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By Owaikhena Osikhekha
International diplomacy is the process and practice of communication and negotiations between actors in the international system, with the aim of achieving their goals and resolving conflicts.
Modern international diplomacy has been extended to the business sphere, especially developing countries who explore it to attract foreign investments to their countries.
This explains why national leaders now embark on international shuttles themselves with the belief that their physical presence would help to fastrack bilateral and business agreements with other countries and international investors.
As at November 2024, President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima had embarked on 41 one) trips covering 26 ( twenty six) visited nineteen countries, including India, Germany, France, Qarar, United Arab Emirates, Brazil, South Arabia and South Africa.
The frequency of these trips has sparked reactions from some Nigerians and stakeholders, with many questioning whether the benefits derivable from such visits in terms of capital importation , including Foreign Direct Investments, FDI , are commensurate with the cost of such trips.
President Tinubu who always wears the garment of Nigeria’s Marketer- in – Chief uses the opportunity of such trips to tell the world and international business leaders that his country is ready and open for business.
He has never failed to promote Nigeria as a destination for global investments due to its abundant human and other resources.
There is no denying the fact that Nigeria faces economic, security and other challenges which need the support of the international community to resolve. But foreign countries won’t intervene if we do not reach out to them.
The world has become a global village because it is more interconnected in this twenty first century, hence leaders now frequently embark on international trips to strengthen diplomatic ties with other countries and establish relationships to attract investment opportunities.
What critics of President Tinubu’s foreign trips failed to acknowledge is the benefits such trips have attracted to Nigeria.
For instance, before President Tinubu assumed office on May 29, 2023, the United Arab Emirates had stopped issuing visas to Nigerians due to some issues. The Emirates Airline also stopped its direct flights to Nigeria. It took the President’s diplomatic trip and personal interactions with the UAE leaders for those issues to be resolved. Today, UAE has resumed issuing visas to Nigerians and the Emirates Airline has resumed flying to Nigeria .
The diplomatic shuttles have also boosted capital importation, including Foreign Direct Investments in critical sectors in Nigeria.
For instance, during President Tinubu’s visit to Brazil, , a major company in that country made an investment commitment of $2.5 dollars (two point five billion dollars) in Nigeria’s livestock sector. This is capable of helping to tackle food insecurity and boost employment.
The French government has pledged to assist develop its agriculture sector, through a grant of $300m (three hundred million dollars.)
In all, Nigeria received a total of over $30 billion (thirty billion dollars) Foreign Direct) in 2024 alone.
Between the Third Quarter of 2023 and Second Quarter of 2024, the total capital importation from twelve out of the countries he visited tripled, increasing from $412 million (four hundred and twelve million dollars) to $2.2 billion.
These countries include the United Kingdom, Netherlands, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, United States, Saudi Arabia, Germany, China, France, India and Ghana.
South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, used the opportunity of President Tinubu’s visit to announce the easing of visa restrictions on Nigerians and made a commitment to open his country’s economic space for Nigerian investors.
Most of the countries the President visited have pledged to assist Nigeria to deal with its security challenges in the form of cooperation with our military, information sharing, training , provision of arms and ammunition as well as modern communication gadgets.
President Tinubu knows the importance of international and economic diplomacy and should be allowed to continue his common sense diplomatic shuttles for the benefit of Nigeria.
• Osikhekha is a public affairs analyst
