Nigeria First: Sola Enikanolaiye and the End of Afrocentric Idealism

Nigeria First: Sola Enikanolaiye and the End of Afrocentric Idealism

By

Dr Onibiyo Ezekiel

At the launch of "Shadows of Power" in Abuja, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye, said the quiet part out loud.

"You cannot have a dynamic and activist foreign policy if the home is weak, if the country is disunited, if there is no harmony in Nigeria. How can you go outside and be taken seriously?"

For 60 years, Nigeria bankrolled Africa's liberation struggles, peacekeeping missions and ECOWAS interventions, often while our own house was on fire. Enikanolaiye has now formally buried that old Afrocentric reflex. The new motto of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he said, is brutally simple: ‘Nigeria First’.

"Every foreign policy action we take must speak to Nigeria," the Minister said. "We are locating Nigeria and Nigerians at the core of foreign policy preoccupations so that our national interest that advances our security, our defence and our economic prosperity are the core."

This is not isolationism. It is strategic autonomy. "What is strategic autonomy? Simply put, it means alignment to our national interest. Therefore, wherever the wind blows, that’s where we go in pursuit of Nigeria’s interest."

The clearest proof of this doctrine in action was Niger. When the July 2023 coup in Niamey happened, the old Nigeria would have mobilised an ECOMOG-style invasion to forcibly restore democratic rule, at enormous blood and treasury cost, as we did in Liberia and Sierra Leone. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, then ECOWAS Chairman, refused.

Abuja led with diplomacy, sanctions and measured pressure, but drew a hard line against spending Nigerian lives and billions to restore another country's democracy while terrorists were overrunning our own villages in Zamfara and Borno. That reluctance was pilloried by Afrocentrists at the time. Enikanolaiye has now vindicated it as policy: "Our neighbours, our security, prosperity and development are intrinsically linked to those of our neighbours," he said, "We have decided to reprioritise that region before we move further to Africa without necessarily jettisoning Africa as the cornerstone."

In other words: secure the neighbourhood, fix Nigeria first, then lead Africa. Not the other way round. That fixing is exactly what the Renewed Hope reforms have been about for three years. You cannot project power abroad with a 97% debt service-to-revenue ratio. The Tinubu administration crashed it to under 40% by 2024, paid off our IMF obligations, and cleared the Ways and Means overhang that threatened stability.

You cannot be taken seriously with $4 billion in net reserves. Reserves grew to over $23 billion by end-2024, with buffers above $38 billion.

You cannot lead Africa when you are subsidising fuel for the entire sub-region. The fuel subsidy and the forex round-tripping that fed fat a few cabals – was removed. Painful, yes, but it freed over N2 trillion monthly for domestic investment.

That fiscal headroom is now visible at home. FAAC allocations to states tripled, tax-to-GDP jumped from 10% to 13.5% in one year through the Nigeria Tax Act, non-oil revenue hit a record N20 trillion by August 2025, and the World Bank confirmed Nigeria grew at its fastest rate in nearly a decade in 2024.

This is the Nigeria First economy Enikanolaiye described, the Electricity Act decentralising power to the states, the ‘Nigeria First’ procurement policy mandating MDAs buy local, the order that lithium and gold partners must build processing factories in Nigeria, not ship out crude ore, and the $2 billion national fibre optic rollout that pushed digital FDI from $22m to $191m in a year.

It is also a Nigeria First social compact as 600,000 students are on NELFUND interest-free loans, with no ASUU strike in three years, 1,000 Primary Healthcare Centres revitalised with 5,000 more ongoing, free Caesarean sections for pregnant women, and a Cash Transfer Programme reaching 5.7 million vulnerable households.

And it is a Nigeria First security doctrine. For the first time, all unauthorised armed groups were classified as terrorists, police VIP attachments were withdrawn for rural deployment, and ₦18 billion in military insurance arrears was cleared to restore morale.

Enikanolaiye is right that foreign policy is the flip side of defence policy. Both must be coordinated so "our country can be better secured, prosperous and have a better future."

That coordination also means strategic autonomy with all powers. "We may have tilted a little to the West, but we have not abandoned our traditional partners," the Minister said, listing China, Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Brazil. Defence cooperation with the United States was "reinvigorated... in a manner that addresses our current domestic security challenges."

No more ideological clientelism. Wherever Nigeria's interest blows, that is where we go.

Is Nigeria's international visibility dimmer than in the Murtala/Obasanjo liberation era? Enikanolaiye concedes it: "Our visibility may have dimmed a little, but we’re trying to bring that back."

