TRIBUNE NG
President Bola Tinubu said on Saturday that war is neither ideal for his economic reforms nor for the West African sub-region, but affirmed that the defence of democracy is sacrosanct.
He made the declaration when he hosted U.S. Presidential Envoy and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador Molly Phee, at the presidential villa in Abuja.
He said that the crisis in the Niger Republic would not deter him from concluding his economic reform programme successfully for the benefit of Nigerians and that he takes no queue from any nation but will only advance the interest of the Nigerian state in his approach towards ECOWAS’ handling of the regional standoff.
Tinubu said, “We are deep in our attempts to peacefully settle the issue in Niger by leveraging on our diplomatic tools. I continue to hold ECOWAS back, despite its readiness for all options, in order to exhaust all other remedial mechanisms.
“War is not ideal for my economic reforms or for the region, but the defence of democracy is sacrosanct. The ECOWAS consensus is that we will not allow anyone to insincerely buy time.”
He advised that U.S. policy should be intentionally collaborative with independent African democracies at a time when they are under assault by anti-democratic forces within and outside of the continent.
The President noted that American-backed development finance and multilateral institutions, which were designed to support war-torn Europe after World War II, require swift and comprehensive reform to meet the developmental requirements of younger democracies in Africa, which operate in authoritarian-crowded environments, such that the legitimate yearnings of Africans would no longer be manipulated to serve the narrow aims of self-seeking demagogues through unconstitutional takeovers of power.
He added: “Yes, the private sector will lead the way within an enabling environment we create for them, but the U.S. Government must be innovative in its thinking and systematically create incentives for U.S. industrial investment in Nigeria.
