Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has advised the U.S. Presidential Envoy and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador Molly Phee to ensure the U.S. policy is intentionally collaborative with independent African democracies.
He said the call has become necessary now, at a time when they are under assault by anti-democratic forces within and outside of the continent.
He made the appeal when the US Presidential Special Envoy visited him in Abuja.
President Tinubu noted that American-backed development finance and multilateral institutions, which were designed to support war-torn Europe after World War II, needed swift and comprehensive reform to meet the developmental requirements of younger democracies in Africa, which operate in authoritarian-crowded environments, such that the legitimate yearnings of Africans would no longer be manipulated to serve the narrow aims of self-seeking demagogues through unconstitutional takeovers of power.
“Yes, the private sector will lead the way within an enabling environment we create for them, but the U.S. government must be innovative in its thinking and systematically create incentives for the U.S. industrial investment in Nigeria. Under my leadership, Nigeria stands ready to address its specific regulatory, tax, and environmental concerns. I am determined to create prosperity for all Nigerian families,” the President said.
The Nigerian leader affirmed that the crisis in Niger Republic would not deter him from concluding his economic reform programme successfully for the benefit of Nigerians.
President Tinubu said, “he takes a queue from no nation, but will only advance the interest of the Nigerian state in his approach toward ECOWAS’ handling of the regional standoff.”
“We are deep in our attempts to peacefully settle the issue in Niger by leveraging our diplomatic tools. I continue to hold ECOWAS back, despite its readiness for all options, to exhaust all other remedial mechanisms. War is not ideal for my economic reforms, nor the region, but the defense of democracy is sacrosanct. The ECOWAS consensus is that we will not allow anyone to insincerely buy time,” President Tinubu who is also the ECOWAS Chairman affirmed.
Pledging its support for the position of ECOWAS, the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy expressed the high regard the U.S. Administration has for the leadership of the Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, President Bola Tinubu.
The Special Envoy extended an exclusive invitation from U.S. President Joe Biden to meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City to advance discussions further in late September.
“We know there is more we can do to incentivise large-scale American investment in Nigeria and we are committed to working closely with you to achieve that, as part of efforts to strengthen the Nigerian economy and the regional economy. We appreciate your willingness to create an enabling environment for that. President Joe Biden is asking to meet with you on the sidelines of UNGA, and you are the only African leader he has requested to meet. It is a mark of his high regard for your leadership,” the U.S. Special Envoy said.
President Tinubu said that he accepted the invitation to meet the U.S. President on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
According to him, the work of perfecting democracy is never done, even in developed democracies, as seen recently in America, as well as other emerging democracies in the world.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
