West Africa: Are we so back, or is it so over?
In July 2023, Tinubu told the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS): 鈥溾
It felt like a subtle shade at , and a huge promise that Nigeria would dominate West Africa again.
In 2026, after three years of Tinubu鈥檚 leadership, the vibe is completely different. It is looking less like 鈥渨e are so back鈥 and a lot more like 鈥渋t鈥檚 so over鈥. Here is exactly how Tinubu fumbled Nigeria鈥檚 regional standing.
Where did we go?
If Tinubu is claiming 鈥渨e鈥檙e back,鈥 where are we coming from and where are we going back to? Nigeria used to be a regional superpower: economically, politically and militarily.
When ECOWAS intervened in the Civil wars in and in the 1990s, Nigeria to bring stability to those countries. When Abuja spoke, West Africa listened.
But during the Buhari years, Nigeria shrank into its shell because we were drowning in our own crises.
With terrorism and banditry ravaging the country, our security forces had their hands full. Economy-wise, things were just as bleak. Nigeria to suffering .
To make matters worse, in 2019, Buhari shut our land borders, claiming it would stop smuggling and increase local production. It only , , and openly violated .
Buhari had already dropped the ball on our global standing. So when Tinubu promised a comeback, you might have expected him to pick it back up. Sadly, it鈥檚 more like he鈥檚 just kicked it further down the road.
I鈥檒l close my eyes and count to seven
Tinubu did not waste any time screwing things up. He was sworn in as president on May 29, 2023, and on July 9, 2023. But his first real test came on July 26, 2023, when .
Nigeria has always been seen as the “big brother” of West Africa, but Tinubu immediately overplayed his hand. He gave the Niger junta to hand back power or face a military invasion.
The junta ignored him, and Tinubu to back up his threat.
Bad neighbour
So, what did this reckless bluff actually achieve? It completely pissed off some of our neighbours. Burkina Faso and Mali . Just two months into his presidency, Tinubu had Nigeria staring down the barrel of an all-out regional war.
When the ultimatum expired, and we did not invade, it only exposed Nigeria’s weakness. that invading Niger would turn into a long, messy campaign, and our hesitation showed the world we did not have the stomach or capacity for it.
Our soldiers stayed home, but the Tinubu-led ECOWAS still hit Niger with . We cut off their electricity, closed our borders and blocked vital supplies, including food, which is usually left out of such sanctions for humanitarian reasons. Niger is a landlocked country, so .
By September 2023, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger had , a rival regional bloc to ECOWAS. However anyone looks at it, one thing will always remain true: ECOWAS lost three member countries and became significantly weaker under Tinubu.
Breakup blues
This breakup is not victimless. Beyond the suffering in Niger, Nigeria is paying a heavy price for destroying relationships with its neighbours.
We used to rely on cross-border military cooperation to beat back Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in the north. Now that cooperation is gone, . Since 2023, kidnapping ransoms have exploded year after year, and brutal attacks on schools and communities have become the norm. In 2025, Nigeria , a number higher than what we saw in 2014 when Boko Haram was at its absolute peak.
These tense relationships don’t just leave us vulnerable to terrorists; they put our troops in direct danger.
In December 2025, eleven Nigerian Air Force personnel flying a plane to Portugal for routine maintenance suffered a mechanical fault and had to make an emergency landing in Burkina Faso. Under normal diplomatic conditions, a neighbour would offer a hangar and some assistance. Instead, the Burkina Faso military government swiftly . It took a full week of just to get them released.
The cost of Tinubu fumbling our regional standing is measured in lost lives, closed schools and ruined communities. That is the real legacy of his regional foreign policy over the last three years.
Global embarrassment
Naija to the world
We鈥檝e already talked about how Tinubu undermined Nigeria鈥檚 place as a regional 鈥渂ig brother鈥 in West Africa. We鈥檒l give you one guess as to how he鈥檚 done on the global stage.
If you guessed he鈥檚 done well, you really need to work on your pattern recognition skills. If you guessed he鈥檚 fumbled that too, congratulations, you鈥檙e correct. Also, condolences, because the effects of his fumbling have made all our lives harder. You little know-it-all, you鈥檙e right, but at what cost?
Let鈥檚 find out exactly how Tinubu has fumbled Nigeria鈥檚 international standing.
Homecoming
Like we said earlier, Tinubu wasn鈥檛 wasting any time when it came to screwing things up. In September 2023, just three months after taking office, he across 109 countries.
Now, that in itself is not a bad thing. A new president usually recalls old appointees to put their own people in. What was completely unexpected was that Tinubu just didn鈥檛 appoint anyone else. For over two years, Nigeria had no ambassadors and zero representation across the globe.
Too little, too late
After major diplomatic tensions with the United States over accusations that his government was complicit in a genocide of Nigerian Christians, Tinubu finally realised the importance of international relationships. In March 2026, he finally approved the which he had delayed for god knows why.
