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Re: Towards Utmost Freedom and Less of Sloganeering on Nigeria’s Foreign Policy in 2024

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Re: Towards Utmost Freedom and Less of Sloganeering on Nigeria’s Foreign Policy in 2024

By: Bashir Aliyu

I read a lopsided article by Babafemi A. Badejo who called into question the new foreign policy concepts under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, singling out the 4D principles that now underpin the tenets of Nigeria’s foreign policy as the butt of his blurred outlook over how Nigeria’s diplomatic engagements should look like.

Without bandying words, Dr Babafemi raised key issues that if left unanswered may end up confusing many a reader given his position as a reputable lecturer on international relations.

While Mr Babafemi tried to juxtapose the Tinubu Doctrine or specifically the 4D foreign policy concepts with the Monroe Doctrine that the US adopted in 1823 (not 1843 as stated by the author) as a measure to deter European powers from further recolonizing countries in the Western Hemisphere, Nigeria’s new foreign policy direction is never meant to mimic any foreign power nor is it meant to exert its diplomatic cloud on any sovereign state. The geopolitical reality in our region coupled with the urgency for Nigeria to play more active roles in safeguarding not only our national interest and security but also the stability of our region by citizens who are unarguably the largest diaspora population in Africa. Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar repeatedly made it clear that the 4D Foreign Policy is not just mere sloganeering but a strategy to scrunch down “action plans of programmes into more manageable and comprehensible headlines.”

Another point that needs clarification is the solipsistic suggestion that Nigeria should prioritize economic development at the expense of democracy, alluding to the spate of military coups in West Africa and the diplomatic stand-off that strained relationship between Nigeria/ECOWAS and Niger junta. But for the avoidance of doubt, Nigeria never unilaterally planned to take military action against Niger as most of its policies are coordinated with the ECOWAS member states. Nigeria is in favour of a diplomatic solution, and the economic sanctions imposed on the junta are meant to pressure them to release Bazoum Muhammad and provide a clear pathway for the restoration of democracy in the country.

As noted by Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nigeria as the largest democracy in Africa cannot continue to fold its hands as West Africa descends into constitutional crises with six successful coups in just two years. The coups were a huge setback for the fight against terrorism in West Africa as many international partners withdrew or froze their cooperations with the military juntas which are critical to both the fight against terrorism and humanitarian support. Peace and good governance are an integral part of the development of any nation. The development in Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso is a watershed moment for the ECOWAS member states like Nigeria who have invested so much in multinational cooperation, regional integration, and international commitment only to be disrupted by military coups.

According to Mr. Omar Alieu Touray, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, a series of military coups in West Africa is a huge setback for the fight against terror, noting that there were 1503 incidences of terrorist attacks recorded in Burkina Faso from 1st to October 22, 2023, 1044 in Mali, and 376 in Niger since the coup. Furthermore, Ambassador Tuggar revealed during his speech that Burkina Faso, being one of the poorest countries in the world, now only control about 40% of its country.

Democracy in West Africa is under assault and Nigeria has what it takes to help reverse the trend which poses an existential threat not only to our national security but to the stability of the entire region. The problem with military juntas is they are not known for respecting human rights, law and order, and lack of transparency when it comes to their obligation to international law and regional treaties is often responsible for worsening instability that often hampers our fight against organized crimes and terrorism. As a democratic nation, Nigeria has a vital role to play in entrenching democracy in Africa, and military coup in the region especially West Africa is an anathema to economic growth and international cooperation.

Moreover, as a matter of national interest, prioritizing democracy provides Nigeria with a clear direction to assert its interests on the global stage as evidenced by the recent success of Nigeria’s diplomatic overture at the G2O Summit in Delhi which saw the inclusion of the African Union as a full member.

As for Development, which is another key tenet of Nigeria’s foreign policy priority under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria’s foreign policy seeks to use diplomacy in line with the Nigerian constitution to enhance economic growth, agricultural value chain and technology to provide Nigerians with job opportunities. Nigeria with its teeming population of over 220 million people has a lot to benefit from the ongoing efforts to attract investment from international investors. As stated by Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, infrastructure alone can add 10-12% to our GDP which is enough to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty. When it comes to international diplomacy, our population is a huge advantage as we have sufficient manpower and human resources to collaborate with countries such as India in the areas of ICT, movie industry, agriculture and bilateral trade which are sure to have an immediate impact on the wellbeing of Nigerians as a whole.

It is noteworthy that Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar is a veteran diplomat whose years of experience can enable our country to engage in more achievable goals. Nigeria is in throes of transition, and the urgency caused by rapidly changing world with competing interests, and Tuggar will continue to fight for what is best for Nigeria in terms of its national interests and the development of its people in line with the international law.

The Tinubu Doctrine is here to stay, and I am sure, and the rest of the world would sooner or later come to see the impact of the 4D foreign policy.

To this end, I call on Dr Babafemi A. Badejo not to be pessimistic about Nigeria’s foreign policy direction. The Tinubu Doctrine is borne out of the urgency to help Nigeria overcome many of its challenges such as development and the welfare of Nigerians abroad.

** Bashir Aliyu works as newspaper editor and geopolitical and international affairs commentator. He can be reached at bashiralmusawi@gmail.com

Re: Towards Utmost Freedom and Less of Sloganeering on Nigeria’s Foreign Policy in 2024

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Airstrike Hits ISWAP Enclave in Tumbuma Baba, scores Nutrialised

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Airstrike Hits ISWAP Enclave in Tumbuma Baba, scores Nutrialised

By: Zagazola Makama

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF), under the Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), conducted a successful Air Interdiction (AI) mission at a terrorists’ hideout in the Southern Tumbuns general area in the Lake Chad of Borno, killing scores of the terrorists.

