Nigeria’s participation at TICAD9: Focusing on strategic engagements, not trade expos

Tinubu arriving TICAD9

By JAMIU JAMODU

The trending social media narrative about an empty booth labelled ‘NIGERIA’ at the ongoing 9th Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD9) in Yokohama, Japan, totally misrepresented our country’s mission and activities at the conference.

While we understand the urge by many social media users to seek clicks with many incorrect posts, we also recognise that the author may have acted out of patriotic concern. But it is a concern inspired by ignorance about Nigeria’s mission at the triennial conference.

The Nigerian delegation to the summit, led by President Bola Tinubu, is laser-focused on its core objectives of achieving tangible outcomes from the scheduled lineup of bilateral and multilateral engagements targeted at driving optimum performance in key sectors of the economy, especially in power, industry and agriculture.

The Nigerian official delegation working with Corporate Nigeria, represented by some of our leading business leaders, didn’t come to Yokohama and Tokyo to attend any Trade Expo, designed as an open forum for participating nations.

The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA) is scheduled to host an investment forum on Thursday, August 21, 2025

The Nigerian ministers are busy with bilateral sideline discussions. At the same time, President Tinubu will lead meetings with the executives of Toyota Corporation, CFAO, UN-Habitat, UNDP, and the International Finance Corporation. The delegation’s schedule does not include participation in an open forum trade exhibition.

Specifically, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, is leading the pre-activation meeting to execute several power projects in Nigeria that are being funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

One of the projects is the Lagos-Ogun Power Transmission System Improvement, which is designed to improve the wheeling capacity and grid stability and enable the connection of industrial customers on the corridor.