Nigeria will continue to push for fair trade and financing and keep borrowing “responsibly” without seeking charity amid global financial crunch and rising interest rates, says President Bola Tinubu.

Mr Tinubu stated this on Tuesday as he led Nigeria’s government, diplomatic, and business delegation to the Africa Forward Summit at the Kenyatta Convention Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, advocating for stronger economic integration that prioritises Africa’s growth and prosperity.

The Africa-France summit, co-hosted by Presidents Emmanuel Macron and William Ruto, brought together leaders and top officials from more than 30 countries across the continent.

The president disclosed that in 2026, Nigeria would spend about $11.6 billion on debt service — nearly half of projected revenue.

“Every single dollar that leaves our treasury to pay punitive interest rates is a dollar that did not go into our steel sector, our textile mills, our agro-processing plants, or our digital industries. It is a dollar that did not train a young Nigerian engineer or provide affordable power for our factories. Our industrial base is being starved of the blood it needs — long-term, affordable finance — while creditors and rating agencies treat African sovereigns as permanent high-risk borrowers, regardless of our fiscal performance.

“So, I ask this gathering: how can an African manufacturer compete with a competitor in Europe, Asia, or North America when the cost of borrowing in our nations is five to ten times higher? How can we build cross-border industrial value chains under the African Continental Free Trade Area when our infrastructure projects face a financing gap deepened by the very institutions meant to bridge it? The answer is plain: we cannot. The international financial architecture, as currently constituted, is an instrument of industrial disarmament for Africa.

“Nigeria is not asking for charity. We are demanding a financial system that intentionally enables Africa to industrialise — to process its own minerals, refine its own crude oil, manufacture its own pharmaceuticals, and compete fairly in global markets. We will continue to borrow responsibly, but we insist that our creditworthiness be measured by our economic fundamentals and our industrial potential, not by outdated stereotypes,’’ Mr Tinubu explained.

The president stated that immigration issues must be addressed by expanding safe, orderly, and legal pathways to improve security.

“First, cooperation must address root causes in countries of origin. People who have jobs, security, and hope at home do not typically risk their lives in the back of a smuggler’s truck. That is why Nigeria has embedded migration management within our broader economic transformation agenda—removing fuel subsidies to invest in infrastructure, recapitalising banks to fund enterprise, and modernising agriculture to create rural livelihoods, among other initiatives.

“But we cannot do it alone. International partners must move beyond rhetoric and match words with investments that make staying at home a genuine choice—investments in climate adaptation, energy access, digital skills, and the productive sectors that employ young people. As we intensify the implementation of these domestic measures, I therefore call on our development partners to ring-fence a portion of Official Development Assistance for programmes that demonstrably reduce the desperation that fuels irregular migration,’’ he stated.

On Nigeria’s position on peace and security, President Tinubu urged African countries to work together in building a global migration governance architecture that is fit for purpose.

“The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was a start, but it remains non-binding and underfunded. Nigeria supports the African Union’s Migration Policy Framework and the Khartoum Process, but we need a more coherent link between these regional efforts and global institutions”.