President Bola Tinubu has called for urgent reforms to the global financial system, warning that existing international structures are hindering Africa’s industrialisation and slowing the continent’s economic progress.
Speaking on Tuesday at the Africa Forward Forum in Nairobi, Tinubu advocated for a fairer global financial architecture that prioritises Africa’s development, prosperity, and industrial transformation.
The Nigerian leader argued that prevailing global financial and trade systems continue to disadvantage African economies by limiting access to affordable capital while encouraging the export of raw materials instead of supporting value-added production.
“Last September, from the podium of the United Nations General Assembly, Nigeria warned that the international system must reform or risk irrelevance,” Tinubu said.
“We spoke not only of the Security Council but of the financial and trade structures that quietly de-industrialise our nations.”
According to the President, Africa’s share of global manufacturing value-added remains below two per cent despite decades of political independence.
“We export raw minerals, crude oil, and agricultural commodities, and we import processed goods at a premium,” he stated.
“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.”
Tinubu said Nigeria had already undertaken difficult but necessary economic reforms aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability and rebuilding investor confidence.
He listed major reforms implemented by his administration to include the removal of fuel subsidies, exchange rate unification, recapitalisation of the banking sector with over $3.4 billion, and Nigeria’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force grey list.
“These reforms were sovereign choices, not external conditions,” the President noted.
Tinubu added that the measures had strengthened Nigeria’s economic outlook, citing external reserves estimated at $45.5 billion and a projected debt-to-GDP ratio of 32.3 per cent in 2026.
Despite these improvements, the President argued that African nations still face unfair borrowing conditions that weaken industrial growth and economic competitiveness.
“In 2026, Nigeria will spend about $11.6 billion on debt service — nearly half of projected revenue,” he said.
“Every single dollar that leaves our treasury to pay punitive interest rates is a dollar that did not go into our steel sector, textile mills, agro-processing plants, or digital industries.”
Describing the current global financial system as “an instrument of industrial disarmament for Africa,” Tinubu insisted that the continent was demanding fairness rather than charity.
“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,” he said.
The President also addressed migration and security challenges, arguing that economic opportunity remained the most effective solution to irregular migration.
“People who have jobs, security, and hope at home do not typically risk their lives in the back of a smuggler’s truck,” Tinubu said.
He urged development partners to increase investments in infrastructure, energy access, climate adaptation, digital skills, and job creation initiatives capable of reducing economic hardship across Africa.
Tinubu further called for stronger international cooperation on migration governance and backed efforts by the African Union to establish more coordinated migration frameworks.
On maritime development, the President highlighted Nigeria’s blue economy potential and pledged stronger regional collaboration on maritime security within the Gulf of Guinea.
He announced that Nigeria would make the country’s Deep Blue Project maritime intelligence infrastructure available as a shared data platform for willing countries in the region.
“Maritime sovereignty does not repel investment — it attracts it,” Tinubu said, stressing that secure sea routes and effective regulation were essential for attracting private investment into Africa’s maritime sector.
The President also welcomed the outcome of the 10th France-Nigeria Business Council Meeting held alongside the summit, describing it as evidence that economic relations between Nigeria and France had entered an “execution stage.”
With trade between both countries reaching $4.7 billion in 2025, Tinubu said the partnership should now translate into jobs, industries, infrastructure development, and broader economic prosperity.
The meeting brought together prominent Nigerian and French business leaders, including Aliko Dangote, Abdulsamad Rabiu, Tony Elumelu, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Patrick Pouyanné, and Rodolphe Saadé.
Tinubu particularly welcomed the partnership agreement between Accor and Shoreline Group for Nigeria’s first national hotel platform, describing it as a major vote of confidence in the country’s tourism and hospitality sectors.
“This is the partnership Nigeria is ready for,” the President said.
“We are ready for investment that builds, capital that produces, and enterprise that creates jobs.”
Tinubu reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to strengthening Nigeria’s business environment, supporting investors, and deepening reforms aimed at making the country a more stable and competitive economy.
“The next chapter of Africa-Europe relations will be written in factories, hotels, ports, energy projects, technology platforms, farms, jobs and new value chains,” he added.
