Category: Bolaji Ogundele

Last week was another clear step forward in the long journey President Bola Ahmed Tinubu set Nigeria upon since May 29, 2023. It was an eventful week, and not a single day was without significance. Yet, if one moment stood out as both momentous and consequential, it was Tuesday’s meeting at the State House with the leadership of the World Bank, led by its Managing Director of Operations, Anna Bjerde.

It was momentous because Tinubu used the opportunity to tell the world, again, what his intentions are. It was consequential because, in the same breath, he laid bare the humanity of leadership: that reform is not merely a policy choice; it is a sacrifice, a deliberate refusal of temptations that have swallowed many administrations before his.

When he spoke to the World Bank team, the President did not pretend that Nigeria’s reforms were painless. He did not deny that the first reaction was hardship. Instead, he reached for language that captured the psychology of difficult governance: “Since we’ve gone into this tunnel of reform, we have our hands on the plow and we’re never going to look back.”

That sentence was a declaration of stamina. It was also a warning to those who profit from disorder.

Then came the confession that made the room feel even more serious. Tinubu openly acknowledged the seductive “quantum of money” that leaders can quietly harvest in a corrupt environment, especially through fuel subsidy and multiple foreign exchange windows. “It’s difficult for a leader to look the other way… from an opportunity that can give him quantum of money in subsidy regime… in multiple exchange… give it up,” he said.

In that moment, Tinubu was saying something profound: that greed is often the first enemy of reform. It is the invisible hand that keeps nations on life support. And if his presidency is to mean anything beyond another turn at power, he must be the leader who refuses personal enrichment and instead chooses the harder reward of history.

READ ALSO: PDP: Wike gets upper hand again

But Tinubu did not stop at moral clarity. He went further to reveal purpose.

Nigeria, he said, is “the heart of the continent,” and the only responsible path is to strengthen the economy for the sake of the country’s young population and vast arable land. He spoke about mechanisation, agriculture, and productivity, not as abstract dreams but as programmes already in motion.

“There’ll be zonal mechanization centers to help the farmers,” he disclosed, adding that the government is working on improved seedlings and wants the World Bank to support the process.

He then tied agriculture to industry, referencing the petrochemical sector’s growing output and the need to convert that advantage into local fertiliser production that raises yields. The goal, he said, is to move farmers “from ordinary small-scale holders to huge cooperative… farmers that can bring opportunities to Nigerians.”

This was where the meeting became more than a diplomatic courtesy. Tinubu was effectively telling the World Bank: Nigeria is not improvising. There is a plan. And the plan has reached the stage where global partners must support the private sector to become the engine of jobs and productivity.

He asked the World Bank to accelerate financing options and “tip the model” in favour of growth, insisting that bureaucracy must be cut and risk pushed in ways that develop skills and unlock investment.

His confidence was matched by his insistence on transparency and accountability. “Reform is a continuous exercise… transparency, accountability… We’re not looking back,” he said.

And then came the validation. Bjerde, in what can only be described as a remarkable endorsement, said Nigeria is now frequently cited globally as an example of “steady, credible reform leadership.” She noted that the government’s consistency and the evidence of positive results have built confidence among investors, policymakers, and the private sector.

But the week was not all about reform and financing.

By Wednesday, the President’s attention shifted sharply to a different national emergency, one that reminded the country that prosperity cannot take root where terror is allowed to bloom.

In Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State, suspected Boko Haram terrorists carried out a beastly massacre, killing more than 160 people in rural communities. Tinubu’s response was swift, decisive, and unmistakably angry.

He ordered the deployment of an army battalion to the affected area and announced the establishment of a new military command to spearhead Operation Savannah Shield. He condemned the killings as “cowardly and beastly,” describing the attackers as heartless for choosing soft targets in their doomed campaign of terror.

On Thursday, he met with Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to receive updates, and further directed close collaboration between federal and state agencies to provide immediate relief and support to the affected communities. He also made it clear that the perpetrators would not escape justice. “They will not go scot-free,” he vowed.

Then came Friday, and with it, another reform, this time in a sector Nigerians love instinctively, but which has not been fully harnessed economically: sports.

In a message posted on his verified X handle, Tinubu unveiled a sweeping sports-sector reform, ordering a reset of sports funding from the 2026 fiscal year. He reminded Nigerians that the country won an “unprecedented 373 medals across all sports in 2025,” describing sports as one of Nigeria’s strongest brands; a unifier that breaks fault lines and builds community.

