The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Emmanuel Macron

  • Greenland row: Macron proposes meeting with G7, Russia, Denmark

    Greenland row: Macron proposes meeting with G7, Russia, Denmark

    French President Emmanuel Macron has proposed holding a meeting in Paris tomorrow between the G7 countries, Russia, and Denmark, U.S. President Donald Trump said.

    Trump said the proposal was outlined in private text messages exchanged between the two leaders, which he shared on his Truth Social platform early yesterday.

    The Élysée Palace confirmed the authenticity of the messages to dpa.

    In the messages posted on Truth Social, Macron brings up Trump’s demands that the U.S. acquire Greenland from Denmark, writing: “I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland.”

    Trump argues that U.S. control over the world’s biggest island is necessary for U.S. and global security needs. His European NATO allies, which include Denmark, strictly oppose this.

    Trump will be in Europe for the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he is due to speak on today.

    Macron – as current chair of the Group of Seven Western industrialised nations – proposed that he set up a meeting of the G7 powers, plus Denmark, Russia, Ukraine, and Syria, for tomorrow afternoon in Paris.

    He then invited Trump to have dinner with him in the evening.

    The G7 consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

    From 1998 until 2014, Russia was also a member of the group, and it was consequently known as the G8.

    It was excluded following the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

    Macron’s text to Trump emphasised areas where France and the U.S. are cooperating.

    He wrote: “We are totally in line in Syria. We can do great things in Iran.”

    In Syria, France is working with the U.S. to promote unity and territorial integrity in Syria and to ensure compliance with the ceasefire, and remains loyal to its allies in the fight against the Islamic State terrorist militia.

    Iran has been rocked this year by nationwide protests, and France called on the Iranian authorities to respect fundamental freedoms.

    Read Also: Nigerians to feel impacts of new spectrums opening before end of 2026, says NCC

    The next few days, however, are set to see a flurry of diplomatic activity over Greenland rather than the Middle East.

    Trump has said that “a meeting of the various parties” regarding his bid for Greenland would be held in Davos.

    He said he had spoken with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during a phone call about the meeting.

    In another apparently private message posted on Trump’s Truth Social platform early yesterday, Rutte wrote that he was “committed to finding a way forward on Greenland.”

    German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday he expects to meet Trump at Davos to discuss the Greenland dispute. Greenland is an autonomous territory belonging to Denmark.

    With a population of just under 57,000, Greenland has repeatedly said it does not wish to become part of the U.S.

    NATO allies also say that Greenland does not need to be taken over by the U.S. to protect the Arctic.

  • Macron calls for stronger international support to Nigeria on security

    Macron calls for stronger international support to Nigeria on security

    …pledges fresh French partnership

    President Emmanuel Macron of France on Sunday urged Nigeria’s international partners to scale up engagement and support for the country’s fight against terrorism and related security threats, declaring that “no one can remain a spectator” in the face of rising violent extremism in West Africa.

    In a post on his verified X handle, @EmmanuelMacron, the French leader said he had spoken with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to whom he conveyed France’s solidarity “in the face of the various security challenges, particularly the terrorist threat in the North.”

    Macron said France would, at the request of the Nigerian government, strengthen its security partnership with the authorities and increase humanitarian support to communities affected by violence.

    “At his request, we will strengthen our partnership with the authorities and our support for the affected populations. We call on all our partners to step up their engagement,” the French President stated.

    READ ALSO; By 2026, countries will be borrowing from Nigeria— First Lady declares

    “No one can remain a spectator,” Macron added, in what appears to be a direct appeal to Western allies and regional partners to collaborate more robustly with Nigeria as it battles terrorism, banditry and other criminal incursions.

    Nigeria has in recent months escalated military operations across the North-East, North-Central and the North-West, amid renewed international concern over the activities of extremist groups and cross-border criminal networks in the Sahel region.

    The Nigerian Presidency has yet to issue an official response to Macron’s message as of the time of filing this report.

  • Macron names loyalist Lecornu as France’s PM

    Macron names loyalist Lecornu as France’s PM

    French President Emmanuel Macron named loyalist Sebastien Lecornu, a one-time conservative protege who rallied behind his 2017 presidential run, as prime minister on Tuesday, defying expectations he might tack towards the left.

    The choice of Lecornu, 39, indicates Macron’s determination to press on with a minority government that stands firmly behind his pro-business economic reform agenda, under which taxes on business and the wealthy have been cut and the retirement age raised.

