In an era when the global order isn’t following the script anymore, and old alliances are tested, with national interests outweighing global solidarity, Nigeria finds itself in need of bold voices, clear-eyed leadership, and diplomatic dexterity.
Into this chaotic fray steps in Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, OON, a man known not just for his intellect and statesmanship, but also for his dogged belief that Nigeria must participate and shape global affairs.
At a time where even long-standing democracies are retreating inward, Tuggar’s voice is carrying a pragmatic yet stirring message: Nigeria’s foreign policy must evolve and lead.
The international community can’t forget Ambassador Tuggar’s address at Chatham House. It was more than a speech, a declaration of intent wrapped in diplomacy. Standing before some of the world’s most discerning policy minds, Tuggar offered a sobering assessment of the current international landscape.
“The war in Ukraine has reshaped energy markets, disrupted supply chains, and exacerbated food insecurity, particularly for developing economies like ours. The conflict in Sudan and the Sahel has illustrated the limits of the old rules-based order, as new state and non-state actors flex influence in areas of chronic instability,” he said, laying bare the cascading effects of distant conflicts on African nations.
Tuggar’s tone was not alarmist, but deeply analytical, acknowledging that Nigeria stands at a crossroads where the old playbook used by Africa, the loyal understudy to the West, no longer serves.
“We see the existing order deconstructing. It was an order that did not present a level playing field for Nigeria and Africa, in terms of access to financing and markets and the tools to facilitate peace, prosperity and opportunity. As that order breaks down, what follows is much less clear,” Tuggar said.
And herein lies the urgency of Tuggar’s mission: to craft a foreign policy that is less about nostalgia and more about necessity and a blueprint that anchors Nigeria in a turbulent world and elevates her interests unapologetically.
Yet Ambassador Tuggar, ever vocal about Nigeria’s peacekeeping heroics in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and the moral clout it once held across Africa, understands that the rules of diplomacy have shifted. The game has changed.
To him, Nigeria’s ambition to reclaim its role as Africa’s backbone and a respected global player must start on home soil. He doesn’t sugarcoat it either. Tuggar lays bare the internal hurdles, those festering issues at home that continue to undercut Nigeria’s standing on the world stage.
“Economic inconsistency, insecurity in regions like the Sahel limit Nigeria’s ability to project power effectively. This internal reckoning is crucial. No nation can punch above its weight abroad if it’s flailing at home,” he said, adding that “a strong foreign policy must begin with domestic stability.” Tuggar’s diagnosis is as much a call to reform within as it is a roadmap for engagement without.
At the Agora Policy Forum held at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja on Wednesday, an assembly of policymakers, diplomats, and thinkers gathered to hear Tuggar lay out his strategic vision in greater detail.
Again, he returned to the metaphor of a shifting global chessboard where Nigeria must move with precision. As global power shifts toward multipolarity, he argued, “Nigeria must assert greater strategic autonomy in its international engagements.” That autonomy, however, does not mean isolation. Rather, it calls for an intentional diversification of partnerships.
Nigeria, under Tuggar’s foreign policy approach, is deepening ties with emerging powers like China, India, and Brazil, while maintaining key relationships with traditional allies such as the United States and the European Union.
Nowhere is this realignment clearer than in Nigeria’s recent diplomatic breakthrough with the Republic of Niger. Though he had acknowledged that the conflict was of no fault of Nigeria’s, on April 16, 2025, Tuggar led a high-level delegation to Niamey, marking the first major effort to restore strained relations following Niger’s July 2023 military coup.
Arriving a day earlier, Tuggar hand-delivered a message from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to General Abdourahamane Tchiani, Niger’s new leader. This wasn’t business as usual; it was a recalibration of regional diplomacy. Discussions covered cross-border trade, energy infrastructure, and revitalising the Nigeria-Niger Joint Commission (NNJC).
Projects like the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline and the Kano-Katsina-Jibiya-Maradi railway emerged as cornerstones of regional economic integration. A proposed Joint Consultative Forum was also floated to tackle shared challenges head-on.
The communique that followed was clear: both nations reaffirmed their fraternal bonds and pledged to tackle cross-border terrorism together while intensifying cultural, economic, and political exchanges. It was vintage Tuggar- pragmatic, patient, and strategic. A man who knows that real diplomacy is not only about flags and handshakes, but more about results.