But again, Tinubu insisted on honesty. For too long, he said, sports funding was slowed by bureaucracy, fragmented across institutions, and released too late for proper preparation. Infrastructure development and maintenance, he noted, have also been neglected.

To change the story, he directed the relevant ministries and the Budget Office to ensure adequate annual provisions for sports infrastructure, programmes, and international participation, with funds released immediately once the budget is passed and assented to. “Nigerian athletes deserve certainty, not excuses,” he declared.

He also announced that allocations currently spread across MDAs would be reviewed, streamlined, and transferred into a unified funding framework under the National Sports Commission.

The reforms, he said, are anchored on the Renewed Hope Initiative for Nigeria’s Sports Economy (RHINSE), positioning sports as a driver of job creation, tourism, investment, and global influence.

Even beyond the week’s big-ticket moments; the World Bank engagement, the Kaiama outrage, and the sports-sector reset, President Tinubu’s itinerary carried the quieter signals of how he sees leadership: as a constant stitching together of nation, party, culture and purpose.

On Sunday, he congratulated the APC Lagos spokesman, Mogaji Oluseye Oladejo, at 60, describing him as a dependable party man whose clarity of purpose and disciplined loyalty helped strengthen the progressive family in Lagos. In the same breath of national reflection, the President also paid tribute to Fela Anikulapo Kuti, after the Afrobeat pioneer became the first African recipient of the Recording Academy’s Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Tinubu called him “a giant,” a fearless voice of the people whose courage and creativity reshaped global sound, a reminder that Nigeria’s influence is not only in crude oil or currency charts, but also in culture.

On Tuesday, he celebrated NNPC board chair, Ahmadu Musa Kida, at 65, praising a career that helped shape Nigeria’s oil sector. On Wednesday, he hailed Professor Jacob Kehinde Olupona at 75, spotlighting scholarship and global intellectual excellence, while also honouring Niger Delta entrepreneur Kestin Pondi for service, enterprise and peace-building.

Thursday brought the birthday message to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, a nod to people-centred governance, and a strategic meeting with APC leaders and National Assembly heads as the party moved towards inclusive conventions and congresses.

Then Friday, amid the intensity of reform, he played Father of the Day at Bello Matawalle’s children’s wedding fatiha, a symbolic reminder that power, too, has its human moments.

And perhaps most tellingly, he celebrated Prof. Ali Pate and Anna Adeola Makanju on the Devex Power 50 List, quietly projecting Nigeria’s renewed hope: competence, credibility and global relevance.

In the end, last week revealed something Nigerians are beginning to see more clearly: Tinubu’s presidency is being shaped around one stubborn idea; that Nigeria must be rebuilt through systems that work, not sentiments that entertain.

The same philosophy that guided his appeal to the World Bank; cut bureaucracy, empower private enterprise, invest strategically, and stay the course, is the philosophy behind his security response in Kaiama and his sports funding reform.

It is the tunnel of reform, with different stations. And as the President said, his hands are on the plow. He is not looking back.

There are weeks in the life of a presidency when events align so neatly that even the most sceptical observers are forced to pause. Last week was one of such weeks for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and, by extension, for Nigeria. From the diplomatic theatres of Ankara to the trading screens of the foreign exchange market, and finally to the cold verdict of an influential global publication, the signals were unmistakably positive. It was a week of wins, plain and clear.

It began in Türkiye. On Monday evening, President Tinubu arrived in Ankara at the invitation of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stepping into the biting winter cold not as a tourist or ceremonial guest, but as a man on a mission. Those who know Tinubu’s political and administrative DNA understand this instinctively. He does not travel to admire scenery or exchange pleasantries. He travels for leverage, for advantage, for deals that can move the needle at home. Ankara was no exception.

By Tuesday, the business end of the visit was in full swing. The optics alone told a story: a Nigerian delegation heavy with ministers and senior officials, sitting across from their Turkish counterparts, not in supplication but in negotiation. By the time the doors opened and the communiqués rolled out, Nigeria walked away with no fewer than nine multi-sectoral agreements. Defense cooperation, energy, education, diaspora policy, media, halal quality infrastructure, and the establishment of a Joint Economy and Trade Committee all made the list. Most symbolically, both countries recommitted themselves to growing bilateral trade to $5 billion. It was previously about $2 billion.

