President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday officially began a state visit to France. This is the first of such visits in 24 years by a Nigerian leader. The last state visit by a Nigerian leader to France was by President Olusegun Obasanjo in February 2020. The State Visit will be hosted by French President, Emmanuel Macron.

Although President Tinubu has visited France at various times since assuming office, most of the trips were private. However, his first official foreign trip in June 2023 to Paris was hosted by President Macron and was specifically to attend the “Summit on New Global Financing Pact” packaged to deliberate on how to reposition global financial architecture in consideration of less developed countries dealing with debt hangover, effects of climate change and Covid-19, and struggling with energy transition.

Wednesday’s trip to France is, however, different in a few respects. Not only is it a state visit, which is a formal visit by the head of a sovereign country at the invitation of the head of state of another sovereign country, but it is the highest expression of friendly relations between two countries.

According to a statement by Mr Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President Information & Strategy, the three – day three-state visit will focus on strengthening political, economic, and cultural relations and establishing more opportunities for partnership, particularly in agriculture, security, education, health, youth engagement and employment, innovation, and energy transition, promises significant benefits for Nigeria.

Security and Defence
The two countries must work with the conviction and orientation that they are the two most powerful interests in West Africa, which predisposes them to rub themselves the wrong way. But the time has come for them to find accommodation for each other’s interests and chart a mutually beneficial course for themselves, especially in heralding peace in the Sahel and other troubled parts of the region.

This visit should serve as an avenue to further strengthen security and defence cooperation agreements between the two countries, deepening current support to Nigeria’s security forces not only with the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in the fight against Boko Haram and terrorist activities around and beyond the Lake Chad region, as well as in Nigeria’s north-west, while enhancing efforts at improving maritime security, especially along the Gulf of Guinea, to curb the different illicit activities in that region.

Commerce
Trade relations have been on an upward swing between one of Europe’s largest economies and one of Africa’s largest economies, extending beyond oil to agriculture, finance, energy services, and technology. Nigeria is France’s leading trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa, and the fourth largest in Africa, only behind Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, which were French colonies in Africa.

Historically, France has been a major buyer of raw materials from Nigeria, accounting for 20% of France’s trade with sub-Saharan Africa, amounting to €3.53 billion, in 2021. In the first quarter of 2024, France emerged as Nigeria’s largest trade partner, surpassing Spain and the United States for the first time in recent years, with French imports from Nigeria rising to $1.4 billion, accounting for 11.05% of Nigeria’s total exports, ahead of Spain, which had led for the past five years, and the United States, solidifying France’s position as Nigeria’s top trade partner.

While petroleum products have dominated French imports from Nigeria over the years, standing at 95% in 2021, it has scaled down to 88% as of the first quarter of 2024. French Foreign Direct Investment in Nigeria has doubled in a decade, putting it ahead of the United Kingdom and the United States of America, with around 100 French companies operating in different sectors of the economy.

For the Tinubu Administration which has made the drive for foreign investment the centrepiece of its diplomatic drive, this visit could not have been better structured with the firm integration of leading Nigerian business interests, such as BUA, Olam, unarguably Nigeria’s largest Nigeria Agri-Business and Food Company and Milk Giant Danone of France as part of the Private Business delegation. It is good to see the level of progress in only a few years by the France-Nigeria Business Council, launched in 2018 to bring together major French and Nigerian companies that wish to launch investment partnerships.

According to Mr Simbo Olorunfemi, a Specialist on Nigeria’s Foreign Policy and Mr. Ade Adefeko, Chairman of Industrial Group Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) , it is not enough, to seek support abroad without taking time to put our house in order. There is work to be done within to bring to fruition gains from agreements signed during visits of this nature. With Dr. Jumoke Oduwole as the Minister of Trade and Investment, it is hoped that the Nigerian business environment will experience significant improvement given the work she did with the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) which was established in 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari “to make Nigeria a progressively easier place to do business by removing bureaucratic constraints to doing business in Nigeria, as well as improving the perception of investors and stakeholders about the Nigerian business terrain” credited with reforms that resulted in improvement in Nigeria’s ranking on the “Éase of Doing Business Index’’.

According to Mr Onanuga’s statement, on the social flank of the State Visit,
President Tinubu and his wife, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, will be received on Thursday at the 350-year-old French military museum, Les Invalides and Palais de l’Élysée, by Macron and his spouse, Brigitte, for initial ceremonies that will dovetail into bilateral meetings.

His words: “During the visit, President Tinubu and President Macron will harmonise positions on stimulating more interest in exchange programmes that focus on skill development for youths and improving their competencies in automation, entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership.

“Both leaders will participate in political and diplomatic meetings highlighting shared values on finance, solid minerals, trade and investments, and communication. They will also witness a session by the France-Nigeria Business Council, which oversees private sector participation in economic development.

“Brigitte and Nigeria’s First Lady will discuss the latter’s passion for empowering women, children, and the most vulnerable through the Renewed Hope Initiative.

“President Tinubu and his wife will be hosted at a state dinner by the French leader before their departure”, Mr Onanuga stressed.

According to Mr Olorunfemi and Mr Adefeko, there is hardly a better time and opportunity to reset and strengthen the relationship between the two countries than now. President Macron’s affinity and history with Nigeria always come to the fore. When President Tinubu visited Paris last year, the reception between him and the French President, Mr. Macron, was warm, like one between old friends. Nigeria must find a way to build on what we have going between us to the benefit of both countries and the troubled region. The historic nature of this visit speaks for itself, we must make the best of it

There is no doubt that it is an increasingly interdependent world, which suggests that every country must find ways to prioritise cooperation and collaboration, let go of mutual suspicion, and key into the opportunities out there for the benefit of citizens (individuals and corporates) of the two countries who have so much in common so that the spirit of “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” (is a French phrase that translates to “liberty, equality, fraternity”. It is the national motto of France) might prevail.