    Macron was forced to appoint a fifth prime minister in less than two years after parliament ousted Francois Bayrou nine months into the role over his plans for taming the country’s ballooning debt.

    In handing the job to Lecornu, Macron risks alienating the centre-left Socialist Party and leaves the president and his government depending on Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally for support in parliament.

    Read Also: South Africa vs. Nigeria: Chukwueze, Nwabali  sure of Super  Eagles’ win

    Lecornu’s immediate priority will be to forge consensus on a budget for 2026, a task that proved the undoing of Bayrou who had pushed for aggressive spending cuts to rein in a deficit standing at nearly double the EU ceiling of 3% of GDP.

    The political upheaval this week lays bare deepening turmoil in France that is weakening the euro zone’s second-biggest economy as it sinks deeper into a debt quagmire.

    Lecornu’s nomination is not without peril for Macron. He risks appearing tone-deaf at a time of simmering popular discontent and with polls showing voters want change. Nationwide “Block Everything” protests threaten widespread disruption on Wednesday.

    Lecornu most recently served as Macron’s defence minister, overseeing an increase in defence spending and helping shape European thinking on security guarantees for Ukraine in the event a peace deal with Russia is brokered.

    Lecornu entered politics canvassing for former President Nicolas Sarkozy when he was 16. He became mayor of a small town in Normandy when he turned 18 and then former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s youngest government adviser at the age of 22.

    He left the conservative Les Republicains party to join Macron’s centrist political movement when the president was first elected in 2017. Five years later, he ran Macron’s re-election campaign.

  • Macron urges Europe to stop buying American military equipment

    Macron urges Europe to stop buying American military equipment

    Amid Europe’s growing rift with President Donald Trump, a French lawmaker at the weekend called on the United States to “give us back the Statue of Liberty” now that Americans “have chosen to side with the tyrants”.

    But French President Emmanuel Macron came out with a more concrete plan to split with Washington. In interviews published at the weekend in several French newspapers, Macron said he intends “to go and convince European states that have become accustomed to buying American” to purchase European missile systems and fighter jets instead.

    “Those who buy Patriot should be offered the new-generation Franco-Italian SAMP/T. Those who buy the F-35, should be offered the Rafale,” he told Le Parisien. “That’s the way to increase the rate of production.”

    Read Also: Confronting Nigeria’s counterfeit drug crisis

    While Belgium and the Netherlands still plan to buy new F-35s, Portugal is wavering on replacing its F-16s with the next generation of Lockheed Martin fighter jets, suggesting last week that it may look for European alternatives.

    Not just Europe. Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney last week ordered his government to review its deal to buy as many as 88 American F-35s. So far, Ottawa has budgeted to buy only the first 16 planes.

    Macron said he asked European defence contractors to find ways to reduce costs. But Turkey could prove a major winner of any European decoupling from the U.S. This month, the leading Turkish drone manufacturer formed a joint venture with one of Italy’s biggest weapons manufacturers.

    Leaders in European capitals and Ankara are now calling for closer defence ties.

  • Macron’s sabre-rattling

    Macron’s sabre-rattling

    French President Emmanuel Macron recently touched a raw nerve in post-colonial consciousness of Africa. He said some African nations have not shown enough gratitude for his country’s deployment of troops to help them battle insurgents and thereby preserve their sovereignty. Countries of the Sahel region beset by civil conflicts and Islamic extremism, according to him, remained sovereign only because of deployment of French forces.

    Speaking to French ambassadors at a conference in Paris, the president dismissed the narrative that his country’s troops were expelled from the Sahel owing to waning influence of Paris on its former colonies. “We had a security relationship. It was in two folds: one was our commitment against terrorism since 2013,” he said. “I think someone forgot to say ‘thank you.’ But not to worry, it will come with time. Ingratitude, I am well placed to know, is a disease not transmissible in man,” he added, insisting that France’s influence was not in decline in Africa but that the nation was only “reorganising itself” on the continent.

    In recent years, French troops had to withdraw from Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali following military coups in those countries, upon which anti-French sentiment intensified. Presently, they are preparing their exit from Chad, Ivory Coast and Senegal. Chad had last November announced it was ending its defense pact with France to reassert its sovereignty. In 2022, French forces left the Central African Republic after deploying there in 2013, following a coup that sparked civil war.

