President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday made a special case for urgent reform of the global financial architecture, insisting that current economic structures are limiting Africa’s industrial growth and development.
Tinubu made the call at the Africa Forward Summit held at the Kenyatta Convention Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, where he led Nigeria’s delegation comprising government officials, diplomats, and business leaders.
This was contained in a statement signed by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
The summit, co-hosted by Presidents Emmanuel Macron of France and William Ruto of Kenya, brought together leaders from over 30 countries, alongside officials including United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and African Union Commission Chairperson, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf.
In his remarks, Tinubu said Africa must move from being a raw-material exporter to an industrialised continent, arguing that existing global financial systems continue to constrain access to affordable capital and deepen inequality in global trade.
According to him, Africa’s share of global manufacturing value added remains below 2 per cent despite decades of independence, a situation he attributed to structural imbalances in global finance and trade.
“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 2 per cent,” Tinubu said.
He also highlighted Nigeria’s ongoing economic reforms, including fuel subsidy removal, exchange rate unification, and banking sector recapitalisation, saying these were sovereign decisions aimed at stabilising the economy and attracting investment.
Tinubu said Nigeria had secured stronger economic indicators, including improved foreign reserves and declining debt ratios, but warned that high debt servicing obligations continued to limit fiscal space for development spending.
He added that Nigeria would spend about $11.6bn on debt servicing in 2026, describing it as a major constraint on industrial development.
“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.
“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 stated.
The President also made a strong pitch for Africa’s blue economy, saying Nigeria was ready to deepen regional maritime cooperation by offering its maritime intelligence infrastructure as a shared resource for Gulf of Guinea countries.
He said secure seas and improved maritime governance were essential for unlocking investment in the continent’s ocean economy.
Tinubu further called for stronger international cooperation on migration, stressing that economic development and job creation in African countries remained key to reducing irregular migration.
On the sidelines of the summit, the President held bilateral talks with Madagascar’s President, Michael Randrianirina, and met with the President of the Confederation of African Football, Patrice Motsepe, where he reaffirmed Nigeria’s readiness to host the 2026 CAF Awards.
