I have received some good knocks for defending President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s macroeconomic policies, which, if successfully implemented, will propel the country into the economic alujanah Nigerians desire. As a keen student of the South Korean economist, Professor Ha-Joon, I read about how much pain the people suffered as they struggled to build up their economy. The professor related the hardship his parents went through before his country achieved the economic miracle we see today.
While the Nigerian economy, which has long been like a drunk staggering on fictional subsidy, and has been steadied just enough to earn polite applause from foreign bankers and investors, the country’s foreign policy lies in shambles. The voice of the country that used to boast about being the Giant of Africa is missing in action as the world’s geopolitical map is being redrawn in real time. Unless the President rips apart and rebuilds his foreign-policy team, Nigeria risks irrelevance on a world stage that is being rearranged at a frenetic pace.
Whatever critics say, President Tinubu deserves some grudging applause for his macroeconomic surgery. I can hear the market women laughing and sniggering —“Macroeconomic success? Abeg, which success when gari and beans still tear flesh from the poor man’s bones?” Of course, they would be right. However, as Professor Ha-Joon pointed out in his books, we should not confuse structural reforms with instant food on the table.
As the cliche goes, as Rome was not built in a day, Nigeria’s economic rot was not inflicted in one season. At least, citizens no longer fight to buy their country’s currency.
President Tinubu and his economic team have made at least five hard-won economic gains that deserve some kudos, however grudging:
1. Fuel Subsidy Removal & Forex Unification – finally killing the subsidy monster that fattened smugglers more than citizens.
2. Debt Restructuring & Fiscal Discipline – no more treasury treated like a communal palm-wine bowl.
3. Investor Confidence Returning – Nigeria’s bonds no longer smell like rotten cassava.
4. Infrastructure Push – roads, ports, and power projects showing momentum.
5. Agro-Industrial Revamp – reducing our national shame of importing toothpicks and tomato paste.
Yes, the micro-indices still scream hunger. But at least the macro-ship is no longer sinking. Nigeria is, once again, being taken seriously economically.
Here lies the real tragedy: while economics flicker with promise, Nigeria’s foreign policy is moribund, lifeless, and soulless. Nigeria is missing in action when and where it matters most. South Africa and Ethiopia are now the recognized voices of Africa, where Nigeria used to shine as the undisputed leader. Both countries are full members of BRICS, while Nigeria was recently granted partner status.
Those of us who remember Nigeria’s glorious past in foreign affairs could only be frustrated by the lackluster BAT’s approach to foreign policy.
This was the nation that poured blood and treasure into Southern Africa’s liberation struggles to earn international applause, thundered against apartheid, including nationalizing British Petroleum when Margaret Thatcher dithered over the independence of Zimbabwe, and bankrolled ECOWAS peacekeepers in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
No one can contest that Nigeria was once Africa’s diplomatic juggernaut.
Tinubu’s first foreign-policy test came in the Sahel. He flunked spectacularly.
When Niger fell to a junta, Tinubu, as ECOWAS chair, rushed in like an Ogogoro-drunk hothead. He parroted Western talking points like a well-curated vassal, threatened invasion, slapped sanctions like a colonial prefect doing the Elysee Palace’s bidding.
It was unbelievable to witness a Nigerian leader so slavishly follow the scripts of Western imperialism.
The result? Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso bolted from ECOWAS – straight into the arms of Russia and China.
It was a spectacular own goal of historic proportions. Under Tinubu, ECOWAS was fractured; Nigeria’s credibility was shredded. I lamented the fiasco in five articles on my blog. It is beyond belief that the president kept the team that so badly misadvised him.
History will record Tinubu as the Nigerian leader who dismantled ECOWAS on behalf of France.
While Nigeria stumbled and its foreign policy minders snoozed, the rest of the world gathered in Tianjin for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit—the largest in its history. And what did they do? They drew the map of tomorrow’s world.
* Chinese president Xi Jinping announced a Global Governance Initiative, offering $1.4 billion in loans, opening China’s BeiDou satellite system, and building new platforms for AI, energy, green tech, and digital trade.
* A 10-year Development Strategy was launched, plus four new security centers.
* SCO partners expanded to 27 nations, creating a bloc representing the Global South’s Declaration of Independence from Western Imperialism Hegemony.
In Tianjin, the multipolar world took shape. Countries from Iran to Laos to Myanmar leaned into China’s embrace. The message was clear: the West no longer dictates the world’s song sheet.
As the battle for control of the new World Order passed into the hands of the new sheriffs – China, Russia, and India. Nigeria was not there. Africa was missing, except Egypt, which was there as a dialogue partner.
For reasons best known to them, the president’s foreign policy team continue to tie the country’s thrust to the apron string of colonial relics like the Commonwealth (no one tells us what is common and where the wealth is. The UK totters on bankruptcy). The president himself is a frequent visitor to France.
Mr. President, you stand at history’s forked road. You can etch your name among Nigeria’s greats—or be remembered as the man who shrank Africa’s Giant into a ventriloquist’s dummy. Nigerians who witnessed the dynamic foreign policy achievements of Murtala and Obasanjo 1.0 would forever remember Joe Garba fondly; they would remember your foreign policy as one unmitigated disaster.
Here are my suggestions for the way forward:
* Purge your foreign-policy deadwood. Replace timid career diplomats with bold Pan-African strategists.
* Forge an African tripod with Ethiopia and South Africa—three heavyweights united to demand a seat at the global table. The three should demand a permanent rotational seat at the United Nations Security Council.
* Reclaim ECOWAS by diplomacy, not threats. Lead with dialogue, not sanctions scripted in Western capitals. Get our Sahelian brothers back into the fold.
* Stop being a puppet. Nigeria must act like the Giant of Africa it pretends to be.
Nigeria cannot afford to be both poor at home and irrelevant abroad. One failure embarrasses; two are unforgivable.
Mr. President, history has given you a chance. Use it. Revamp your foreign-policy team. Align with Africa’s true heavyweights. Step boldly into the multipolar order that Tianjin has signaled.
Nigerians and History will not forgive you if you continue your vassalage to a crumbling West-oriented order.
©️ Fẹ̀mi Akọ̀mọ̀làfẹ̀ (1st Dan)
(Farmer, Writer, Published Author, Essayist, Satirist, Social Commentator, Polemicist-General of the Pan-African Republic)
My Mission: Stultitia Delenda Est – Stupidity Must be Destroyed!
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