…as Tuggar Leads Diplomatic Push for Security, Trade Collaboration With UK
By Joy Odor Reportcircle News
Nigeria has mounted a two-front diplomatic offensive at the African Union summit backing sweeping institutional reforms across Africa while simultaneously opening fresh strategic talks with the United Kingdom on security, governance and investment cooperation.
At the closed session of the 39th Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, Vice President Kashim Shettima, representing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, endorsed a restructuring agenda designed to reposition the African Union as a more decisive political and economic institution.
Nigeria aligned with proposals to strengthen continental peace and security governance, tighten democratic accountability mechanisms and expand cooperation with international financial institutions and private capital.
Officials said the reforms aim to transform the AU from a consensus-driven forum into an implementation-driven body capable of responding faster to conflicts and institutional breakdowns across member states.
Beyond crisis response, Nigeria supported new frameworks encouraging stronger democratic institutions, a move diplomats described as an attempt to stabilise political systems seen as critical to investment confidence and regional integration.
A central pillar of the reforms is a shift toward domestic and regional resource mobilisation to fund development projects at lower cost.
Nigeria backed plans promoting affordable financing through African capital pools, while maintaining targeted collaboration with global lenders and investors.
The summit is also considered a continent-wide inequality reduction framework built on credible data systems, expanded social protection programmes, productive employment creation and inclusive industrial policies linking economic growth directly to social stability.
While reform negotiations continued inside the summit, Nigeria opened a parallel diplomatic channel outside the plenary halls.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Affairs Minister (MFA), Yusuf Maitama Tuggar met with Jenny Chapman, the United Kingdom’s Minister for International Development and Africa, to advance preparations for President Tinubu’s upcoming state visit to the United Kingdom.
Talks explored new opportunities to deepen bilateral relations, focusing on security cooperation, governance support and economic growth initiatives.
Both sides also reviewed regional priorities, reaffirming commitment to sustained dialogue amid evolving geopolitical and economic challenges across West Africa.
Diplomatic observers say Nigeria’s simultaneous push continental reform inside the AU and bilateral engagement with London reflects a broader strategy to reposition the country as both a regional stabiliser and an international investment partner.
In practical terms, Abuja is attempting to secure two outcomes at once: a stronger African institutional architecture and expanded global partnerships capable of financing development and reinforcing security.
For Nigeria, the message from Addis Ababa was clear influence in today’s geopolitical order depends not just on domestic reforms, but on shaping the rules of cooperation both within Africa and beyond it.