    Read Also: Nigeria leads charge to unlock $29tn African economy by 2050

    Macron ascribed the exit of his country’s forces from the region to reasoned choice following successive coups. He said: “We left because there were coups d’état. We were there at the request of sovereign states that had asked France to come. From the moment there were coups d’état, and when people said, ‘Our priority is no longer the fight against terrorism’… France no longer had a place there because we are not auxiliaries to putschists. So, we left.”

    Macron’s submissions irritated African leaders, especially those of countries that are former French colonies. Chadian foreign affairs minister, Abderaman Koulamallah, accused the French leader of showing contempt towards Africa and Africans. He said in a statement: “France has never endowed the Chadian army in any significant way nor contributed to its structural development.” According to him, French contribution to Chad’s nationhood has often been limited to its own strategic interests, “with no real lasting impact on the development of the Chadian people.”

    Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko explained that his country’s decision to close all foreign military bases, including those of the French, “stems from its sole will as a free, independent and sovereign country.”

    Whatever may have been Macron’s frustrations, his comment was insulting to Africa and portrayed Africans as incapable of self-governance. He should apologise.

  • As President Bola Tinubu goes to Paris

    As President Bola Tinubu goes to Paris

    By Simbo Olorunfemi and Ade Adefeko

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be visiting France in a few days to be hosted by French President, Emmanuel Macron on a State Visit. While President Tinubu has visited France at different times since he assumed office, most of the trips have been private.

    However, his first official foreign trip in June 2023, less than a month after his inauguration, was to Paris to attend the “Summit on New Global Financing Pact” to deliberate on how to reposition global financial architecture in consideration of less developed countries dealing with debt hangover, effects of climate change and Covid-19, and struggling with energy transition. The summit was hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, who warmly received President Tinubu on that visit.

    This trip to France is, however, different in a few respects. Not only is it a state visit, which is a formal visit by the head of a sovereign country at the invitation of the head of state of another sovereign country, which is considered to be the highest expression of friendly relations between two countries, this is the first such visit in 24 years by a Nigerian leader. The last state visit by a Nigerian leader to France was by President Olusegun Obasanjo in February 2020.

    It is early days yet, but perhaps we already have a signal that the efforts invested by President Tinubu in his role as the Chief Diplomat, with the several foreign trips he has made, are beginning to yield fruits.  It could well be that Nigeria and France have come to a renewed realisation of the importance of strong bilateral relations between the two countries, with an interesting past behind them, a compelling present before them, and immense possibilities for the future.

    The historical nature of the Nigeria-France relations, characterised by upheavals and mutual suspicion, has been generously documented and interrogated by scholars of Nigeria’s foreign policy. However, as we argued in our 2021 intervention, https://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/495323-nigeria-france-and-the-spirit-of-fraternite-by-simbo-olorunfemi-and-ade-adefeko.html, apart from other areas in which there is a convergence of interests between the two, Nigeria and France must work with the mind that they are obviously the two most powerful interests in West Africa, which predisposes them to rub themselves the wrong way.

    But the time has come for them to find accommodation for each other’s interests and chart a mutually beneficial course for themselves, especially in heralding peace in the Sahel and other troubled parts of the region.

    There has been an uptick in the relationship between Nigeria and France in recent years, possibly out of mutual love and respect between Nigeria’s immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari and Emmanuel Macron of France, who has a personal relationship with Nigeria stemming from his stint as an intern in the country.

    Trade relations have been on an upward swing between one of Europe’s largest economies and one of Africa’s largest economies, extending beyond oil to agriculture, finance, energy services, and technology. Nigeria is France’s leading trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa, and the fourth-largest in Africa, only behind Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, which were French colonies in Africa. Historically, France has been a major buyer of raw materials from Nigeria, accounting for 20% of France’s trade with sub-Saharan Africa, amounting to €3.53 billion, in 2021.

    In the first quarter of 2024, France emerged as Nigeria’s largest trade partner, surpassing Spain and the United States for the first time in recent years, with French imports from Nigeria rising to $1.4 billion, accounting for 11.05% of Nigeria’s total exports, ahead of Spain, which had led for the past five years, and the United States, solidifying France’s position as Nigeria’s top trade partner.

