The Presidency on Monday said President Bola Tinubu’s participation in the 2026 Africa-France Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, is aimed at advancing Nigeria’s economic reform agenda while strengthening Africa’s broader push for sustainable growth and investment-driven development.
Presidential spokesperson, Daniel Bwala, disclosed this while briefing journalists on the sidelines of the summit in Nairobi, describing the conference as strategically important for Nigeria and the African continent.
According to him, the summit comes at a critical period when African countries are pursuing reforms designed to create more attractive investment climates and reposition the continent for long-term economic prosperity.
Bwala said President Tinubu considered the summit highly significant because six of the seven thematic areas slated for discussion align directly with the administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
The areas, he noted, include international financial restructuring, artificial intelligence, agriculture, blue economy and broader economic transformation initiatives already being implemented by the Nigerian government.
“For us as a country and of course the leading country in Africa in many respects, the President deems it a strategic meeting because six of the seven thematic areas happen to fall in line with the Renewed Hope policy programmes we started implementing from day one,” Bwala said.
He pointed to Nigeria’s ongoing financial reforms, including the unification of the foreign exchange market, as practical examples of policies designed to restore investor confidence and stabilise the economy.
“Take for example international financial restructuring, we have seen the restructuring taking place in Nigeria which has given confidence in the naira,” he added.
The presidential spokesman also highlighted Nigeria’s increasing deployment of artificial intelligence and digital technology, stressing that the country’s youthful population presents enormous opportunities for innovation-led growth.
On agriculture, Bwala said Nigeria’s estimated 30 million hectares of arable land position the country as a major investment destination in food production and agro-industrial development.
He explained that the broader objective of the summit is to encourage African countries to harness their own resources and build prosperous economies with less dependence on external support.
“These are areas they intend to focus on and the whole concept of the summit is to create the sense that Africa by itself can create the economy it deserves rather than this dependency on the rest of the world,” he said.
Bwala stated that Tinubu would participate in three plenary sessions during the summit, where he is expected to showcase Nigeria’s reform efforts in finance, agriculture and the blue economy as examples other African countries can adapt.
He said the President’s engagements would focus on creating mutually beneficial investment opportunities capable of delivering sustainable returns while accelerating economic growth across Africa.
“Not just bringing investment to Nigeria or Africa, but participating in investments that guarantee returns on investment,” Bwala explained.
The spokesman further revealed that Tinubu’s participation later this week at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, would reinforce Nigeria’s commitment to strengthening strategic economic partnerships across the continent.
“The President intends to move to Kigali to continue the conversation with African CEOs. It is strategic, important, and most of the thematic areas already align with what we are doing in Nigeria,” he said.
The Africa-France Summit, themed “Africa Forward: Africa-France Partnerships for Innovation and Growth,” is expected to focus on energy transition, digital transformation, climate action, industrialisation and reforms in global financing systems.
Deji Elumoye in Nairobi, Kenya
