Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has emphasized the need to deepen bilateral ties with China to expand Nigeria’s infrastructure under the platforms of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Forum for China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) amid sundry diplomatic engagements with other countries.
Tuggar buttressed this in an interview when he hosted members of the Diplomatic Correspondents Association of Nigeria (DICAN) led by its chairman Frederick Idehai, in Abuja recently within the context of the 4Ds agenda (Democracy, Development, Demography and Diaspora) of the President Bola Tinubu government. INNOCENT ODOH was there.
On the continuation of Nigeria’s Afrocentric foreign policy
The answer to that is yes. We will continue to expand, we will continue to engage other countries but you also have to bear in mind that whatever you do in foreign policy, your starting point is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and in that constitution are the foreign policy objectives of Nigeria and those are constant and cannot be changed.
One of the foreign policy objectives is about our region -West Africa and about Africa itself. Those are immovable and you can see how it also makes sense for Nigeria to also pay close attention to what happens in its region because when outsiders also engage with us, they not only engage with us as Nigeria but they are engaging with us as a leader in our region and on the continent.
This is going to become even more so because we are growing in terms of population. We are the most populous country in Africa, and we are estimated to be the third most populous country in the world by 2050 and of course our economy will also continue to grow. We are the largest economy on the continent and therefore when people approach us they will approach us with that perspective as well.
On Nigeria’s recent statement condoling with Russia over terrorist attacks that killed scores
Nigeria is consistent with its relations with countries including Russia. Even when we had a bipolar world, we were non-aligned, we were not with the US nor were we with the former Soviet bloc at that time. We dealt with both sides; we are an equal opportunity aligner, which is why we have continued on the path of strategic partnership, the new name for non-alignment since we no longer have those two blocs.
We have a multi-polar world, so we will deal with whatever pole that will benefit Nigeria and Nigeria’s interest. We have the tradition of condoling with countries when such unfortunate incidents happen. It is not new and Russia is not an enemy. If you go back to the Soviet and Cold War era, the Soviet Union had very close relations with Nigeria. The Ajaokuta Steel Company was built by the Soviet Union at the time they consisted of both Russia and Ukraine and we continued to maintain very good relations with both countries.
Our position on the violation of territorial integrity of countries remains consistent. We condemned the violation of Ukraine’s territorial space when it occurred but it does not mean that because of that we will stop dealing with Russia. We will continue to deal with Russia the same way we are dealing with Ukraine, the same way we are dealing with other countries and whenever misfortune happens to them, we will commiserate with them the same way that they will commiserate with us. We do that out of humanitarian concern.
On the exile of former President of Sierra Leone, Dr. Ernest Koroma to Nigeria
Yes, President Korama resides in Nigeria now. I believe that he is away for some time for medical treatment and he will return after three months. He is safe And sound in Nigeria and we have not been speaking about his presence here because the whole idea of him coming to Nigeria was to diffuse tension in his country.
So, we don’t want a situation where he is residing here and we continue to speak about him and attract a lot of attention. This may put him in an awkward position where he has to start speaking and that will aggravate the situation in his country, which will defeat the purpose of diffusing the tension in Sierra Leone.
On The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with China
Nigeria is not only partaking in the BRI, but also in the FOCAC and all of them. We have a 2 billion dollar infrastructure funding agreement that was reached as an outcome of our visit to China for the 10th anniversary of the BRI.
We are not necessarily always speaking about new projects; there are a lot of ongoing projects that are being funded by China. For instance, we have the Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline that is ongoing, we have Lagos- PH – Maiduguri rail project that is ongoing, and we have the Abuja –Kano which is ongoing. We also have the coastal railway that is another ongoing project. So, we have a lot of infrastructure projects that are ongoing, the funding continues and of course we are looking at newer projects. I am supposed to be going to China in the near future and the idea is for Mr. President also to embark on a state visit to China thereafter.
So, our relations with China remain strong and we will continue to improve and we appreciate what China is doing on this holistic approach to infrastructure, where they come to the table with EPC companies, engineering, procurement and construction companies, along with the funding, with the technology and know-how. These projects are very important to Nigeria’s development and very important to Africa’s development.