    While petroleum products have dominated French imports from Nigeria over the years, standing at 95% in 2021, it has scaled down to 88% as of the first quarter of 2024. French foreign direct investment in Nigeria has doubled in a decade, putting it ahead of the United Kingdom and the United States of America, with around 100 French companies operating in different sectors of the economy.

    For the Tinubu Administration which has made the drive for foreign investment the centrepiece of its diplomatic drive, with the President as the Diplomat-in-chief, this visit could not have been better structured with the firm integration of leading Nigerian business interests, such as BUA, OLAM as part of the delegation. It is good to see the level of progress in only a few years by the France-Nigeria Business Council, launched in 2018 to bring together major French and Nigerian companies that wish to launch investment partnerships.

     This visit should serve as an avenue to further strengthen security and defence cooperation agreements between the two countries, deepening current support to Nigeria’s security forces not only with the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in the fight against Boko Haram and terrorist activities around and beyond the Lake Chad region, as well as in Nigeria’s north-west, while enhancing efforts at improving maritime security, especially along the Gulf of Guinea, to curb the different illicit activities in that region.

    It is not enough, however, to seek support abroad without taking time to put our house in order. There is work to be done within to bring to fruition gains from agreements signed during visits of this nature.

    With Dr. Jumoke Oduwole as the Minister of Trade and Investment, it is hoped that the Nigerian business environment will experience significant improvement given the work she did with the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) which was established in 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari “to make Nigeria a progressively easier place to do business by removing bureaucratic constraints to doing business in Nigeria, as well as improving the perception of investors and stakeholders about the Nigerian business terrain” credited with reforms that resulted in improvement in Nigeria’s ranking on the “Éase of Doing Business Index’’.

    It is over a year already, since President Tinubu recalled High Commissioners and Ambassadors from their duty posts. In the case of France, it is slightly longer, as Nigeria’s last Ambassador to France and exemplary diplomat, Kayode Laro, passed in August last year. It is no use having the President put in the shift, and doing the groundwork when there are no Ambassadors in the missions to see through with the gains made.

    Read Also: President Bola Tinubu Introduces Fuel at N230 per Litre with CNG

    The Charges d’Affaires can only do so much, with diplomatic protocols denying them privileges accorded Ambassadors. For instance, they can’t meet with Presidents and Ministers. Nigeria cannot take full advantage of the benefits that accrue from such a visit without an ambassador in place. The Diplomat-in-Chief will do well to make the appointments now so that what sometimes becomes a lengthy process that culminates in the presentation of letters of credence can commence in earnest.

    There is hardly a better time and opportunity to reset and strengthen the relationship between the two countries than now. President Macron’s affinity and history with Nigeria always come to the fore. When President Bola Tinubu visited Paris last year, the reception between him and the French President, Emmanuel Macron, was warm, like one between old friends. We must find a way to build on what we have going between us to the benefit of both countries and the troubled region. The historic nature of this visit speaks for itself, we must make the best of it

    There is no doubt that it is an increasingly interdependent world, which suggests that every country must find ways to prioritise cooperation and collaboration, let go of mutual suspicion, and key into the opportunities out there for the benefit of citizens (individuals and corporates) of the two countries who have so much in common so that the spirit of liberte, egalite and fraternite might prevail.

    -Olorunfemi is a Specialist on Nigeria’s Foreign Policy and Managing Editor of Africa Enterprise, while Adefeko is Vice President, Olam International Nigeria and Honorary Consul of Botswana to Nigeria (Lagos).

  • Boko Haram: Stop sponsoring terrorism in Africa, protesters tell Macron

     

    The Movement Against Slavery and Terrorism (MAST) has cautioned France President, Emmanuel Macron, to stop sponsoring terrorism in Nigeria and other African nations.

     

    The Pan-African group made their voices heard on Wednesday at the end of a one-day walk to the French embassy in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital city.

     

    The visibly frustrated Africans, numbering in their hundreds demanded that the French authorities must end ties with Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists which it has routinely armed.

     

    Addressing the media in front of the French consulate, convener, Princess Ajibola said the mission was to get Macron’s attention that Nigeria is a sovereign nation and any attempt to compromise its territorial integrity would be resisted.

     

    According to madam Ajibola, the group has overwhelming evidence to back its claim that the European nation is indeed behind the recent upsurge in terrorism in the country.

     

    The group reckoned the French action is born out of greed – hinged on economic benefits owing to the avalanche of economic resources in the North-East, particularly the Lake Chad Basin region.

