‘Invest in Africa to reduce migration pressures,’ Tinubu tells global partners
President Bola Tinubu has called on international partners to support Africa with concrete investments that create jobs and opportunities for young people, warning that irregular migration cannot be tackled through rhetoric alone.
Speaking on Tuesday at the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, Tinubu said the root causes of migration must be addressed through economic development, improved security and access to opportunities in African countries.
“People who have jobs, security, and hope at home do not typically risk their lives in the back of a smuggler’s truck,” the President said.
He noted that Nigeria was already pursuing reforms aimed at expanding economic opportunities, including fuel subsidy removal, bank recapitalisation and agricultural modernisation.
“That is why Nigeria has embedded migration management within our broader economic transformation agenda—removing fuel subsidies to invest in infrastructure, recapitalising banks to fund enterprise, and modernising agriculture to create rural livelihoods, among other initiatives,” Tinubu stated.
The President, however, stressed that African countries could not shoulder the burden alone and urged development partners to provide targeted investments that would make staying in home countries a viable option for young people.
“But we cannot do it alone. International partners must move beyond rhetoric and match words with investments that make staying at home a genuine choice—investments in climate adaptation, energy access, digital skills, and the productive sectors that employ young people,” he said.
Tinubu also called on global partners to dedicate part of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to programmes that directly reduce the economic hardship driving irregular migration.