That figure is not mere diplomatic decoration. It represents factories humming, ports busier than before, and jobs created along value chains that stretch from Lagos to Ankara. It signals confidence in Nigeria as a destination for capital at a time when investors are notoriously cautious. For Tinubu, it was also another entry in a familiar ledger. As governor of Lagos State years ago, he built a reputation as a dealmaker who understood that growth follows structure, and structure follows hard choices. Türkiye felt like a reprise of that Lagos playbook, scaled to a national stage.

Even the minor mishap that briefly caught public attention, (back at home though because reports had it that Turks were surprised to hear that made a headline in Nigeria); a stumble caused by stepping on a metal object, became an unintended metaphor. The President steadied himself and carried on. No drama, no interruption, no retreat. In many ways, it mirrored the broader reform journey of his administration: momentarily jarring, uncomfortable to watch at times, but defined by forward motion rather than paralysis.

Read Also: Five Nigerians nominated for 2026 Grammy Awards

While the echoes of Ankara were still settling, another signal emerged back home. On Thursday, the naira did something it had not done in a long while: it surprised the optimists by outperforming expectations. Strengthening from the N1,450–N1,420 range to about N1,388.24 to the dollar at the official window, the currency recorded its strongest showing since May 2024. In a country where exchange rate movements dominate dinner-table conversations and boardroom calculations alike, the news landed with force.

This was not a random bounce. It was the fruit of a decision Tinubu took early in his presidency, and for which he paid a heavy political price: pulling the plug on the rent-seeking, multi-window foreign exchange regime and allowing the naira to find its level. That move stripped away the illusion of strength that had enriched a few through arbitrage while bleeding the economy. It denied round-trippers their playground and forced capital to respond to fundamentals rather than favours.

For months, the pain was real and visible. Inflation surged, purchasing power shrank, and the criticism was relentless. Yet, as last Thursday’s numbers suggested, the architecture was always designed for this phase: stabilisation, credibility, and gradual recovery. A currency that can strengthen on the back of policy coherence is one that investors can trust, even if cautiously. The Ankara deals and the naira’s performance were not separate stories; they were chapters of the same narrative.

Then came Friday, and with it, the verdict of The Economist. Rarely sentimental and often unforgiving, the magazine offered an assessment that many Nigerians might not have expected so soon. It credited Tinubu’s administration with pulling Africa’s largest economy back from the brink. It noted that painful reforms had stabilised the naira, rebuilt foreign exchange reserves to a seven-year high, and set the stage for renewed growth, with the IMF projecting a 4.4 per cent expansion in 2026.

The Economist did not ignore the hardships. It acknowledged the squeeze on ordinary Nigerians and the strain of debt servicing on public finances. But its core conclusion was unambiguous: the direction is right, the precision of reform is evident, and the economy is no longer wobbling on the edge. For a president whose choices have often been judged harshly in the court of public opinion, that mattered.

Put together, the three strands of the week tell a coherent story. The success in Türkiye was not an isolated diplomatic flourish; it was an external validation of internal reform. Investors and partner nations respond to seriousness, to clarity of purpose, and to governments that are willing to endure short-term pain for long-term gain. The naira’s rally was not a miracle; it was a market response to consistency. And The Economist’s analysis was not flattery; it was a recognition that something fundamental has shifted.

There is still a long road ahead. Stability does not automatically translate into prosperity, and macroeconomic improvements can feel abstract to families struggling with daily costs. Tinubu himself has never pretended otherwise. Yet politics, like economics, moves in phases. Last week marked the end of one such phase and the clear opening of another, one in which credibility begins to compound.

For President Tinubu, it was a reminder that leadership is often vindicated not in applause but in outcomes. A week that began with a flight into Ankara ended with numbers and narratives aligning in his favour. The cameras saw it, the markets felt it, and the world took note. In the unforgiving arithmetic of governance, that counts as a win.

Beyond the headline-grabbing success of the Turkish state visit, the steady rebound of the naira against the dollar and the rare nod of approval from The Economist, the rest of President Tinubu’s week unfolded as a careful blend of statecraft, empathy and symbolism, quiet moments that often say as much about leadership as high-stakes diplomacy.