     

    The Movement Against Slavery and Terrorism, therefore, warned the French authorities to desist from further mischief which has undermined the remarkable gains of the Nigerian Army.

     

    The group also called the attention of the United Nations to the crime against humanity being perpetrated by Macron.

     

    Read full address below:

     

    Ladies and Gentlemen,

    This is a protest for the rescue of the soul of our dear country Nigeria from the forces of evil that have attempted to cause disharmony and disintegration by covertly sponsoring the activities of terrorists in Nigeria.

     

    We embarked on this protest march to send a powerful message to the French authorities that Nigerians are indeed aware of its nefarious activities with regards to the ongoing war against terrorism in North-East Nigeria.

     

    The Movement Against Slavery and Terrorism as a civil society organization decided to take our protest to the French Embassy in Abuja, so the message could be relayed to the French Authorities wherever they are that Nigeria is indeed a sovereign country and as such any form or attempt to compromise our territorial integrity would be resisted wholeheartedly.

     

    Since 2015 when the present administration assumed leadership of this country, there has been tremendous progress recorded in the fight against the Boko Haram terrorist group. So much so that Nigerian troops captured their operational headquarters (Camp Zero) in Sambisa forest to the glory of God.

     

    It didn’t stop there; the Nigerian troops also recaptured the over 16 local government areas in North-East Nigeria that were once under the control of Boko Haram terrorists. By and large, the Boko Haram group was decimated and fled in their droves to the fringes of the Lake Chad Basin region, from where they launch an attack on soft target communities within that vicinity.

     

    We are aware that some vested interest was not happy with the gains made by Nigeria in the fight against terrorism. As such, they began providing logistic support under humanitarian cover to the Boko Haram fighters.

     

    They also assumed the role of the mouthpiece of the Boko Haram terrorist group. They used their state medium to promote their nefarious activities and to give them the needed psychological boost.

    Read Also: Macron warns battle against IS will continue for years

     

    The Movement Against Slavery and Terrorism wishes to state in unequivocal terms that France is indeed responsible for the resurgence of Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria in recent times because there is overwhelming evidence that it has been selling arms and ammunitions to the Boko Haram terrorist group. These arms come into the country through the francophone countries.

     

    We also wish to send this message to the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, that what France is doing under his watch is indeed a crime against humanity. As such, it must, as a matter of urgency, desist from spreading terrorism in Nigeria and the African countries.

     

    The Movement Against Slavery and Terrorism sees the actions of France as an assault on our sovereignty as a country. This is indeed despicable and must be condemned by all and sundry.

     

    We are also aware that the actions of France are hinged on economic benefits given the avalanche of economic resources in North-East Nigeria, particularly the Lake Chad Basin region.

     

    This is indeed an attempt at recolonization, which by all standards is puerile and won’t stand the test of time because Nigerians would resist every move with passion.

     

    The Movement Against Slavery and Terrorism is by this protest asking the French authorities to desist from their evil ways or face the full wrath of Nigerians who are ever ready to protect the sovereignty of the country.

     

    The Movement Against Slavery and Terrorism is also by this protest informing the relevant authorities in Nigeria to act in the best interest of Nigeria as it would indeed be a slap on our faces should we allow France to carry on with its destabilization plot on Nigeria.

     

    The Movement Against Slavery and Terrorism is also calling on the United Nations to investigate the role of France in the spread of terrorism in Nigeria and Africa.

     

    France must also stop the sale of Arms and Ammunition to the Boko Haram terrorist group in the interest of peace and tranquility. This is on the heels that the bulk of the French NGOs operating in North-East Nigeria are carrying out espionage activities and passing the same to the leadership of the Boko Haram terrorist group on the instruction of French authorities.

     

    The Movement Against Slavery and Terrorism is indeed saying enough is enough, and France must stop the distasteful support it has been extending to the Boko Haram terrorist group in Nigeria, which is aimed at making Nigeria erupt in flames.

     

    The Movement Against Slavery and Terrorism wishes to inform the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, that the world is indeed watching closely and should the French authorities not halt the spread of terrorism in Nigeria, the day of reckoning is indeed near.

     

  • World Economic Forum starts amid economic, political worries

    At least, 3,000 and managers kicked-off their annual meeting in the Swiss resort of Davos on Tuesday, to discuss solutions to global challenges, in spite of the absence of some of the world key leaders.

