President Bola Tinubu is advocating for stronger economic integration that prioritises Africa’s growth and prosperity.

The president led Nigeria’s government, diplomatic, and business delegation to the Africa Forward Summit at the Kenyatta Convention Centre in Nairobi, Kenya.

At the summit, Tinubu called for reform of the international financial architecture.

“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 also 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 2 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, homegrown 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.

“These reforms were sovereign choices, not external conditions. They have delivered a declining debt-to-GDP ratio, now projected at 32.3 per cent in 2026, stronger external reserves of $45.5 billion, and a return of investor confidence. But, Excellencies, even a reforming nation like Nigeria is being forced to de-industrialise by a financial system that is stacked against us,’’ he noted.

He also highlighted Nigeria’s potential in the blue economy as one of the cornerstones of Africa’s development.

“Today, I make an explicit commitment: Nigeria will intensify regional coordination by offering our Deep Blue Project’s maritime intelligence infrastructure as a shared data hub for willing Gulf of Guinea states. Interoperable systems, harmonised laws, and seamless joint enforcement must become the daily reality, not an aspiration on paper.

“Let no one misunderstand: maritime sovereignty does not repel investment — it attracts it. Secure sea lanes, predictable regulation, and functional courts are the preconditions that unlock private capital. Governance has de-risked Nigeria’s maritime proposition. We now invite partners to build on these gains as we advance climate-aligned port modernisation and the digital transformation of our maritime sector.

“The oceans have no duplicate as a common heritage of mankind. For Africa, moving from sea blindness to ocean sovereignty is not a choice — it is a generational duty. Nigeria is ready, and we invite all present to join us in that duty,” he said.

READ ALSO: Africa Must Process Its Own Resources, Compete Globally – Tinubu

Addressing  Immigration

On immigration, the former Lagos governor said the issues must be addressed by expanding safe, orderly, and legal pathways to improve security.

“First, cooperation must address 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 stated.

He urged African countries to work together in building a global migration governance architecture that is fit for purpose

“The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was a start, but it remains non-binding and underfunded,” he said.

“Nigeria supports the African Union’s Migration Policy Framework and the Khartoum Process, but we need a more coherent link between these regional efforts and global institutions.”

The Africa/France summit, co-hosted by Presidents Emmanuel Macron of France and William Ruto of Kenya, brought together leaders and top officials from more than 30 countries across the continent.

Ruto and Macron; Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations; and Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, Chairman of the African Union Commission, delivered opening statements.

On the sidelines of the summit, Tinubu held a bilateral meeting with Madagascar’s president, Michael Randrianirina. He also met with the president of the Confederation of African Football, Dr Patrice Motsepe, and expressed Nigeria’s readiness to host the 2026 CAF awards.

At the summit, the French government advocated restructuring economic and political relations based on equality and fairness.

At the same time, African leaders emphasised the need for greater access to credit to fund major investments and stimulate economic growth.

President Tinubu was accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu; Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele; Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari; Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola; Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole; and Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani.

Chairman of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote; Chairman of BUA, Abdulsamad Rabiu; Chairman of the UBA Group, Tony Elumelu; and Chairman of Access Holdings Plc, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, attended the summit.

The ministers had bilateral meetings with their counterparts from Kenya, France, and other African countries.

READ ALSO: French President Macron Urges Investment In Africa

€23bn Investment 

At the summit, Macron announced 23 billion euros ($27 billion) of investment for Africa.

France has brought together dozens of heads of state and business leaders for the two-day Africa Forward summit in Nairobi, aimed at renewing France’s engagement with the continent after years of strained ties with its former colonies.

The investments Macron announced include 14 billion euros in private and public funds from French entities and nine billion euros from African investors, focused on energy transition, digital and AI, the maritime economy and agriculture.

They would create 250,000 direct jobs in France and Africa, Macron said.

“We are not simply here to come and invest on the African continent alongside you — we need the great African business leaders to come and invest in France,” he told the audience at Nairobi’s convention centre.

“And that too is what underpins this relationship, now entirely free of hang-ups,” he added.

Ahead of the summit, Macron told The Africa Report that colonialism could no longer be blamed for all of Africa’s challenges.

“We must not exonerate from all responsibility the seven decades that followed independence,” he told the magazine, calling on African leaders to improve governance.

Europe’s former colonial powers were not “the predators of this century”, he added.

In a speech at the summit, Macron also said that the process of returning African artworks looted during the colonial era had become “unstoppable”.

The French parliament last week passed a law paving the way for Macron to return looted African cultural artefacts.