Nigeria and ECOWAS will continue diplomatic efforts towards Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. At a minimum, we have a shared interest in peaceful co-existence.
Excerpts from the article
“Those who suggest Nigeria does not have a foreign policy or those who agitate for a shift away from an Afro-centric foreign policy are wrong; either they are ill-informed or deliberately disingenuous.” – https://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/765647-foreign-policy-and-the-path-to-peace-in-a-dangerous-neighbourhood-by-yusuf-tuggar.html
We must ask what they serve officials in Abuja that made them so pompous that they can’t explain things to those who pay their salaries without insulting them!
I’m sorry, Mr. Minister, but I am neither ill-informed nor disingenuous – whatever you meant by your nebulous choice of word.
As an avid connoisseur of global and geopolitical news and information, I can say that Nigeria’s foreign policy is currently non-existent because of its low visibility. In your care, the country lacks the visibility that should be commensurate with its size and position in the continent.
Watching Nigeria, under President Tinubu, make so many foreign policy missteps, especially in the West African subregion, leads to no conclusion except that you are either incompetent or out of your depth.
That might explain why you chose to insult rather than explain. Since this is the domain of psychology, let’s leave it to the experts and move on.
You accused some of wanting or urging Nigeria to abandon its African-centric foreign policy.
Ha!
You provided us with neither the methodology nor the premises from which you authoritatively declared your results.
Whatever.
Your declaration is at variance with what I gather in my interactions with ordinary Nigerians and Africans. Most Nigerians recognize that their country is capable and uniquely equipped to lead the continent in the battle to reclaim African Civilizational space from the emerging neoliberal world order.
Many Africans believe that only Nigeria can lead the battle for African Redemption.
President Tinubu’s actions, taken under your advice, are destroying African solidarity and undermining the country’s standing in Africa.
Examples?
Let’s begin with the disaster your misguided wrought in ECOWAS.
The Yoruba people have this proverb: Ọba to jẹ ti ilu toro, orukọ e ko ni parẹ, eyi to dẹ je ti ilu fonka, orukọ ẹ na ko ni parẹ / The king under whose rule the state was peaceful will never be forgotten, the one under whose the state was dismembered will also never be forgotten.
History will be very harsh on you and President Tinubu for losing three of the organization’s members under Nigeria’s chairmanship.
Whichever constitutional spin you tried to put on it, ECOWAS lost three members under your watch.
Maybe you should clap for yourself for your singular achievement on behalf of your curators in Western capitals.
By making the president travel to France and engage with Macron in such fawning bromance, you and your team made the president and the country look terrible by making him appear to have chosen France over fellow Africans.
Unlike you, who is happy to play the faithful vassal of Western imperialism, I meet, interact, and discuss with ordinary Africans every day; what I can tell you is that there is no time in history when our fellow Africans think so lowly of Nigeria. We can’t repeat the contemptuous diatribe that drips from some of our fellow West Africans in these pages.
Our stock in Africa has crashed.
You don’t need to take my word for it. You need only to pry yourself away from suckling to your overlords in Whitehall and Paris and commission a survey to determine what fellow Africans think of your irrational, illogical, abject groveling to second-rate powers like France and the UK.
Mr. Minister, in politics, as in geopolitics, optics is everything. The sight of Nigeria’s President Tinubu embracing Macron in Paris when three West African nations ( Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso) are engaged in existential threat with that accursed parasitic nation of racist leeches is not something that portrays the country in a positive light.
Those who taught us in PolSci that a country’s foreign policy reflects its domestic policy were wrong, dead wrong.
I have written six articles to criticize President Tinubu’s foreign policy missteps.
Here are the four major ones to be found on my Substack.
1. First, they came for Libya; Now they are gunning for Niger!: https://femi6a133.substack.com/p/first-they-came-for-libya-now-they
2. A public Appeal To President Tinubu: https://femi6a133.substack.com/p/a-public-appeal-to-president-tinubu
3. Why I think that Nigeria will not intervene in Niger [Expanded]: https://femi6a133.substack.com/p/why-i-think-that-nigeria-will-not
4. Some questions for President Tinubu: https://femi6a133.substack.com/p/some-questions-for-president-tinubu
I have also written two articles on my Substack platform to support the President’s audacious domestic policies.