Midweek, the President turned national attention to matters of shared grief and collective humanity. On Wednesday, he reached out to Super Eagles captain Wilfred Ndidi following the tragic death of his father, Sunday Ndidi, in a road accident in Delta State. Tinubu’s message, sober and deeply personal, underscored the bond between family and nation, reminding Nigerians that even their most celebrated stars are not immune to loss. The condolence resonated all the more because it came just as Ndidi continues to carry the hopes of a football-loving nation on his shoulders.

That same day, the President’s gaze shifted from personal sorrow to a global challenge that increasingly defines the modern age. Speaking through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, at a high-level meeting on climate-induced mobility under Nigeria’s chairmanship of the Rabat Process, Tinubu made a case for coordinated global action. His message was clear: climate change is no longer an abstract environmental concern but a driver of migration, insecurity and humanitarian strain across continents. It was a fitting final note to Nigeria’s tenure as Chair, positioning the country as a thoughtful voice in global conversations that link climate, development and human dignity.

Also on Wednesday, the President mourned the passing of Otunba Adekunle Ojora, a towering figure in Nigeria’s business and public life. Tinubu’s tribute to the 93-year-old industrialist highlighted values; humility, perseverance, hard work and generosity, that once defined a generation of nation builders and which the administration continues to invoke as moral anchors in a reforming economy.

Thursday carried a more reflective, historical tone. At the 2026 Samuel Akintola Memorial Lecture in Ibadan, Tinubu urged Nigerians to draw lessons from the life of the late Premier of Western Nigeria, Chief Ladoke Akintola. Through his representative, he called for courage, unity and a politics of cooperation, warning against bitterness and division, an appeal that echoed the administration’s broader push for national cohesion amid political realignments.

The week closed on a gentler, celebratory note. On Friday, Tinubu congratulated Alhaja Lateefat Gbajabiamila, a 96-year-old pioneer nurse and former local government chair, on her honorary doctorate. In celebrating her resilience and service, the President subtly reinforced a theme that ran through his week: that nationhood is built not only by policies and power but by lives of quiet excellence, compassion and enduring legacy.

Taken together, these moments formed the understated rhythm of a presidency attentive not just to markets and summits, but to memory, mourning and meaning.

Having returned to Abuja from Abu Dhabi late on the previous Saturday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu wasted no time returning to his desk at the State House. There was no ceremonial pause, no indulgence in the fatigue that naturally follows a demanding international outing. Instead, the President slipped seamlessly back into the rhythms of governance, setting things straight and pressing ahead with what has increasingly become his defining pursuit: the steady, deliberate construction of a functional Nigerian state.

From Sunday onward, the week unfolded as a study in motion and method. Day after day, sometimes stretching late into the night, the President worked through meetings, briefs, and decisions with a tempo that suggested not urgency, but clarity. What stood out was not merely the volume of activity, but the way events appeared to align; each one flowing naturally into another, connected by an internal logic that made the entire sequence feel intentional rather than accidental.

To the casual observer, this symmetry might have seemed coincidental. To the more attentive watcher of power, it revealed something else entirely: a presidency running on planning, timing, and an instinctive understanding of political sequence. In a system often criticised for improvisation and reactive governance, the Tinubu Presidency appears increasingly choreographed, not in the theatrical sense, but in the disciplined manner of a long-distance runner who knows exactly when to conserve energy and when to surge.

Two meetings during the week captured this rhythm perfectly.

On Monday, the President received the Governor of Kano State, Abba Kabir Yusuf, in a closed-door session at the State House. By Thursday, a similar audience was granted to the Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde. On the surface, these were routine engagements between the President and subnational leaders. In context, however, they carried layered political meaning.

Both visitors are governors from opposition parties. Both arrived in Abuja amid intense political noise. In Yusuf’s case, weeks of speculation had trailed him; whispers of a possible defection from the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), countered by denials from his political mentor and rival narratives from party loyalists. In Makinde’s case, the controversy was more direct: public remarks distancing himself from the President’s 2027 re-election ambition, rooted in his fallout with former ally and current FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike. Yet, when the President received them, none of that noise appeared to matter.

READ ALSO: Gov Abba Yusuf’s convoluted defection

What mattered was that Kano had security and infrastructure concerns to raise. What mattered was that Oyo’s governor wanted to discuss national and subnational governance. In both instances, Tinubu listened. No grandstanding. No visible irritation. No partisan gatekeeping. The optics that emerged; smiles, cordial exchanges, relaxed body language, told their own story.

It was a subtle but powerful message: this President does not confuse politics with governance.

