Presidency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejects the claim of Poor Nigerian representatives in Ticad9

The Presidential and Foreign Ministry Federal has rejected viral social media claims that show that Nigeria is less represented at the ongoing Tokyo International Conference on the Development of Africa (TICAD9) in Yokohama, Japan.

The controversy was triggered by wide circulating videos showing the empty booth labeled “Nigeria,” which was interpreted by several critics as evidence of the lack of seriousness of the country at the Triential Summit. A participant, Idris Bello, was also accused of X (previously Twitter) that the establishment of Nigeria was the unmanned one.

In a statement on Wednesday entitled “Nigerian participation in Ticad9: Focus on strategic involvement, not a trade exhibition,” special advisors to the President of Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, clarified that Nigeria did not attend the Summit to exhibit at trade shows but to pursue high -level strategic involvement.

“The narrative of social media that is trending about an empty booth labeled ‘Nigeria’ in the ongoing Ticad9 is completely wrong to describe our mission and activities,” Onanuga said. “The Nigerian delegation, led by the President of Bola Tinubu, focuses on bilateral and multilateral involvement to encourage optimal performance in power, industry and agriculture.”

Onanuga revealed that Tinubu held a meeting with global companies and institutions, including Toyota Corporation, CFAO, UN-Habitat, UNDP, and International Finance Corporation. He also revealed that the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, led talks about projects funded by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) such as the Lagos-Osting Transmission Improvement Project, Training Partnership with the Nigerian National Training Institute (Naptin), and $ 190 million access to widespread through the distributed energy scale.

Adelabu is further expected to be involved with original Japanese equipment manufacturers, including Toshiba and Hitachi, while the Industrial Bank, under the Director of Implementing, Supo Olusi, is in discussions with JICA and other multilateral bodies regarding its annual global fund syndication.

“The official delegation, working with the Nigerian company, is not in Yokohama to attend an open trade exhibition but to secure the real results of strategic involvement,” Onanuga emphasized.

Separately, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also discussed the concern, noting that the Nigerian booth had not been inaugurated. In a post in X, the Ministry explained, “Contrary to tweets made by participants at Ticad, STAN Nigeria at #TICAD9 has not been opened. STAN will be officially inaugurated on Thursday, August 21, 2025, after that it will be fully operating and serving the TICAD delegation.”

Meanwhile, during his speech at the Ticad plenary regarding peace and stability, President Tinubu reiterated Africa’s request for a just representative at the UN Security Council, insisted that the continent deserves two permanent seats with full privileges, in line with the consensus Ezulwini and Sirtre’s declaration.

Tinubu also praised the Nigerian armed forces to get new benefits for the rebellion but emphasized that eternal peace requires poverty, inequality, and exception. “Our armed forces who dare to win a lot of battles, but we are fair to their heroism only when we are equally tough in the cause of terror,” he said.

He further called for an innovative peace development model, quoting recent mediation efforts in the Congo that connected the peace agreement with economic investment as a promising approach.

The President urged African countries to prioritize partnerships driven by the market rather than “stale appeals for help and handouts,” frame Ticad9 as an opportunity for transformative involvement rather than optics.