If all it takes to make a country prosper are words, then President Bola Tinubu could be said to have lifted Nigeria from the pit where his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, left it.
President Tinubu has been striking the right chords recently. This week, he spoke on two major occasions in New York – at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, where he gave his first UNGA address in the early hours of Wednesday, and at the Nasdaq Stock Market, where he rang the closing bell to signify the end of a trading session.
Tinubu’s speech at the UN General Assembly was pan-African in nature. He touched on the need for Africa to overcome the constraints of foreign exploitation in order to unlock its vast potential and attain the prosperity inherent in the region through democratic ideals. And he was forthright in telling global leaders how their “broken promises, unfair treatment and outright exploitation” have exacted a heavy toll on Africa’s ability to progress.
The Nigerian President noted how, in the aftermath of World War II, nations “saw that it was in their own interests to help others exit the rubble and wasteland of war” and gathered to rebuild war-torn societies leading to the birth of the UN, saying Africa has been asking for the same level of political commitment and devotion of resource.
In the wake of a new wave of military coups across Africa, Tinubu harped on the need to “affirm democratic governance as the best guarantor of the sovereign will and well-being of the people”, condemned military coups and “any tilted civilian political arrangement that perpetuates injustice”, and sought cooperation to help re-establish democratic governance in Niger.
He touched on violent extremists fomenting instability in parts of the Africa and urged the international community to strengthen its commitment to arrest the flow of arms and violent people into West Africa. He stressed the need to secure Africa’s mineral-rich areas from pilfering and conflict.
He spoke on the urgency of addressing the effects of climate change.
He said Africa seeks to be “neither appendage nor patron” and does not wish “to replace old shackles with new ones”, adding, “Africa is not a problem to be avoided nor is it to be pitied. Africa is nothing less than the key to the world’s future.”
Coming down specifically to Nigeria, Tinubu spoke glowingly of the reforms of his government “to foster economic growth and investor confidence” in the country, especially the removal of the fuel subsidy and the floating of the exchange rate system, and called on “those who do not mind seeing Nigeria and Africa assume larger roles in the global community” to come in as partners.
“The question is not whether Nigeria is open for business. The question is how much of the world is truly open to doing business with Nigeria and Africa in an equal, mutually beneficial manner,” Tinubu said.
At the Nasdaq Stock Market, Tinubu urged the US business community to invest in Nigeria’s “bubbling market”, saying, “The greatest economy is Nigeria. There is an immense opportunity in Nigeria that you can invest your money without fear.”
Tinubu’s speech, particularly at UNGA, has been rated high by informed observers. In a post on his verified X (formerly Twitter) page, a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Olisa Agbakoba, said, “A well-received statement at UNGA! Never in the history of UNGA has an African President spoken for the entire African continent, asserting that we are not beggars but equal partners with the geopolitical blocs of the world.”
We join in commending Tinubu for a good outing in New York and for marketing Nigeria – and Africa – to the rest of the world. He said the right things, no doubt.
However, we note that words are not enough. Right action is direly needed. Thankfully, Tinubu was honest enough to admit that “failures in good governance have hindered Africa”. He admitted that longstanding internal and external factors have skewed Nigeria and Africa’s economic structures “to impede development, industrial expansion, job creation, and the equitable distribution of wealth”.
Now that he has, so to speak, incited global leaders to begin the process of solving the external factors that have held Nigeria – and Africa – down for decades, we reckon that it is time to also address the internal factors that hinder progress – bad governance, corruption and their allies. It is time for Africa to put its house in order. It is not enough to ask to be treated as an equal partner, it is equally important to reconsider what you bring to the partnership. You can’t depend on foreign aid and ask to be treated as an equal partner.