    Brazil’s new far-right President Jair Bolsonaro will hold the first keynote speech of the four-day World Economic Forum annual meeting in the snowy mountains in the afternoon.

    It is Bolsonaro’s first international appearance since he was sworn in as president at the start of January.

    Although the controversial populist leader has announced a plan to privatise infrastructure, it is still unclear whether he will really opt for ultra-liberal economic policies.

    The Brazilian president took the forum’s keynote slot from U.S. President Donald Trump, who cancelled his attendance to address a week-long partial government shutdown.

    Read Also: World Remit launches low-cost transfer service from South Africa

    British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron are also forgoing Davos this year, opting instead to address political crises at home.

    Their absence is likely to place the focus on attendees such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe or UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

    Surveys and forecast published ahead of the Davos meeting showed that slowing global economic growth, populism, political tensions and trade wars are among the major worries of the world leaders.

    The concern also include and Britain’s unclear path out of the EU.

    This year official theme for the meeting is “Globalization 4.0″, a vision of an interconnected world that tackles the economic inequality that goes along with globalised trade and production.

  • Macron: AFRIFF announces Lagos campus for French film school

    THE visit by President Emmanuel Macron of France to Lagos on July 3, 2018 holds memories of a series of new partnerships between the French and Nigerian creative sectors.

    One of the initiatives, as announced by the Founder/CEO of Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF), Ms. Chioma Ude, during the historic cultural event and hosting of Macron at the Afrikan Shrine, Agidingbi, Lagos, was her festival’s partnership with Cinéfabrique, a film school in Lyon, France to establish a Nigerian campus in Lagos.

    The philosophy behind the Nigerian branch of Cinéfabrique, according to Ude, “is to marry art with the commercial nature of Nollywood, and taking our film global… taking our expertise global too, and equipping our film students to work anywhere in the world.”

    She described the institution as a private commercial elite school which will also have scholarship for very talented students that can’t afford it.

    “There is no film school of this kind in Nigeria currently. Two years will be done in Nigeria and the last academic year in France. There will also be summer programs for young secondary school students and master classes for the professionals to constantly upgrade their skills,” she said.

    Speaking at the Afrika Shrine, Ude disclosed how AFRIFF has, in the last eight year, focused on training the youths in motion picture production:

    “I am humbled to be recognized for doing what I love to do best. My team and I have run the African International Film Festival (AFRIFF) for eight years and have trained over 2,000 students; sending the best 200 abroad at no cost to these students. This has been made possible by Access Bank and Ford Foundation.”

    On partnership with Cinéfabrique, she said: “Two years ago, we partnered the French Embassy here in Lagos. I went back to my team members and I said, we’ve partnered with the French, and, going forward, our students will be going to France and they said why France? What is so special about France? And I said two things come to mind; the country is very rich in culture – just like Nigeria – just like Lagos. It’s a country that started something phenomenal in motion picture. Also, two brothers; Auguste Lumière and Louis Lumière were among the first filmmakers in history. They held their first private screening of projected motion pictures in 1895 in Paris. They moved to Lyon in 1870 where, incidentally, the school we partnered with is located.

    “The school we partnered with in France happens to be in Lyon. It is called Cinéfabrique. Upon sending our students to Cinéfabrique in Lyon, they came back very enriched and ahead of their peers. It was an eye-opening experience for our students, AFRIFF and Cinéfabrique. So I want to share this experience with many more students with the help of Yoann Talhouarne, Olivier Follin, Claude Mouriéras, my partner, Olugbenga Obadina, team members and my very supportive family for establishing Cinéfabrique here in Lagos. AFRIFF Foundation will like to thank everyone that has been part of this successful process.”

    Recently, AFRIFF initiated Nigeria’s participation in the popular Cine Nomad film exchange programme – a film collaboration initiative that connects film crews from different nationalities. In the programme, involving graduates from five different film schools: the ISIS-SE and IMAGINE in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; the ISMA in Cotonou, Benin Republic; Lodz Film School, Poland; CinéFabrique in Lyon, France, and AFRIFF from Nigeria, 15 students are represented Nigeria in the other four countries, just as select young filmmakers from each of the four countries shot their film projects in Nigeria.

    Anchored on the belief that diversity makes the world move forward, the Cine Nomad programme has burgeoning filmmakers travelling through borders, exploring creative freedom, cultural exchanges, and ability to create together as values to stand up for.

