Reframing Tinubu’s development agenda through diplomacy, by Stanley Nkwocha
In his 80-page Renewed Hope policy document released in the build-up to the 2023 general election, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu listed some action plans. Top on his priority lists were national security, economy, agriculture, power, oil and gas, transportation, and education. He said his objective was to foster a new society based on shared prosperity, tolerance, compassion, and the unwavering commitment to handling each citizen with equal respect and due regard.
And to ensure his campaign promises unfold into a pleasant reality, the president, at the maiden Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held in August this year, unveiled a more vivid eight-point agenda to turn around the economy and make life comfortable for all Nigerians. Encapsulating the action plans in the 8-point agenda, he relisted the eight priority areas to include food security, ending poverty, economic growth and job creation, access to capital, improving security, rule of law, fighting corruption, and improving the playing field on which people, particularly companies operate.
Since assuming office, President Tinubu has unleashed a flurry of economic diplomacy stemming from his notion that the prestige of any country among the comity of nations is proportionally dependent on its social and economic realities, which explains why governments around the world embark on missions to create an enabling environment to attract both local and foreign investments.
President Tinubu started firing from all cylinders the moment he and VP Shettima took their oath of office. To begin with, he embarked on ambitious plans of warming Nigeria’s way back to global relevance. Beyond the avalanche of domestic reforms being implemented to create an investment-friendly Nigeria, the president and his deputy have also assumed the position of Nigeria’s marketers-in-chief.
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At the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) held from September 20-23, 2023 where he delivered his maiden address to the General Assembly on September 20, President Tinubu shot straight, telling the world that “the greatest economy is Nigeria with immense investment opportunities,”. He noted that Africa is not a problem to be avoided or pitied, he said, “Africa is nothing less than the key to the world’s future”.
That the President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima synergy is redefining and setting the pace in president/vice president harmony is to say the least in the mildest way. This smooth working relationship between them stems from Shettima’s unwavering and natural loyalty to his boss. The Tinubu government is only five months old in office, but within this period, VP Shettima and his boss have struck a balance never seen in this part of the globe.
The cumulative effects of this synergy are the positive issues arising from the presidential global engagements that have continued to dominate headlines and possibly for some time to come. Some of the high-hanging fruits, which have resonated well with Nigerians, came in handy by way of the recent bumper achievements recorded by the Nigerian delegation under the leadership of President Tinubu to the 3rd Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Forum in China, as well as the Norman Borlaug International Dialogue, World Food Prize 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa, United States of America.
In China where significant milestones in the nation’s journey towards economic prosperity were made, VP Shettima joined world leaders from over 130 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America at the forum to deliberate on the theme, “High-quality Belt and Road Cooperation: Together for Common Development and Prosperity.” The Vice President availed Nigeria of the platform provided by the forum to woo investors for more developmental projects at high-powered bilateral meetings with other world leaders. He also promoted Nigeria’s trade and investment relations in line with the economic development agenda of the Tinubu administration.
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