Tinubu and Macron: Leveraging friendship for development

It is received wisdom that supportive, high-quality friends in good places are important in human relationships and in advancing personal and group progress. It is also the case in strengthening relationships among nations.

Since his assumption of office, President Bola Tinubu has activated the friendship he has built over time in his quest for Nigeria’s development. The President has embarked on reforms to reposition the economy and put the country on the right track for optimal development based on his Renewed Hope Agenda. To realise this lofty objective, he is leaving no stone unturned, including leveraging his friendship and international connections.

President Tinubu’s three-day state visit to France provided ample opportunity for this leverage. The visit was at the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron. During the visit, the French President demonstrated he is a true friend of President Tinubu and Nigeria. President Macron rolled out the proverbial red carpet for his friend. For instance, on arrival in Paris on Wednesday, November 27, officers of the elite Republican Guard welcomed President Tinubu with a parade with full honours at Orly Airport to begin the state visit, the first by a Nigerian leader in over two decades.

The next day, Thursday, President Macron and his wife, Brigitte, formally received President Tinubu and his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, at the historic Invalides Memorial Complex in Paris, where another full parade was displayed. The two leaders then went to Elysee Palace, where their families exchanged gifts. Tinubu and Macron later had bilateral discussions on economic and political issues involving their two countries.

The two presidents and business leaders from their countries attended a business meeting organised by the Franco-Nigerian Business Council. Later in the evening, President Tinubu, his wife, and his entourage were treated to a sumptuous dinner.

By many accounts, President Tinubu’s state visit to France was hugely successful. The visit was unprecedented in the impressive way Macron hosted him, the issues discussed, and the benefits accruable from the trip. The French Ambassador to Nigeria, Marc Fonbaustier, said President Macron had received no other African leader in such a manner.

Two reasons could be adduced for this exceptional reception. The first is the friendship between President Tinubu and President Macron. The French President decided to give his friend the best reception possible. The other is the fact that Nigeria is pivotal in Macron’s new policy on Africa. With Paris’s waning influence in French-speaking African countries, the French President is making overtures to English-speaking African countries where Nigeria holds an important position.

What are the immediate, short and long-term gains of President Tinubu’s France visit?

In the immediate term, the visit helped to put issues about the challenges confronting Nigeria and Africa on the front burner, as evident from the editorial authored by the two presidents before the visit. The editorial was published in the media in Nigeria, France, and across the globe. In the article, the two leaders spoke of their readiness to collaborate as equals in addressing burning issues, which included a more robust health system, education for all, sustainable and legal migration pathways and just representation for Africa in the United Nations Security Council as well as in challenges like insecurity, climate change, security of the Gulf of Guinea and instability in the Sahel Region.

It is instructive that while emphasising their strategic autonomy, the two countries agreed to stay non-aligned with any bloc, opting to overcome these challenges by renewing global governance and backing uniform implementation of international humanitarian laws, whether in Gaza, Sudan, or Ukraine, in a way devoid of double standards.

The two presidents again discussed these issues, among others, in their bilateral talks, and reaffirmed their commitments. An elated President Macron later described President Tinubu’s state visit as a milestone, heralding deeper bilateral relationships.

There was a strategic engagement between Nigerian and French businessmen under the auspices of the Franco-Nigerian Business Council and a follow-up France-Nigeria Business Forum. At the meeting were top Nigerian business leaders such as Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Alhaji Samad Rabiu, Mr. Tony Elumelu, Mr. Jim Ovia and Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukuede, among others, as well as some state governors including the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum and Governor of Kwara, Abdulrasaq Abdulrahman, Babajide Sanwo-olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun) and Peter Mbah (Enugu).

Among the ministers at the session were the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Wale Edun, Dele Alake (Solid Minerals), Abubakar Kyari (Agriculture), Dave Umahi (Works), Jumoke Oduwole (Trade & Investment), Hannatu Musawa (Tourism, Culture & Creative Economy), Idris Mohammed Malagi (Information & National Orientation), Mohammed Badaru Abubakar (Defence), and Bosun Tijani (Communications & Digital Economy).
The France-Nigeria Business Forum was held on Friday morning and attended by business leaders from both countries. The critical takeaway from the forum is the resolve of the French business people to move away from trading and to engage in value additions in crucial sectors like agriculture, manufacturing, energy transition, and power.

Two interconnected developments during the visit are particularly noteworthy. Zenith Bank inaugurated its banking operations in Paris, while the United Bank for Africa also got approval for its operating license. President Tinubu and President Macron witnessed UBA Group Chairman Tony Elumelu and French Minister of Economy, Finance, and Industry Antoine Armand signing the agreements for the bank to commence full banking operations in Paris.

Two transformative agreements were also signed with the French government and its development agency, AFD (Agence Francaise de Development), during the visit. Minister of Finance Edun led the Federal Government in signing the agreements collectively valued at over €300 million euros and designed to strengthen vital sectors of Nigeria’s economy and drive sustainable development. The Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry of France, Armand, co-signed for the French Government.

During the visit, both presidents affirmed their strong commitment to enhancing investments in key sectors like food security, energy, solid minerals, education, and defence. President Macron had earlier assured of his commitment to encouraging more investments in the solid minerals sector, with the signing of an agreement at a bilateral meeting where the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Alake, presented the sector’s potential.

Importantly, French investments in the creative industries, particularly Nollywood and youth-focused initiatives, are underway. President Macron, who had lived in Nigeria before when he worked at the French Embassy in Lagos, described Nigerians as hugely talented and resilient people. He paid special tributes to Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka and famous Afrobeat musician Femi Kuti, both of whom he called global icons.

Looking back on the three-day visit, President Tinubu thanked President Macron for the warm reception and agreements reached by the two of them and expressed the hope that the relations between France and Nigeria would be brighter and better.

He said: “In addition to the economic prospects and what you mean to Europe, America, and the African continent, there is a good prospect that you will not forget who we are. You open your doors for investment for our friends and brothers here.

“It is a good time for all of us. I cannot be prouder than I am to be President of Nigeria at this challenging time. I have people who are very clearly inspired, who are determined to change the course of Africa by changing the rot of the past, blending a future that our children and grandchildren can be proud of.”

On his part, President Macron remarked: “We have confidence that you, Mr. President, will reinforce our relationship with Nigeria, and it will cover the West Coast region, with ECOWAS playing the leading role. I will seek your leadership to work as partners of progress. You are the great leader of the great country in Africa.”

There is no doubt that President Tinubu is deploying his friendship to advance his economic development agenda for Nigeria.

Rahman is the senior special assistant to the president on media matters.