Intelligent sources told Zagazola Makama that the precision air strike, which took place at about 2100 hours on 5 May 2025, targeted a major terrorists’ concentration camp located in the Tumbuma Baba axis of Lake Chad.

The sources said that the offensive was in continuation of a decisive Operation KALACHEN WUTA II, aimed at denying terrorists the freedom to execute large-scale attacks during the Eid el-Kabir period.

The sources said that Intelligence and Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) reports confirmed that several terrorists were neutralised during the strike, and key logistics under heavy foliage were destroyed.

The sources said that the strikes followed credible intelligence on planned coordinated attacks by the insurgents before, during, and after the Eid festivities. The mission was meticulously planned and executed to forestall such threats and sustain pressure on terrorist elements operating in the Lake Chad fringes.

“We observed significant secondary explosions, indicating the presence of arms and fuel storage. Multiple terrorists were seen fleeing the area, while several others were eliminated during the strike,” the source said.

The sources said efforts are ongoing to gather further feedback, as well as to assess the operational impact of the interdiction.

He added that preliminary signs suggest a high level of disarray and panic within the terrorists’ ranks, with reports of attempted regrouping under surveillance.

Airstrike Hits ISWAP Enclave in Tumbuma Baba, scores Nutrialised

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Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani

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Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani

By: Zagazola Makama

The Nigerian Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai have executed a coordinated strike on a major terrorist enclave located at Maisani in the Timbuktu Triangle general area of Borno State, killing several ISWAP terrorists.

Intelligence sources told Zagazola Makama that the air interdiction mission conducted on May 4, 2025, at approximately 1800 hours, was informed by credible intelligence and sustained surveillance, targeted terrorists’ structures cleverly concealed and camouflaged under thick shrubs in the area.

The sources said that using advanced platforms, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) conducted a focused Air Interdiction (AI) mission, resulting in the destruction of the identified enemy hideouts and the neutralisation of an unconfirmed number of insurgent fighters.

According to the sources, Post-strike Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) obtained from our Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms confirmed that the airstrike achieved its intended objectives, dealing a significant blow to terrorists.

Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani

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Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting

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Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting

By: Michael Mike

As the world marks the 2025 Environment Day, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has appealed to the World Bank for support on capacity building, data and in addressing the challenges poised by Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) in the country.

Head of Department, National Accounts Energy and Environment at the NBS, Dr. Baba Madu made the appeal at the 2025 Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) Conference on Thursday in Abuja with support from the World Bank in. collaboration with the NBS and the Federal Ministry of Environment.

Madu while noting that the NCA was a new area Nigeria must exploit to further boost the nation’s economy, said for Nigeria to grow and be at par with other developed nations, there was need to account for her natural resources.

He said: “NCA has been tasked with the crucial role of integrating natural capital into economic measurement. It is impossible to measure the economy accurately without accounting for natural resources. Issues such as environmental degradation, afforestation, desertification, and climate change all directly impact productivity.

“Productivity in turn, influences output—one of the core components of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). These environmental factors must be reflected across all economic activity sectors to present a more accurate picture of national output.”

While stating that Nigeria currently has data on NCA in Nigeria, the NBS official however raised concerns over the huge data gap from relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the environment sector.

He said: “We are not doing badly but we need to improve on what we are doing. In terms of data sources, I can tell you there’s a big gap because these are new areas needed to be exploited.”

Programme Leader on Sustainable Development at the World Bank, Vina Vutukuru, said there was need to jointly
explore the vital role of national accounting in national development plans and to brainstorm on how Nigeria could institutionalize it.

He said: “Establishing the national capital accounting as part of the national account system will allow us to measure the economic value of ecosystem services such as clean air, water and biodiversity which are essential for our well-being and economic prosperity.”

Vutukuru commended Nigeria for having “very bold ambitions” as far as responding to climate change was concerned saying, “That shows the commitment of the policy makers here towards the issue of climate.

“But I think to back up that aspiration and the aggressive goals that Nigeria has set for itself, the foundational thing for those goals to materialize those objectives to come true is a very strong natural account system.”

Head of Media, National Council on Climate Change Secretariat (NCCCS), Chioma Azie who represented her Director General, Dr. Nkiruka Maduekwe at the event, described Nigeria as a very ambitious country, stressing that natural resources was instrumental to achieving all the objective of climate action.

She said: “Technology, policy reforms, behavioral changes has a role to play but natural resources is very key because they’re underpinning the mitigation and adaptation for climate action.

“If you look at Nigeria’s NDC, the NCA is an avenue to provide raw materials that we could use to develop mitigation and adaptation strategies.

“If you look at what we have done in terms of this NDC in 2020.which is the second leg of the NDC, we identified a lot of mitigation activities within this mentioned sectors of ours. In agricultural sector we talked about smart agriculture. What is smart agriculture without natural resources?

“We talked about biomass, what is biomass without natural resources? We also spoke about land use changes and that is natural resources, we talk about natural solutions and we talked about also afforestation, reafforestation. Those are mitigation potentials of our NDC. So, we cannot achieve our NDC without SEEA.

“What you cannot be able to account for is recorded as if it is not done so if we know what is existing in terms of the reservoirs we have for natural resources, it can inform the scope of the mitigation activities we’re going to be imputing in the NDC 3.0,” she said.

Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting

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