President Emmanuel Macron welcomes his Nigerian counterpart Bola Tinubu to the Elysée Palace on November 28, 2024 in Paris (AFP / STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN)
Nigeria and France will develop their economic cooperation, their respective presidents promised each other on Thursday, without any major concrete announcement, while Paris strengthens its partnerships in English-speaking Africa after a series of setbacks in the French-speaking Sahel.
The state visit to Paris by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, a first in 24 years, was marked by three declarations of intent or partnership, and by the announcement of the upcoming establishment of a fifth Nigerian bank in France , the United Bank of Africa.
French President Emmanuel Macron said further progress would follow quickly.
“We have defined several new lines of action for the investment of French companies in Nigeria, in the field of energy, rare metals and critical minerals, necessary for the development of new technologies and, in particular, new low-carbon industries , in digital, cultural and creative industries, in the defense sector (…), health”, he listed to the press, without further details.
President Emmanuel Macron and his Nigerian counterpart Bola Tinubu review the Guard of Honor during a ceremony at Les Invalides, in Paris, November 28, 2024 (POOL / Michel Euler)
“We must do more, promote more investments in very important areas,” added Mr. Tinubu, calling first of all to invest “in the food security program” implemented in Nigeria, the most populous country in the world. Africa (227 million inhabitants, and 410 million expected in 2050, according to the UN) where more than half of the population lives below the poverty line.
Mr. Macron reported loans from the French Development Agency (AFD) for “more than 330 million euros from 2025” for projects “in food security, urban mobility, higher education, agriculture , vocational training and climate change”.
On Friday, Mr. Tinubu will continue his plea in favor of investments in his country during a forum with Medef, which brings together French employers.
Beyond economic cooperation, Mr. Macron promised that “France would do everything possible to promote better inclusion of Nigeria in the various forums of global governance”, at the UN Security Council, at the Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
– 4th largest economy in Africa –
On the cultural level, a “Creation Africa Forum” intended to bring together and support French and African cultural actors will be held in the second half of 2025 in Lagos, the economic capital of Nigeria, after a first edition in Paris in 2023, indicated Mr. Macron.
For his part, Mr. Tinubu said, without elaborating further, “ready for a partnership with France for a very robust security operation which will stop clandestine migrations”.
Faced with competition from China, India and Turkey, France is seeing its weight in trade with sub-Saharan Africa diminish, even if it remains significant.
Nigeria is Africa's fourth largest economy in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), according to the IMF, after being the first from 2014 to 2022. Last year, Nigeria was France's leading trading partner in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Soldiers of the Multinational Joint Force in Mora, in the Far North region of Cameroon, September 28, 2018 (AFP / ALEXIS HUGUET)
Relations with Nigerians “embody the change in method that we want to bring about”, because “they are courted by everyone and want a partnership of equals, not a 'lesson-giving' approach”, particularly on human rights, a French diplomatic source recently estimated.
The African giant is however criticized by several NGOs for the human rights abuses committed by its security forces against its population, particularly in the context of the fight against the jihadist groups Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa (Iswap) , in the north of its territory.
France, for its part, has long been engaged militarily in the fight against Islamist movements in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, before being asked to withdraw its forces from these countries following a succession of coups. Military state.