This balanced engagement reflects his strategic mind, a man who understands that Nigeria’s foreign relations cannot be dictated by sentiment or ideological loyalty, but by tangible, national benefit.
His diplomatic compass is guided, not by wishful thinking, but by realism and pragmatism that extends to the economic sphere, where he is championing a more muscular brand of economic diplomacy.
The implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) presents a unique opportunity for Nigeria to consolidate its position as a regional economic hub. Tuggar also emphasised landmark infrastructure projects like the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline and the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline as physical symbols of Nigeria’s centrality to regional and even global energy security, saying that both projects present a unique opportunity to diversify Europe’s gas supplies and represent potent physical symbols of Nigeria’s place in a new international order.
But economic diplomacy, for Tuggar, is not just about flashy projects and trade volumes, it’s also about preparing Nigeria for the emerging global economy and the reduction of overreliance on hydrocarbon revenues that is deepening engagement with global partners in renewable energy, technology transfer, and industrialisation.
On the ever-looming issue of security, Tuggar was no less direct that Nigeria’s security challenges, particularly terrorism, banditry, and piracy, cannot be addressed in isolation. According to him, the country’s foreign policy recognizes the transnational nature of security threats, necessitating a robust regional and international approach, further highlighting the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in the Lake Chad Basin as a model of African-led collaboration with global support. It’s an example of the “Africa first” mindset propagated by him.
Under his watch, Nigeria is also leveraging defence diplomacy, particularly through initiatives like the Deep Blue Project, which has significantly curbed piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.
“Under the Tinubu administration, no single piracy incident has occurred in Nigeria’s territorial waters,” Tuggar noted, a statistic that quietly underscores the strategic value of competent, forward-thinking diplomacy.
Beyond conventional diplomacy, he is also positioning Nigeria as a leading voice in the global governance debate. He’s pushing hard for a UN Security Council reform, emphasising Africa’s right to a permanent seat.
Tuggar has also cast his eye on global financial institutions, where developing countries are often hemmed in by restrictive frameworks. During his Chatham House address, he slammed punitive structures like Basel IV that make it harder for developing nations to access capital. His critique wasn’t merely academic; it was grounded in Nigeria’s lived experience of being on the receiving end of policies made in conference rooms oceans away.
Climate diplomacy is another front Tuggar is tackling head-on. According to him, “Climate change continues to pose an existential threat, with Africa disproportionately affected, despite contributing the least to global emissions,” he noted, his tone tight with frustration but laced with resolve.
Nigeria’s position is clear: any global climate deal must include financing mechanisms that benefit the most vulnerable. Green industrialisation and climate resilience, in Tuggar’s view, must go hand-in-hand with global justice.
When asked during the inaugural Agora Forum’s interactive session about the delay in ambassadorial appointments under President Tinubu’s administration, Tuggar was candid. He confirmed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had forwarded the list of nominees to the President but acknowledged that economic reforms and governance priorities had temporarily slowed the process.
“The appointments will be made soon,” he assured, adding that both career diplomats and political appointees would be included. Using himself as a case study, having been a political appointee to Germany during the Buhari administration, Tuggar made a strong case for the value political appointees can bring, when chosen wisely but decried the unbalanced ratio of career diplomats with that of political appointees in the past.
In closing, Ambassador Tuggar returned to his central thesis that Nigeria’s foreign policy in a time of global uncertainty is not about reacting to external shocks but it’s about claiming our rightful space in the world.
He opined that it is about ensuring that Nigeria’s economy is resilient, security safeguarded, and her voice is amplified in global decision-making.
“As we look to the future, I urge all stakeholders, diplomats, academics, business leaders, and civil society to play their part in strengthening Nigeria’s global standing. The task is complex, but with strategic foresight and national unity, we will position Nigeria as a formidable force in the evolving international system,” Tuggar said.
And so, in an age of uncertainty, as nations claw for advantage and the very architecture of global power is being redrawn, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar stands like a steady lighthouse, mender of fences, a maker of deals, and the diplomat for a new age.
Udoka, a journalist, writes from Abuja