Makinde would later articulate it plainly. “The President is the President of Nigeria, not the President of APC,” he said, stressing that issues such as insecurity, poverty alleviation and citizens’ welfare had no party colouration. Tinubu did not need to rebut or amplify that statement. His actions already had. By opening his doors to opposition governors, one flirting with defection, the other publicly ruling it out, he projected a leadership style anchored in confidence rather than insecurity.

In a political environment often defined by grudges and zero-sum calculations, this posture matters. It portrays Tinubu as a leader comfortable in his mandate, secure enough to engage critics and rivals alike, and mature enough to understand that national cohesion is built not by exclusion, but by conversation.

This magnanimity, however, does not dilute his focus. If anything, it sharpens it.

While the political class dissected the symbolism of those meetings, the President was already moving on another front, one that cuts to the heart of Nigeria’s economic recovery. On Thursday, Tinubu received the global leadership of Shell Plc at the State House. The outcome was not symbolism, but substance.

What emerged from that meeting was a clear signal to global capital: Nigeria is back in the race.

By approving the gazetting of targeted, investment-linked incentives for Shell’s Bonga South West deep-offshore project, the President demonstrated the same strategic thinking that defined his engagements in Abu Dhabi. These were not blanket concessions or fiscal giveaways. As Tinubu himself stressed, they were “ring-fenced and investment-linked,” designed to unlock new capital, drive incremental production, deepen local content, and generate jobs, without eroding government revenues.

The numbers tell their own story. Since the issuance of executive orders to liberalise the oil and gas sector, Shell alone has invested over $7 billion in Nigeria in just over a year. Now, buoyed by renewed policy clarity and regulatory certainty, the company is signalling fresh investments of up to $20 billion in the coming years. Projects like Bonga North, shallow-water gas developments, and the proposed Bonga South West field are not abstract concepts; they translate into fabrication yards coming back to life, thousands of direct and indirect jobs, long-term foreign exchange inflows, and decades of sustained government revenue.

What makes this sequence remarkable is not just the scale of the investment, but the timing.

Only days earlier, Tinubu had been in Abu Dhabi, advancing Nigeria’s economic and diplomatic interests through high-level engagements and agreements. Barely had the jet touched down in Abuja than another economic gain was being engineered at home. Different venues, same objective. Different partners, same philosophy. Whether in foreign capitals or the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the President’s focus remains constant: pushing Nigeria forward.

This is where the threads of the week converge.

The meetings with Yusuf and Makinde underscored a leadership open to dialogue, unthreatened by dissent, and attentive to the complexities of Nigeria’s plural politics. The engagement with Shell revealed a President equally relentless in economic statecraft, translating reforms into real investment flows. Together, they painted a picture of a presidency operating on multiple planes at once; political stability on one hand, economic expansion on the other, each reinforcing the other.

It is easy to underestimate the discipline required to sustain this balance. Easier still to miss the planning beneath the surface. But when events line up with such regularity; opposition governors welcomed with goodwill, investors reassured with policy certainty, reforms yielding tangible dividends, it becomes harder to dismiss the pattern as coincidence.

Tinubu’s Presidency, now firmly into its stride, is beginning to resemble a long-form strategy rather than a collection of episodic reactions. The reforms initiated early in his tenure are no longer abstract policy statements; they are bearing fruit, attracting capital, and reshaping perceptions. The political engagements are no longer defensive maneuvers; they are expressions of confidence.

Beyond the headline-grabbing optics of bipartisan politics and boardroom economics, the President’s week was also stitched together by quieter, steadier acts that revealed the full texture of governance; ritual, empathy, symbolism, and institutional housekeeping.

It began on Sunday with a pause for recognition. President Tinubu marked the 60th birthday of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, not as a ceremonial courtesy but as an affirmation of reform. In praising Adeniyi’s professionalism and the recalibration of the Customs Service under his watch, the President signalled once again his preference for results over rhetoric and institutions that work over institutions that merely exist.

Monday bore a heavier emotional weight. Tinubu mourned the passing of Kano business patriarch, Alhaji Bature Abdulaziz, acknowledging the loss of a stabilising voice in Nigeria’s trading ecosystem. In the same breath, he condemned the chilling murder of a woman and her six children in Kano, directing swift investigation and prosecution, drawing a firm moral line between the sanctity of life and the brutality that threatens it. The day also carried a continental note, as he congratulated Solid Minerals Minister, Dele Alake, on his re-election as chairman of the Africa Minerals Strategic Group, reinforcing Nigeria’s renewed assertiveness in shaping Africa’s resource future. Condolences followed for the late Chief Imam of Ilorin, Sheikh Muhammad Bashir Saliu, a bridge-builder in faith and community.