But it鈥檚 not going smoothly. Multiple countries have already . With only one year left in his presidential term, foreign governments don鈥檛 want to waste time onboarding ambassadors who might get kicked out if a new president wins in 2027. They鈥檇 rather just wait. Basically, Tinubu waited too long, and now it鈥檚 too little, too late.
We鈥檒l always have Japan
Tinubu鈥檚 presidency has been a steady stream of global embarrassments, and Japan is a prime example.
In August 2025, Japan hosted the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9). Even though Tinubu and his team arrived two days early, they managed to leave Nigeria鈥檚 official booth . Two Nigerian citizens who happened to be attending the conference had to step in and represent the country to foreign investors.
But the State House wasn鈥檛 done embarrassing us. On the final day, the Director of Information, Abiodun Oladunjoye, proudly announced that Japan had named the city of Kisarazu 鈥渢he Hometown of Nigeria鈥 and would grant Nigerians a special visa.
, 鈥淎rtisans and other blue-collar workers from Nigeria who are ready to upskill will also benefit from the special dispensation visa to work in Japan.鈥
The Japanese government immediately came forward to , basically calling our administration liars. There was no special visa. The State House quietly and published . Shame wear me asiwaju cap.
Collective second-hand embarrassment
A similar embarrassment played out in September 2023 when Tinubu , Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Right after the meeting, the presidency proudly .
The joy was short-lived. The UAE quickly issued its own statement contradicting the claim. The presidency was , lamely explaining that both sides were still working out 鈥渢he finer details.鈥
Johannesburg gbese
The international embarrassment continues with the fact that Nigeria can鈥檛 seem to keep the lights on in its own buildings. In 2023, a Johannesburg electricity company over an unpaid bill of $23,000. The High Commission in South Africa suffered the exact same fate, getting disconnected and again for unpaid utility bills.
Unwanted visitors
Is a little global embarrassment the only consequence of Tinubu fumbling our foreign policy? Sadly, no.
Nigeria had when Tinubu became president. That baseline was already laughably low, but our master strategist has somehow taken us even lower. In 2026, we have .
To put that in perspective, let’s look at how many countries other African passports give you access to:
- Ghana: 67 countries
- Kenya: 69 countries
- South Africa: 100 countries
Even worse, we do not have a visa-free relationship with any of . In fact, the top three countries we visited in 2025鈥攖he United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States鈥.
Because the Tinubu administration has zero geopolitical weight, we cannot negotiate better migration terms or protect our citizens looking for greener pastures. When Western countries want to cut down on immigration numbers, Nigeria is always the easiest target because they know Abuja will not do anything about it.
Children of No Nation
The absolute scariest part of this fumbled international standing is what happens when Nigerians face actual life-or-death emergencies abroad.
Look at the Middle East. A massive conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran escalated earlier this year, with Iran launching a wave of retaliatory strikes . Many Nigerians suddenly found themselves stranded in volatile combat zones.
Instead of an immediate extraction, the government’s evacuation strategy was sluggish. The bombings began on February 28. Yet, by March 17, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was . The Ministry鈥檚 spokesperson, Kimiebi Ebienfa, said: 鈥淭he government is working out the necessary administrative details and the release of funds to commence evacuation.鈥
When you are dodging missiles in a foreign land, the last thing you want to hear is that your country is still sorting out “administrative details,鈥 but that鈥檚 exactly what you get with this administration.
Nigerians must go
The exact reactive script is playing out in South Africa right now. In May 2026, xenophobic tensions boiled over again across major South African cities. Sadly, this is not the first time something like this has happened, yet the Nigerian government still looked completely clueless.
The newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, had to for a voluntary evacuation flight for the hundreds of Nigerians who registered in fear for their lives. To add insult to injury, the Ministry informed Nigerians looking to leave South Africa that . The government was willing to “facilitate” the return but would not pay for it or provide the plane.
Let鈥檚 sit with that for a minute.
The fact that these xenophobic attacks remain a frequent occurrence without a strong, definitive response from the South African government to protect foreign nationals shows just how little diplomatic leverage Nigeria has left. Good luck being taken seriously by a country that keeps disconnecting your embassy buildings over unpaid electricity bills.
We are constantly playing defence. Instead of using high-level diplomacy to prevent xenophobic violence before it starts, we wait until our people are living in terror before trying to rescue them. And even that is done badly. When a country’s foreign policy is this weak, its citizens are always the ones who pay the price.
Made in Nigeria
Whether you live in Lagos or the diaspora, as long as you carry a green passport, the government鈥檚 foreign policy moves affect your daily life. The missteps of the Tinubu administration over these three years have made things harder, more restrictive, and at times have directly endangered Nigerian lives. Tinubu is fumbling Nigeria鈥檚 international standing, but it is ordinary citizens who are paying the ultimate price.
We cannot change the fact that we are Nigerian, but we can certainly change how the world perceives us. And that starts with the government that represents us on the world stage.
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