President Bola Tinubu plans to use the France-Africa economic summit holding in Nairobi Kyenya to showcase the country’s reforms and rally African leaders toward self-reliant growth, Daniel Bwala, his Special Adviaer on Media and Policy Communication said Monday.
Speaking ahead of the summit, Bwala emphasized that six of the summit’s seven thematic areas—spanning financial restructuring, artificial intelligence, agriculture, and the blue economy—align closely with President Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope” agenda, launched at the start of administration.
“This is coming up on the heels of a revival taking place in different parts of Africa,” Bwala said in an interview with reporters.
He said President Tinubu will participate in three plenaries Friday, with plans to extend the dialogue in Kigali, Rwanda, alongside African CEOs.
The summit’s core message, he added, is Africa’s capacity to forge its own economic destiny, reducing dependency on external powers.
“The whole concept…is to create the sense that Africa by itself can create the economy that they deserve,” Bwala said.
SA Bwala noted Nigeria’s recent foreign-exchange unification as a prime example of financial restructuring that has bolstered confidence in the naira and could serve as a model for the continent.
On agriculture, he pointed to Nigeria’s 20-30 million hectares of arable land as ripe for investment, backed by President Tinubu’s initiated reforms yielding early results.
According to him, Artificial intelligence efforts leverage Nigeria’s vast youth population, while blue-economy initiatives tap coastal resources.
The summit signals a pivot from merely attracting foreign investors to empowering African entrepreneurs, Bwala said.
Negative Western media portrayals have long overshadowed opportunities, he argued, but gatherings like this—drawing African CEOs and partners—counter that narrative.
“The focus…is shifting away from just winning investors to come to steering our own people to rise to the occasion,” he said.
NewsQuest reports that though hosted as a France-Africa partnership, the event opens doors for global players.
President Tinubu’s team stressed returns on investment, not just inflows.
“I am doing something to tell you I believe in it, I am seeing the result and I am asking you to come and participate,” Bwala said of Nigeria’s agriculture drivex
