President Bola Tinubu has arrived in Kigali, Rwanda, ahead of the 13th edition of the Africa CEO Forum scheduled to begin on Thursday.
Tinubu was received at the Presidential Wing of the Kigali International Airport by Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Ojukwu, and Rwanda’s Minister of Defence, Juvenal Marizamunda.
Others at the airport included the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Jumoke Oduwole; Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Mohammed Mohammed; Nigeria’s Chargé d’Affaires in Rwanda, Ibrahim Zanna; and the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare.
Founded in 2012 by Jeune Afrique Media and co-hosted by the International Finance Corporation, the forum is regarded as one of Africa’s largest annual gatherings of private sector leaders, investors and policymakers.
This year’s theme is “The Scale Imperative: Why Africa Must Embrace Shared Ownership.”
According to the presidency, Tinubu will speak on “Holding the Line: Nigeria’s Reform Bet in a Fractured World,” where he is expected to defend his administration’s economic reforms and outline Nigeria’s investment prospects.
The president is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with African and global business leaders during the summit.
Tinubu’s participation at the forum comes after he addressed the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, Kenya.
At the summit, he criticised punitive global lending conditions facing African countries.
Speaking at the summit co-hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and Kenyan President William Ruto, Tinubu said Africa’s industrial growth was being weakened by high borrowing costs and an unfair global financial system.
He argued that African countries remained trapped exporting raw materials while importing finished products because industries lacked access to affordable capital.
Tinubu defended his administration’s reforms, including fuel subsidy removal, exchange rate unification and banking sector recapitalisation, saying the measures were “sovereign choices” aimed at stabilising Nigeria’s economy.
The president also disclosed that Nigeria would spend about $11.6bn on debt servicing in 2026. He warned that high interest payments were depriving critical sectors of investment.
His remarks came weeks after former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, faulted the government’s borrowing strategy and described debt for consumption as dangerous to the economy.
According to the Debt Management Office, Nigeria’s public debt rose to N159.27tn at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, up from N97.34tn recorded in late 2023.
