President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s state visit to France from November 27-29, 2024, was intended to strengthen diplomatic ties and enhance cooperation between the two nations. However, in Nigeria, despite its successful outcomes, the trip has raised a lot of dust, with critics questioning the frequency of Tinubu’s visits to Paris and his close relationship with the French leadership—widely known for its exploitative colonial and neo-colonial policies that have stifled Africa’s economic integration and development. Detractors warn that such high-level engagements risk entrenching Nigeria in a cycle of unequal agreements and imbalanced Memoranda of Understanding, keeping the country locked in its traditional role as a primary exporter of raw materials while remaining dependent on imported manufactured goods—further exacerbating its economic struggles.
France’s enduring and exploitative influence over its former African colonies—a key factor in their continued economic dependency and poverty—raises concerns amid its renewed engagement with Nigeria, a nation twice its size in landmass. Some of France’s former colonies are Nigeria’s immediate neighbours, making their political and economic developments directly relevant to Nigeria’s peace and security. The term Françafrique, coined to describe the deep ties between France and Francophone African countries, refers to a network of personal relationships between successive French leaders and their African counterparts—connections maintained primarily for political and personal gain rather than to foster genuine economic progress.
Two defining features of the disempowering Françafrique policy are the defence military cooperation pacts and the economic cooperation pacts with France’s former colonies. Until recently, the defence military cooperation deals guaranteed the ubiquitous presence of French military bases in 23 African countries, serving as instruments to safeguard France’s strategic economic and political interests on the continent. These military bases emboldened political leaders to extend their rule unconstitutionally and perpetuate themselves in power against the will of their people, as seen in Niger and Mali even before the recent wave of military coups. As a result, efforts to promote democracy and good governance on the continent were severely undermined. The abrogation of the pacts and expulsion of French forces by junta leaders in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have weakened this coercive mechanism of French power in Africa. In an unexpected turn, Cote d’Ivoire, Chad and Senegal have also demanded the withdrawal of French military bases from their territories.
Similarly, the economic cooperation agreements guaranteed the monopoly on the export of French industrial products to these former colonies in exchange for importing commodities from France, including strategic minerals, such as uranium and gold, with prices set by France. Additionally, three monetary cooperation deals with Francophone African countries in three different sub-regions require members to deposit their foreign reserves with the French treasury. This arrangement aims to ensure stability in the convertibility of the franc, which is backed by France, but at the expense of country-specific monetary and exchange rate policies.
The bitter Algerian war for independence from France resulted in the deaths of 1.5 million Algerians and widespread human rights abuses. Additionally, Haiti was coerced to pay 100 million francs (approximately USD 21 billion) to France as a condition for France recognising this former colony’s independence in 1825. These events are dark chapters in the history of French colonialism and its aftermath.
Nigeria will not forget in a hurry France’s retaliatory decision to work against Nigeria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by recognising and supporting the secessionist Biafra during the civil war. This followed Nigeria’s declaration of the French Ambassador to Nigeria persona non grata, breaking diplomatic relations with France, in protest of France dropping atomic bombs in the Algerian Sahara contrary to the wishes of the majority of African countries. L’Hexagone in conjunction with Luxembourg also opposed Nigeria’s 1966 trade agreement with the European Economic Community, which was needed to boost its exports following Britain’s accession to the trade bloc.
France’s invidious colonial and neo-colonial policies in Africa as well as its past actions against Nigeria’s sovereignty and leadership in ECOWAS, have thus cast a dark cloud of mistrust and rivalry over Franco-Nigerian relations for many years. Nonetheless, history need not be a destiny. Both countries must learn the appropriate lessons from the past and move forward with enlightened interest—one in which engagement is genuinely mutually beneficial for both countries.
President Emmanuel Macron, first elected in 2017, appeared as a new-generation French leader willing to boldly confront his country’s ugly past. Notwithstanding the ill-advised attempt to truncate ECOWAS’s drive towards the adoption of a single currency, his early steps signalled the desire to change the old pattern of relations. He fulfilled his pledge to “return African heritage to Africa” by returning 26 artefacts looted by the French colonial army to the Benin Republic in 2021. That decision triggered similar efforts to return stolen African artworks harboured in Europe and North America to their original countries, including Nigeria.
The French President’s visit to Nigeria in July 2018 further underscored his desire to open a new chapter in bilateral relations and economic cooperation with Nigeria. According to the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, in 2021, Nigeria accounted for 20 per cent of France’s trade with Sub-Saharan Africa, ranking fourth-largest behind Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Africa’s largest economy is also a host to more than 100 active French companies led by TotalEnergies, the oil and gas giant, and recipient of its foreign direct investment in Sub-Saharan Africa.
A major outcome of the 2018 visit was the launch of a French-Nigerian investment club aimed at fostering business cooperation. The club’s membership consisted of private sector leaders from both countries. Today, Nigeria’s banking sector is a major beneficiary of that cooperation with some of the country’s leading banks, such as Access Bank, United Bank for Africa and Zenith Bank, registering their presence in Paris for the first time in 2024 during President Tinubu’s state visit.
The Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics data show that the trade volume between France and Nigeria continued its upward trajectory in the first half of 2024 with Nigeria’s exports to France reaching over N3.9tn (about $2.4bn), consolidating the latter as Nigeria’s top export destination ahead of Spain and Netherlands. President Ahmed Tinubu’s recent visit provided the opportunity to further expand trade and economic cooperation in key areas of interest to Nigeria, including agriculture, energy, solid minerals and blue economy. This was exemplified in the agreements signed by the two countries.
For instance, the MOU on solid minerals provides for partnerships that will focus on the development of critical minerals, such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel, which are pivotal to advancing clean energy technologies. The two countries will also collaborate on research, training, and student exchange programmes to promote knowledge and technology transfer.
The other major components of the agreement include the commitment to sustainable mining activities aimed at reducing the environmental impact of mining, joint extractive projects and remediation of over 2,000 abandoned mining pits across Nigeria thus leveraging France’s expertise in sustainable mining. In addition, commitments were made to invest over 300 million Euros in financial and technical programmes in Nigeria, including long-term support for agriculture and food security.
Amid ongoing economic reforms in Nigeria—bringing both challenges and hardships against a backdrop of widespread poverty and insecurity—the country must prioritise economic growth, infrastructure development, and job creation to alleviate poverty and improve living standards for its citizens. Strengthening partnerships with other nations serves as a complementary step in this effort.
While Nigeria should remain aware of the evolving relationship between the three former colonies and their former colonial master, France, and not be insensitive to those unfolding relations, its own ties with France—and indeed its broader foreign policy—should not be swayed by the actions of the unelected junta leaders in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. These leaders have shifted their countries toward Russia, which pursues its own strategic interests both in these nations and across the continent.
Nigeria’s foreign policy should, therefore, remain firmly rooted in its core security, economic, and political interests in Africa and the wider world. Nigeria should, therefore, continue to support and advance the African Union’s peace efforts and trade initiatives, such as the African Continental Free Trade Area. However, Nigeria also needs to look beyond the African region to fast-track its economic growth and development through diversification in trade and investments.
