Nigeria-Tinubu’s Diplomatic Shuttle

By Prince Kurupati

Heavily challenged at home, it is on the foreign affairs that the Tinubu/Shettima Administration seems to be flexing muscles most. To many keen observers, the foreign junkets of President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima have rank high compared to those of other administrations since 1990. For politicians and analysts like Dakuku Peterside, the President’s “diplomatic shuttle” is a way of “generating economic growth through foreign policy.

In an op -ed in Vanguard newspaper Nigeria, Dakuku perfectly summarised all of the president’s travels.  “The President’s first trip abroad was to France to participate in the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact. Next was attending the ECOWAS Summit in Guinea Bissau, then the AU meeting in Kenya and the G-20 Summit in India quickly followed. His biggest on the global stage was at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) last week in New York. These exclude stopovers in Benin Republic, London and the UAE. Vice President Kashim Shettima, on his part, has represented the President in Italy, Russia and at the G77 Summit in Cuba.”

Those who support the prioritisation of foreign policy as a way of generating economic growth say that attracting foreign capital and investments opens the way for drastic and wholesome economic change. With Nigeria’s economy in need of rejuvenation, attracting foreign capital is just the right ingredient to propel the country to the right development trajectory.

In his foreign travels including at the UN General Assembly, President Tinubu is bullishly reminding the world of Nigeria’s potential both human resources and natural resources. By sharing with the entire world all the potential that Nigeria has, President Tinubu is at the same time reinforcing the fact that Nigeria is open for business and has investor-friendly policies. The president believes attracting foreign capital and investments will help re-establish Nigeria “as the premium economic powerhouse in Africa”.

There are some actors however who feel that the right path to take in re-establishing Nigeria’s economic prowess on the continent is to prioritise domestic affairs first. They view economic diplomacy and the prioritisation of foreign affairs as short-sighted. Rather, they prefer the president to embark first on tackling foundational issues which include “insecurity, decrepit infrastructure, poor governance and inefficient institutions”.

Analysing these two schools of thought, Peterside concluded that the two ideas aren’t dichotomous. Rather they can and must complement each other if all of Nigeria’s plans are to come to fruition. “A comprehensive economic plan that combines economic diplomacy’s merits revitalises domestic structural and economic systems by tackling fundamental local problems is needed and must be implemented efficiently… economic diplomacy can be woven together with domestic improvements so that both work together and reify each other to produce more remarkable results,” Peterside said.

Caution however is needed in balancing the economy-centric foreign policy with domestic policies. Peterside said failing to strike the right balance will most likely lead to counterproductive results. To address the balance issue, Peterside called for the government to “match its extensive travels with articulating an overarching economic agenda”.

Also critical at this stage as Nigeria is looking to improve her economic fortunes is to change the country’s image both locally and internationally. Many people including those at home and those beyond Nigeria’s borders when it comes to Nigeria’s economy hold the perception of a failing economy. Whether at the present moment that perception is right or wrong, what’s needed in the near future is a total change as confidence in the economy will only come if the economy is perceived to be on the rebound. So, whether it's to encourage more entrepreneurial spirit and endeavour among local Nigerians or to win foreign capital and investments from external actors, President Tinubu needs to sell the vision of an economy that’s on the rebound.

Besides changing the perceptions that people have about the Nigerian economy, Peterside also called upon President Tinubu during his frequent foreign shuttles to prioritise marketing new opportunities in the country. “Global capital goes where there are clear opportunities that are unencumbered. These opportunities must exist in a context of manageable risk and good returns on investment,” Peterside said. He went on to state that if this is done, then the probability of attracting foreign capital and investments will be significantly enhanced as “The Tinubu administration is gradually providing the enabling environment for FDI when it pledged to allow companies to repatriate revenue through an open and robust exchange system.”

As Tinubu is just in his infancy in the presidency, Peterside said he has ample time to win the hearts of many Nigerians while at the same time breaking his predecessors’ curse. Peterside said in the past, all Nigerian presidents who adopted and prioritised a bullish foreign policy always found it difficult to tackle domestic issues. It's against this background that the country has been bedevilled by many challenges which include political instability, corruption, inadequate infrastructure, a struggling healthcare system, a poorly performing education system, high poverty levels, unemployment, and insecurity.

Striking the right balance as such when it comes to the “homegrown economic agenda, structural reforms and foreign policy can provide a message of economic renaissance that the Administration carries on its extensive travels.”