Nigeria is placing a renewed focus on intra-African trade to drive economic growth while attempting to avoid taking sides in disputes between the world’s most powerful nations, its foreign minister said.
Yusuf Tuggar said Nigeria sought to benefit from trade within the African Continental Free Trade Area — the world’s largest free trade area by population — and backed a push by the African Union to deepen integration between the continent’s regional economic blocs. Speaking at an event in London, he added that US tariffs on imported foreign goods, including a 15% levy on Nigerian exports, were not hurting the countries targeted and could prove to be “a blessing” by creating outsourcing opportunities for Nigerian companies.
Tuggar said Nigeria was pursuing a policy of “strategic autonomy” that means seeking “pragmatic” alliances in international trade, without backing Washington or Beijing where their interests compete, or being drawn into ideological disputes such as condemnation of Russia over its war in Ukraine. This approach to foreign policy also drove Nigeria’s refusal to accept US deportees, said Tuggar, since Africa’s most populous country lacks the space to take in people.