    For the programme which kicked off on May 22nd, the projects were picked by an international jury from the participating countries which included Nigeria’s Mildred Okwo of Audrey Silva Productions and  Laurent Cantet, the 2008 winner of Palme d’Or in Cannes for Entre les murs.

    The Nigerian AFRIFF participants were sponsored by Envivo Communications and Arise Aliga Foundation.

  • Macron resurrects Fela

    Sometimes visitors point the way. That may well be the main lesson to draw from French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Nigeria. It was a visit of various flavours: diplomacy, politics, economics, security, business and culture. In the end, Macron’s celebration of culture was the biggest attraction.

    It is interesting that Macron was attracted to the New Afrika Shrine at Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos, an unlikely attraction for a visiting president. Regarded as the home of Afrobeat, the Afrika Shrine was originally founded by the late music legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, but was rebuilt at another site and renamed New Afrika Shrine by his son, Femi Kuti, who is also a music star in his own right.

    Macron’s historic visit to the nightspot, the first by a president, was the stuff of news.Not surprisingly, stigmatised because of its marijuana-smoking crowd and its hedonistic devotees, the shrine was a no-go area to leaders until Macron rewrote the narrative.

    He recalled his stint as a diplomatic worker in Nigeria in the early 2000s: ”I discovered Nigeria and I discovered Lagos and I discovered the shrine. This place is an iconic place and it is a place where the best of music is given…the shrine is a cultural hub, an iconic hub and is very important for me first on a personal level, and that is why I want to say with a lot of humility that I recognise the importance of this place; I recognise the place of culture…”

    Macron’s portrait of the shrine resurrected Fela. By showing that he is a friend of the shrine, Macron endorsed music that speaks truth to power. There is no doubt that Fela’s death in 1997 meant that a critical progressive voice had gone. He was not just a musical idol but a protester with a sense of mission. His unapologetic activism on the side of the people was daring and defiant; and he was willing to pay the price for his anti-establishment campaign. Music was indeed a weapon for him, and he used it against the enemies of progress with all the potency of a visionary iconoclast.

    Macron’s positive memories of the cultural spot and his definition of its significance should prompt a rethink by the country’s leaders. It is noteworthy that he also highlighted the African Cultural Season 2020, which is expected to be hosted by France and organised by Africans. His participation in a skit at the shrine alongside some of Nollywood’s best was a measure of his cultural enthusiasm.

    Ahead of the shrine visit on July 3, President Muhammadu Buhari and Macron had met at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, for talks on security and terrorism. It is positive that two major development projects are on the front burner as a result of their meeting. The signing of a letter of intent for the financing of the urban mobility improvement programme initiated by the Lagos State Government will enhance development. The deal involves the equivalent of $200m loan to be provided by the French Development Agency (AFD) to the Federal Government.

    The project seeks to develop eight priority bus corridors connected to the mass transit network (urban train and high-level service bus with a total length of 41 kilometres) in the country’s most urbanised state. This project is expected to contribute to the megacity’s sustainable urban development through the operation of a public transport network combining quality service, efficiency, accessibility, reliability, safety, reduction of polluting emissions and socio-economic and financial sustainability.

    In addition, the two leaders witnessed the signing of an agreement involving $75m to improve water supply in Kano city. This project, to be financed with an AFD loan to the Federal Government, targets the rehabilitation and densification of the network and rehabilitation of the main water production facilities.

    Macron found the time to interact with over 2,000 promising entrepreneurs from Africa, who are alumni of the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Programme. Macron’s participation reflected his recognition that African entrepreneurs are important to the continent’s desired economic transformation. The country’s leaders should do more to promote entrepreneurship in a world that is laying increasing emphasis on the role of the private sector in development.

    It was at the New Afrika Shrine that Macron made his most striking remarks in connection with development. It was a befitting setting. Macron observed:  ”Africa needs a new generation of Africans to share the new narrative about Africa all over the world… Let me remind you that this place – Shrine – is a music place as well as politics, which is needed to change the society. So, I will say to the youths, politics is important, be involved.” This is food for thought for the country‘s youths, particularly considering the May signing of the Not Too Young To Run Bill by President Buhari.

    Forty-year-old Macron, who himself made the headlines in May 2017 when he became the youngest president in the history of France, displayed energy and enthusiasm for development that should inspire Nigeria’s leaders. Indeed, Macron was here.