While the president’s domestic policy aides are helping the president crank up his domestic agendas and are firing on all cylinders, the only charitable thing we can say is that his foreign policy team under your leadership is either comatose or asleep.
Those old enough to remember when Nigeria had a solid, energetic, and very visible International profile can only watch in dismay as South Africa, Egypt, and Ethiopia enjoy more international visibility than their country. They can only shake their heads in disappointment as they read your article, which sought to hide behind the Constitution to hide shoddy underperformance.
Rather than engage in sloppy sophistry, you should explain to idiots like me why our country is missing from BRICS while it continues to engage with that anachronistic colonial relic fancifully called the Commonwealth.
Tell me, Mr. Minister, what benefits me is an organization that was set up to not only remind me of my oppression but continue to promote the interests of those who oppressed me. Or would you claim to be ignorant of history or the current UK’s discriminatory visa policy?
Or do you agree with boorish Boris Johnson that we are still “Flag waving piccaninnies?”
Here is what I wrote about BRICS a few weeks ago: “We don’t kid you when we say that BRICS is the most significant geopolitical event of this year – no, scrap that – this century.
From its humble beginnings, BRICS has grown to become the most critical geopolitical organization in the world. By the populations of member states, sizes of economies, military might, resources, and other yardsticks, BRICS has eclipsed the Western-led G7.
Just take a look at these figures:
Country Population Size of Economy
1. China 1,419,321,278. US$35,291 trillion PPP
2. India. 1,450,940,000. US$16.2 trillion PPP
3. Russia 145,440,500. US$5,5 trillion PPP
4. Brazil 212,247,828. US$4,273 trillion PPP
5. South Africa 64,220,900. US$ 1,526 trillion PPP
6. Egypt. 117,099,726. US$ 1,899 trillion PPP
7. Ethiopia 133,084,331. US$ 431 billion PPP
In January 2025, Southeast Asia’s economic and political juggernaut, Indonesia, became a full member of BRICS. Here is what the foreign ministry of a country that knows where its interests lie told the world: Indonesia intends to actively participate in BRICS activities as a full member of the community. “As a country with an ever-growing and diverse economy, Indonesia is committed to actively contributing to the BRICS agenda on economic resilience, technology cooperation, and sustainable development. The ministry noted that Jakarta remains committed to close cooperation with all BRICS member states and other countries to build a just and prosperous world.”
I don’t know which memo you missed, Mr. Minister. But you need to tell us why our country missed out on the most geopolitical organization in the world. I am aware of Nigeria’s partnership application, but why do you rate membership of a commonwealth above BRICS?
Why is Nigeria not demanding accelerated membership?
Mr. Minister, did you never hear Lord Palmerston’s admonition that Nations do not have friends or enemies and that only national interests are eternal?
Finally, Mr. Minister, maybe you should take a look in the mirror, look at yourself, and consider whether you are being disingenuous here!
Unsolicited advice: Mr. Minister, ask your staff to send you the files on Joe Garba, one of your predecessors. They can include videos.
He was about half your age and didn’t boast the academic credentials you paraded when he flew Nigeria’s diplomatic flag to dizzying heights.
Just ask the British and the Americans what they think of Nigeria then and now. It might encourage you to remove the blinkers from your eyes and join the rest of humanity in jettisoning primordial subservience and allegiance to our historic oppressors.
©️ Fẹ̀mi Akọ̀mọ̀làfẹ̀(Farmer, Writer, Published Author, Essayist, Satirist, and Social Commentator.)
You can follow me on:
X (Twitter): @PANAFDigest
Telegram channel: t.me/panafdigest
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Kindly subscribe to my Substack here: HTTPS://femiakogun.Substack.com
You can Chat with me on my Substack here: https://tinyurl.com/y6yueb7dhttps://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/765647-foreign-policy-and-the-path-to-peace-in-a-dangerous-neighbourhood-by-yusuf-tuggar.html
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