Tuesday sustained the rhythm of empathy and affirmation: mourning Christian patriarch Moses Adegbite, while celebrating Jumoke Okoya-Thomas, both for her birthday and her elevation within Lagos’ traditional hierarchy.

By Thursday, the President returned to institutional focus, charging the new leadership of the Federal Character Commission to act as the nation’s conscience, even as he approved key ambassadorial postings to France, the United States, and the United Kingdom, quiet but consequential moves in diplomacy.

Friday crowned the week with symbolism and validation: a chieftaincy honour for Rep. Kafilat Ogbara, and the Olubadan’s succinct verdict, if you know where Tinubu is coming from, you will understand where he is taking Nigeria.

In the end, the week told a simple but powerful story. Nigeria’s President is not merely reacting to events; he is sequencing them. He is not choosing between politics and economics; he is managing both with a single-minded commitment to restoration. And perhaps most tellingly, he is doing so with a calm assurance that suggests he knows exactly where the country is headed, and how each step, however different it may appear, fits into the larger design.

That sense of order, in a system long accustomed to drift, may yet prove to be one of the most consequential reforms of all.

Last week unfolded like a carefully choreographed score in the long and often arduous symphony of reform that has defined the presidency of Bola Ahmed Tinubu. It was another eventful week, yes, but more importantly, it was another week in which Nigeria began to take delivery of the fruits of reforms that were painful at the start, disruptive in the middle, and are now steadily yielding measurable rewards.

The week’s defining moment did not even begin in Abu Dhabi, where the President spent much of the period on official duty. It began at home, with the quiet but consequential announcement that Nigeria had been officially removed from the European Union’s list of high-risk third countries for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT). The decision, reached in December 2025 and made public on January 9, only fully sank into national consciousness on Thursday when the Federal Government formally welcomed the development. And rightly so.

For years, Nigeria laboured under the stigma of that designation, an invisible but costly tag that subjected Nigerian businesses, banks, and individuals to enhanced scrutiny, raised compliance costs, slowed transactions, and dampened investor appetite. Its removal is not cosmetic. It is structural. It is the difference between suspicion and confidence, between hesitation and engagement. It is, in real terms, a restoration of trust.

This milestone did not happen by chance. It followed Nigeria’s exit from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list in October 2025, after painstaking reforms to address long-standing deficiencies in financial oversight, regulation, and enforcement. The European Union’s own Delegated Regulation, adopted on December 4, 2025, merely followed the evidence. From January 29, 2026, transactions between Nigeria and EU member states will no longer attract automatic heightened scrutiny. That alone is a quiet revolution for Nigerian commerce.

Finance Minister Wale Edun captured the moment succinctly when he described the delisting as a validation of President Tinubu’s “extraordinary leadership, unwavering political will and clear reform vision”. It is also, unmistakably, a reward for the sacrifices Nigerians have endured since May 29, 2023, sacrifices often questioned in the moment, but now increasingly justified by outcomes. The reforms were tough because the rot was deep. The resistance was fierce because the vested interests were entrenched. But Tinubu’s boldness, his refusal to govern by half-measures, has ensured that progress, when it comes, comes with weight.

If Brussels provided the validation, Abu Dhabi supplied the momentum. President Tinubu arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday to participate in the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week at the invitation of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and once again demonstrated that foreign trips under his watch are not ceremonial excursions but transactional missions.

On the sidelines of the summit, Tinubu and his UAE counterpart witnessed the signing of a landmark Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates. For Nigeria’s business community, this was not just another trade document, it was a doorway.

Read Also: Tinubu hails Super Eagles’ fighting spirit after AFCON bronze triumph

Under the agreement, the UAE will eliminate tariffs on over 7,000 Nigerian products, granting immediate duty-free access to agricultural and industrial goods ranging from fish and seafood to oil seeds, cereals, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Over the next three to five years, tariffs will also fall on machinery, vehicles, electrical equipment, apparel and furniture. For Nigerian manufacturers long hemmed in by narrow export markets, the CEPA offers a clear, competitive pathway into one of the world’s most dynamic trading hubs.

