Newly appointed minister of state for Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, has pledged full alignment with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s foreign policy, vowing to uphold the administration’s core pillars of development, democracy, demography, and diaspora across Africa and globally.
Minister of Trade and Investment Jumoke Oduwole focuses on maximising the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) for Nigerian businesses and retaining both domestic and foreign investments for the economic growth of the country.
On Monday at the Council Chambers, Mrs Odumegwu-Ojukwu told State House Correspondents of her readiness to advance the Renewed Hope Agenda, emphasising the administration’s plans to harness Nigeria’s youth potential.
“We intend in this administration to leverage on the creative potentials, on the skills, on the huge capital that these young people have to bring to the country, and of course the Diaspora,” she said.
“I am fully committed to keying into the foreign policy thrust of this government. The President has actually made things much easier by building the foreign policy thrust of his administration. The 4Ds comprise of democracy, strengthening democratic institutions all over Africa, principally.”
Mrs Odumegwu-Ojukwu also highlighted the importance of Nigeria’s Diaspora, which she noted remits $22 billion annually, as a strategic partner.
“We have a Diaspora that remits annually, $22 billion, we have a Diaspora that is doing so well all over the world, and if we can partner with them and ensure that we bring them into the administration’s initiatives and use them also to forge strategic partnerships with financial institutions all over the world, that will in no small way enhance the workings on the service delivery for the Foreign Minister.”
The minister underscored the need to boost trade through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and to cater to Nigeria’s large youth demographic, with 70% of the population under the age of 43.
Minister Odumegwu-Ojukwu also expressed her commitment to improving consular services for Nigerians abroad, ensuring they receive effective support and feel valued by their government.
“Ensuring that consular services abroad are much more effective, and our citizens abroad are much happier with what they are receiving, and get that sense that their government truly cares for their welfare,” she added.
Meanwhile, Minister of Trade and Investment Jumoke Oduwole outlined her focus on maximising the AfCFTA for Nigerian businesses and retaining both domestic and foreign investments.
“The most important thing with the trade agreement is to make sure that we go after optimising the AfCFTA for Nigerian businesses, which means pragmatically supporting them at this time to export their products; we need productive jobs that deliver value for Nigerians,” she said.
She stressed the need to align trade policy with monetary and fiscal strategies. “This is significant and imperative; we will prioritise these in the short term.”
Oduwole emphasised that President Tinubu’s trade agenda aims to ease investment processes across business levels, from micro to high-level enterprises, ensuring economic growth at all scales.
“It’s really important that we retain domestic investment and aggressively attract new investment. That means tracking all the investments Mr President, as chief investment officer of this economy, has gone after in the last 17 months, and making sure that the businesses, we’ve already started engaging with our peerless business champions, the businesses at the higher level and the medium level and at the micro level, that each of them at those specific cadres, are optimised to make it progressively easier,” she stated.
