President Bola Tinubu has said that war is not ideal deepening economic and democratic reforms in either Nigeria or the West African region.
He said he and the regional economic bloc were doing their utmost to settle the issue in Niger by leveraging on diplomatic tools.
Spokesman for the president, Mr Ajuri Ngelale, in a statement, disclosed that the president said this when he received the US assistant secretary of state for African Affairs, Ms Molly Phee, in Abuja on Saturday.
Ngelale also said the president received an invitation to a sideline event at the United Nations General Assembly in New York from the US president, Joe Biden.
The president affirmed that the crisis in Niger Republic would not deter him from concluding his economic reform programme successfully for the benefit of Nigerians.
He also said he takes no dictation from any country, but would only advance the interest of the Nigerian state in his approach toward ECOWAS’ handling of the regional standoff.
“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, nor 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 stated. (Sic)
He charged the US to ensure that its policy is intentionally collaborative with independent African democracies at a time when they are under assault by anti-democratic forces within and outside of the continent.
Tinubu said the American-backed development finance and multilateral institutions required comprehensive reforms to meet the developmental requirements of younger democracies in Africa, which operate in authoritarian-crowded environments.
He said this must be done with vigour as the institutions designed policies to support war-torn Europe after World War II, adding that this would meet the legitimate yearnings of Africans of using local solutions for its challenges.
“Yes, the private sector will lead the way within an enabling environment we create for them, but the US Government must be innovative in its thinking and systematically create incentives for US industrial investment in Nigeria.
“Under my leadership, Nigeria stands ready to address their specific regulatory, tax and environmental concerns. I am determined to create prosperity for all Nigerian families,” the president said.
Phee, as part of her message, told Tinubu that US President Joe Biden desired to meet with him.
Pledging support for the position of ECOWAS, Phee expressed the high regard the US administration has for Tinubu’s leadership as the chairman of the ECOWAS authority of heads of state and government and extended an exclusive invitation from the US president, Joe Biden to meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City to advance discussions further in late September.
“We know there is more we can do to incentivize large-scale American investment in Nigeria and we are committed to working closely with you to achieve that, as part of efforts to strengthen the Nigerian economy and the regional economy. We appreciate your willingness to create an enabling environment for that. President Joe Biden is asking to meet with you on the sidelines of UNGA and you are the only African leader he has requested to meet. It is a mark of his high regard for your leadership,” she said.
For his part, Tinubu accepted the invitation saying the work of perfecting democracy is never done, even in developed democracies, as seen recently in America, as well as other emerging democracies in the world.