The agreement goes further. Nigerian businesses can now establish operations in the UAE through subsidiaries and branches. Business visitors gain extended access, while executives and specialists can relocate with their companies for renewable three-year periods. For investors, the clarity provided by the agreement removes long-standing ambiguities that have discouraged capital inflows. This is economic diplomacy with intent.

Tinubu understands something fundamental: that credibility abroad is inseparable from coherence at home. That is why his participation at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week was not limited to applause lines. He spoke of electricity as the foundation of modern economies. He spoke of balancing industrialisation with decarbonisation. He spoke of reforming global finance to unlock private capital for developing economies. And he backed words with policy.

On Thursday, he approved the full roll-out of Nigeria’s carbon market framework, a far-reaching climate policy projected to yield at least $3 billion annually by 2030. It is an audacious move, positioning Nigeria not as a passive recipient of climate prescriptions but as an active player in the global carbon economy. With a national carbon registry, mandatory emissions reporting, phased compliance, and generous incentives for investors, the framework aligns environmental responsibility with economic opportunity. It is diversification by design.

Yet even as the President was winning friends and sealing deals abroad, he did not lose sight of duty at home. Thursday also marked the 2026 Armed Forces Celebration and Remembrance Day. Though physically in Abu Dhabi, Tinubu was fully present in spirit and message. Represented at the ceremony by Vice President Kashim Shettima, he used the occasion to reaffirm his commitment to the welfare and dignity of Nigeria’s Armed Forces.

His message was sober, respectful, and deeply human. He honoured the fallen, acknowledged the pain of their families, and spoke directly to serving personnel across land, sea and air. “A nation that forgets its fallen heroes loses its direction; Nigeria, however, remembers,” he said. It was not rhetoric. Under his administration, defense and security have remained a priority, not just in words but in budgets, reforms and institutional attention.

Beyond the big-ticket assurances that defined the week; Nigeria’s removal from the European Union’s AML/CFT watchlist, the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with the United Arab Emirates, and the solemn national salute to the Armed Forces, the week also revealed something quieter but equally instructive about Tinubu: a President attentive to the full texture of national life.

From Sunday, the tone was set with a message to former Senate President Ahmad Lawan, where Tinubu acknowledged legislative service anchored on dialogue, stability and cooperation. It was not mere courtesy, but a reminder that institutions endure because individuals once carried them with discipline and restraint.

On Monday, the President turned to history and heritage, mourning the passing of Oba of Badagry, Babatunde Akran. His tribute reflected a respect for traditional authority and community leadership, recognising how decades of steady guidance can hold together harmony, tolerance and identity in an ancient kingdom.

Tuesday and Wednesday extended that sensitivity to personal loss and national memory. Tinubu mourned former First Lady of Ogun State, Chief Lucia Onabanjo, whose long life symbolised compassion and quiet service, and Yakubu Mohammed, a veteran journalist and co-founder of Newswatch Magazine, who helped define fearless reporting in difficult times. In both, the President spoke not just to families, but to values, service, courage and conscience.

The same attention followed in his felicitation of the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, and the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dr Mariya Mahmoud, tying personal milestones to ongoing reform efforts. He celebrated Nigeria’s creative power at AFRIMA, hailed party stalwarts, honoured elder statesman Bisi Akande, and mourned the humane courage of Imam Abdullahi Abubakar.

These gestures underline a presidency that watches the details, recognising that governance is not only about agreements and policies, but about people, memory and meaning.

Taken together, last week told a coherent story. From Brussels to Abu Dhabi, from climate markets to military remembrance, the threads were connected by a single theme: deliberate leadership. Tinubu’s presidency has never promised instant gratification. It promised restructuring. It promised pain before progress. And increasingly, it is delivering proof that the path, though steep, was not misguided.

Nigeria’s removal from the EU’s AML/CFT list is not the end of reform; it is a checkpoint. The CEPA with the UAE is not a silver bullet; it is an instrument. The carbon market framework is not a slogan; it is a system. Each gain is incremental, yes, but together they signal a country steadily reclaiming credibility, competitiveness and confidence.

For Nigerians who placed their trust in Tinubu’s administrative and political acumen, last week offered something rare in public life: reassurance. Reassurance that sacrifice was not in vain. Reassurance that boldness, when anchored in vision, pays off. And reassurance that Nigeria, once again, is learning how to convert resolve into results.