dynamism across the African continent, drawing strong international participation.
Afreximbank and its flagship initiative, the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), featured prominently as co-sponsors of the event. Their presence underscored the bank’s commitment to addressing one of the continent’s most persistent barriers to trade: the high cost and slow settlement process for intra-African payments.
According to David Obaseyi Olatunde, Business Development Executive at PAPSS, the team’s mission at the fair went beyond advocacy. Instead of merely discussing the system’s benefits, PAPSS staff provided immediate, practical assistance to traders navigating cross-border payment challenges.
Olatunde emphasized that seamless transactions—such as a Nigerian trader paying a Kenyan counterpart or a Ghanaian firm receiving instant funds from Sierra Leone—are essential to the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). PAPSS, he noted, is designed to eliminate the inefficiencies of third-currency routing by enabling instant, direct settlement between African countries.
One of the major highlights of the fair was a live demonstration in which PAPSS facilitated a real-time, cross-border transfer from a Nigerian commercial bank to an account in Kigali. The successful transaction, Olatunde said, showcased the speed and reliability that the system already offers—not as a future aspiration, but as an operational standard that institutions need to adopt.
With efficiency gains that he described as “too substantial to ignore,” Olatunde encouraged financial institutions and businesses looking to accelerate their cross-border activities to engage with PAPSS for streamlined solutions.
