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Tag: West African Economic Summit

  • Tinubu welcomes leaders, investors to West African Economic Summit

    Tinubu welcomes leaders, investors to West African Economic Summit

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has welcomed regional leaders, international investors, and business executives to Abuja for the inaugural West Africa Economic Summit (WAES), describing the event as a pivotal step toward unlocking the region’s vast economic potential through unity and strategic collaboration.

    Although the Nigerian leader is expected to attend the summit in person on Saturday, he used his verified X handle, @officialABAT, to extend warm greetings to all participants arriving for the opening day, expressing confidence in the summit’s potential to reshape the economic future of the sub-region.

    “In keeping with my promise to convene a regional economic summit leveraging the opportunities and strengths of the West African economy, I welcome fellow Heads of Government, regional and international business executives, global investors, and the public to Abuja for the inaugural West Africa Economic Summit starting today,” the President posted.

    With the rallying theme “One Voice, One Future”, the two-day summit is bringing together heads of state from ECOWAS member countries, global finance leaders, private sector giants, and development partners to explore new pathways for economic integration, trade facilitation, and shared prosperity across the West African sub-region.

    President Tinubu, who also serves as Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, has championed stronger regional cooperation and cross-border investment frameworks as part of his broader foreign policy and economic strategy under the Renewed Hope Agenda.

    “West Africa is speaking with #OneVoiceOneFuture,” he added in his Friday post, reinforcing the unifying message that has defined the build-up to the summit.

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    The West Africa Economic Summit, holding at the Bola Tinubu International Conference Centre, Abuja, will feature policy dialogues, investment matchmaking sessions, panel discussions on infrastructure and innovation, and country-specific presentations on investment opportunities. 

    Delegations from across West Africa are expected to showcase national projects and reforms that align with regional growth aspirations.

    The event, being hosted by President Tinubu and coordinated by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is designed to position West Africa as an attractive destination for global capital while deepening regional trade links in line with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

  • On invitation of AES to West African Economic Summit

    On invitation of AES to West African Economic Summit

    • By Bishir Dauda Sabuwar

    Sir: Why should the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger be invited to participate in the maiden edition of West African Economic Summit to be hosted by Nigeria?

    This is the question on the lips of discerning public affairs commentators. Is it another form of “diplomacy” or what?

    More surprising is that Nigeria and the regional body, ECOWAS have stopped putting any pressure on the juntas ruling those countries, in spite of the deterioration of human rights, including illegal detention of journalists and activists, closing of the civic space and rising insecurity not only in AES countries but in the West African region as a whole.

    What is obvious now is that Nigeria and ECOWAS have abandoned any efforts to safeguard democracy in West Africa. Instead, they seem to be fascinated, to the point of even surrendering to the ruling juntas of AES countries.

    On the other hand, the AES countries have repeatedly made it abundantly clear that they are not interested in anything that has to do with ECOWAS. Niger Republic for instance has taken many measures aimed at undermining Nigeria’s security and socio-economic interests. Niger Republic has banned export of beans to Nigeria. Also, just when eid el Kabir was approaching, the ruling junta in Niger also banned the export of livestock to Nigeria.

    To spread further mischief, of recent, the head of the ruling junta in Niger Republic, AbdulRahman Tchiani hosted a press conference in which he accused Nigeria of terrorism financing to destabilize his country. These attacks occurred not long time ago, when Nigeria’s minister of foreign affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar led a high-level delegation to Niger.

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    It is baffling that Nigeria, the largest democracy in Africa, is seen to be desperate to appease those despotic regimes.

    Here is a country that restored democracy and constitutional order in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Gambia, etc., now seen to be embracing illegitimate military rulers.

    No doubt, ECOWAS’s partners will be right to see naked hypocrisy here. After all, many had anticipated that Nigeria and ECOWAS will continue to put pressure on the AES juntas to return their countries to civil rule, release political prisoners like Muhammad Bazoum, activists and detained journalists, not inviting and begging them to attend economic summit.

    One begins to wonder whether Nigeria and ECOWAS truly appreciate the consequences of tolerating coup d’état? With this attitude in the name of diplomacy, they are putting every democratically elected head of state in West Africa at risk.

    •Comrade Bishir Dauda Sabuwar,

     Unguwa Katsina.