President Tinubu calls forglobal financial reforms to boost Africa's growth

• Holds talks with Madagascar president 

•Ruto says Africa wants investment, equal partnership, not aid

• Macron canvasses ‘strategic autonomy’ for Africa, Europe

•Guterres : Absence of Africa on UN security council historic injustice

•Dangote, Abdul Samad Rabiu, Elumelu, Aig-Imoukhuede, ministers attend event

President Bola Tinubu used his remarks at the Africa Forward Forum in Nairobi to argue for deeper economic integration that puts Africa’s growth and prosperity first, and to underline Nigeria’s call for reforms of the international financial system.

The forum, which gathered 30 African leaders and a range of global partners to discuss economic transformation, innovation, strategic partnerships and sustainable development, served as a platform for the president to warn that the current international architecture must change or become irrelevant.

Co‑chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron and Kenyan President William Ruto, the summit brought together heads of state, policymakers, investors and business executives to examine issues such as the energy transition, industrialisation, digital transformation, climate action and the overhaul of global finance.

“Last September, from the podium of the United Nations General Assembly, Nigeria warned that the international system must reform or risk irrelevance. We spoke not only of the Security Council but of the financial and trade structures that quietly de‑industrialise our nations. The evidence is before us. Despite decades of independence, Africa’s share of global manufacturing value added remains below two per cent.”

“We export raw minerals, crude oil, and agricultural commodities, and we import processed goods at a premium. This pattern is not an accident. It is the product of a global financial architecture that starves our industries of affordable capital, tolerates massive illicit financial flows, and imposes policy constraints that our competitors themselves never observed when they built their own industrial bases.”

“Nigeria does not come to this discussion as a supplicant. We come as a nation that has taken painful, home‑grown decisions to put our house in order — removing fuel subsidies, unifying our exchange rate, recapitalising our banking system with over US$3.4 billion, and exiting the FATF grey list,” the president said.

He stressed that these reforms were sovereign choices, not externally imposed conditions, and noted that they have helped lower the debt‑to‑GDP ratio to an estimated 32.3 per cent in 2026.

He added that external reserves have risen to $45.5 billion and investor confidence is returning, yet even a reform‑focused Nigeria is being forced into de‑industrialisation by a financial system that favours other regions.

Tinubu pointed out that in 2026 Nigeria will allocate roughly US$11.6 billion to debt service – almost half of projected revenue.

“Every single dollar that leaves our treasury to pay punitive interest rates is a dollar that did not go into our steel sector, our textile mills, our agro‑processing plants, or our digital industries. It is a dollar that did not train a young Nigerian engineer or provide affordable power for our factories.”

“Our industrial base is being starved of the blood it needs — long‑term, affordable finance — while creditors and rating agencies treat African sovereigns as permanent high‑risk borrowers, regardless of our fiscal performance.”

“So, I ask this gathering: How can an African manufacturer compete with a competitor in Europe, Asia, or North America when the cost of borrowing in our nations is five to ten times higher? How can we build cross‑border industrial value chains under the African Continental Free Trade Area when our infrastructure projects face a financing gap deepened by the very institutions meant to bridge it?”

“The answer is plain: we cannot. The international financial architecture, as currently constituted, is an instrument of industrial disarmament for Africa. Nigeria is not asking for charity. We are demanding a financial system that intentionally enables Africa to industrialise — to process its own minerals, refine its own crude oil, manufacture its own pharmaceuticals, and compete fairly in global markets.”

“We will continue to borrow responsibly, but we insist that our creditworthiness be measured by our economic fundamentals and our industrial potential, not by outdated stereotypes,” he concluded.

The president also linked migration challenges to broader economic reforms, urging the creation of safe, orderly and legal pathways to improve security while addressing root causes in countries of origin.

“People who have jobs, security, and hope at home do not typically risk their lives in the back of a smuggler’s truck. That is why Nigeria has embedded migration management within our broader economic transformation agenda — removing fuel subsidies to invest in infrastructure, recapitalising banks to fund enterprise, and modernising agriculture to create rural livelihoods, among other initiatives.”

“But we cannot do it alone. International partners must move beyond rhetoric and match words with investments that make staying at home a genuine choice — investments in climate adaptation, energy access, digital skills and the productive sectors that employ young people.”

“As we intensify the implementation of these domestic measures, I therefore call on our development partners to ring‑fence a portion of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for programmes that demonstrably reduce the desperation that fuels irregular migration,” he said.

On peace and security, Tinubu urged African states to cooperate in building a global migration‑governance framework that is fit for purpose.

He highlighted Nigeria’s potential in the blue economy, noting that governments and the business community have long neglected this sector because of insecurity and uncertainty.

He affirmed that Nigeria’s maritime sovereignty and ocean governance are essential foundations for Africa’s blue‑economy transformation.

“We will continue to earn that sovereignty — through institutions, through assets, through law, and through iron‑clad regional solidarity that turns our waters from a theatre of risk into a story of shared resilience,” he emphasized.

Tinubu welcomed the outcomes of the 10th France‑Nigeria Business Council Meeting, held at the summit, describing them as evidence that Nigeria and France are moving from dialogue to delivery.

With bilateral trade reaching $4.7 billion in 2025 and Nigeria remaining the top destination for French investment in sub‑Saharan Africa, the president said the partnership must translate into more jobs, industries, infrastructure and shared prosperity.

The meeting, which also featured Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Dr Jumoke Oduwole and France’s Minister Delegate Nicolas Forissier, saw leading Nigerian and French firms provide updates on key projects and pledge deeper collaboration.

Tinubu praised the current Chairman of the France‑Nigeria Business Council, Aigboje Aig‑Imoukhu