But it is a deliberate dimming. A retrenchment to rebuild. As he put it "No aspect of Nigerian domestic policy can succeed unless you identify the external components of those policies and pursue them equally."

That is the paradigm shift. Afrocentrism without a strong Nigeria was charity. Nigeria-centredness is strategy.

Tinubu is not abandoning Africa. He is doing what Lee Kuan Yew did for Singapore, what the Gulf states did in the 2000s, consolidate the home front economically, militarily, institutionally and then project.

When Nigeria is secure, stable, and economically resilient, Africa will listen again, not out of nostalgia, but out of weight.

That is the Renewed Hope foreign policy. Nigeria First. Nigeria always

Dr. Onibiyo Ezekiel is a Research Fellow at APIS, Abuja, and a Public Policy Analyst. He can be reached at temiowa@yahoo.com*

KWARA APC GUBERNATORIAL FLAGBEARER: Distinguished Senator Mustapha Saliu Stands Out –

KWARA APC GUBERNATORIAL FLAGBEARER: Distinguished Senator Mustapha Saliu Stands Out – Comrade EKUNDAYO, O. Oluwasegun

The unsettled dust of the controversal,  widely contested and generally condemned  APC Governorship primaries in Kwara state is not yet over, as the emergence of a grassroots candidate and the people’s voice is yet to be announced. The Obanikoro biased and hurriedly announced a 'choice candidate' has not only polarised the party in Kwara state  but has deepned and opened up many issues which may affect the overall interest of the party’s victory come 2027 general elections in the North Central State. 

Two factions, the Big ten aspirants came up with resolution to the crisis, that the President should pick anyone from them and they will rally round the candidature  of the person, as opposed to the Governor's handpicked candidate. 

Let me say from onset that all the ten aspirants are eminently qualified to  fly the party's Gubernatorial flag. But do they all have the geographical spread and acceptability across the state? The answer is NO! 

As an outsider resident in Kwara State and as one who had once plied my trade and political activities in Kwara Central, specifically Magaji Are Ward 2, I can say that, if the purpose is to win in 2027 and have the needed touch with the people, then Distinguished Senator  Mustapha Saliu is the only candidate, because of his positive antecedents and contribition in education, agriculture, commercial, local industry empowerments. 

Here is a man who does not discriminate on the basis of state, religion, social status. A man whose hands and arms are opened to all and sundry deserves this seat for the good of the party  in Nigeria.  

Even at the home front where the Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum comes from — it is clear that DSSM has all it takes to carry on the toga of collectiveness in the State for electoral victory of the party in the state.

Going into political spread and reach, this man is one that has no doubt cut across the state and is very much connected to the locals. He is responsive and resposible on issues and has stood with all the Senatorial zones even in time of their low, and what have you. He has carried his goodness and listening ears beyond Kwara Central.

Distinguished Senator Mustapha Saliu’s skill in resolving issues is another factor needed to unite Kwarans for the goodness of our party, the State, and for developmental issues which kept the society progressing.

As a strong philanthropist of repute that predates his election as a Senator coupled with his humility, cheer giving disposition,  dynamic, responsive economic manager, Distinguished Saliu Mustapha is no doubt fit to  manage the affairs of the state and sail it aright.

If votes would count, if the party’s interests will prevail, if the people must have a say, then DSSM is the key. If APC Governors must maintain the numbers it is currently branding or increase it, then it should be the people’s votes’ magnet-man, DSSM.

Aside from the fact that Kwara Central is a very apt factor in Kwara votes, the rallying point matters. And as such, a man not known to be controversial or involved in any faction is the one to beam the search light on. This is the fact of the matter when it comes to harvesting all the party has and meeting the people at the poll to produce the next Governor in the State.

Another critical issue that must be taken cognizance of is the issue of the opposition, which is riding high on a daily basis in the State. This needs to be checked technically. Without mincing words, Distinguished Senator Saliu Mustapha is the man that can attract majority of votes from the opposition and still muzzle in the party’s followers.

He also has the capacity to bring all aspirants together for a united electoral struggle for the survival of the soul of APC which the state Governor couldn't do uphill now. We also need to know that if a popular candidate does not emerge from the ongoing party challenge, it can have effect on the number of President vote, bearing in mind ONE SINGLE VOTE COUNTS

 Let it be noted that l have never met DSSM one on one, neither have we communicated through a third party, but his collective goodwill across the state speaks volumes. 

In a nutshell, going by all indices politically needed for a resounding electoral victory in Kwara State, the name, face, touch, voice and impression required is DISTINGUISHED SENATOR MUSTAPHA SALIU, the Turaki of Ilorin.