G20: President Tinubu looks beyond Geo-Politics towards a global economic reset that reflects Africa’s strategic value

“This summit in Johannesburg is not merely another gathering; it is an accountability moment. If the G-20 expects Africa’s partnership in security cooperation, energy markets, mineral supply chains, and global stability—then Africa must be accorded the respect, representation, and policy influence commensurate with its value”.

Dateline : Johannesburg: As South Africa opens its doors to leaders of the world’s strongest economies for this year’s G-20 Summit, the theme—Solidarity, Equality, and Sustainability—lands on African soil with a deeper moral weight than it does anywhere else. It’s Africa’s first and it must be made to count.

The two-day summit will afford participants the opportunity to deliberate extensively during three plenary sessions devoted to: Inclusive and Sustainable Growth, Leaving No One Behind: Building our economies, the role of trade, Financing for development and the Debt burden; A Resilient World-the G20’s Contribution to Disaster Risk Reduction; Climate Change; Just Energy Transitions; Food Systems and A fair and Just Future for All: Critical Minerals; Decent Work; Artificial Intelligence.

For decades, Africa has listened patiently while global powers made declarations about justice, shared prosperity, and fairness. This summit marks a point where the continent, led by countries like South Africa and Nigeria, intend not just to listen, but to reshape the global agenda in ways that reflect our realities and our ambitions. Will the strong leaderships of Nigeria and South Africa be able to move Africa away from the periphery of the center to the center ?

Shared History

Nigeria’s presence here is not accidental; it is anchored in history and earned through sacrifice. During the darkest days of apartheid, when it was neither fashionable nor convenient, Nigeria took a principled stand against racial oppression in South Africa—imposing sanctions, funding liberation movements, and taxing its own citizens to support the struggle.

More than any rhetoric, it was Nigeria’s political will and financial commitment that kept the anti-apartheid engine running. And when Nelson Mandela walked out of prison and later assumed office as President, Nigeria stood not as a distant observer but as a central pillar of that victory. This shared history imposes a responsibility on both nations today: to restore Africa’s collective influence in the global space where decisions affecting its future are made.

It is against this backdrop that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu arrives at the G-20 for the third time, not with a plea, but with a clear demand for a global economic reset that finally reflects Africa’s strategic value. While the major powers fixate on geopolitical rivalries and power blocs, President Tinubu’s position is stark: Africa will not be reduced to collateral damage in the battles of others.

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The continent’s growth trajectory is too important, its youth and population demographics strength too consequential, and its natural resources too central to the global energy and manufacturing base for Africa to remain an afterthought.

President Tinubu is pressing the argument that the international financial architecture designed decades ago without African input cannot continue to dictate terms to a continent now poised to become a primary driver of global growth.

Debt distress, punitive interest rates, exclusionary financing models, and energy transition frameworks that undermine industrialization are no longer acceptable. Nigeria is making the case that the G-20 must move from sympathetic commentary to structural reform: real access to long-term capital, equitable climate financing, fair trade arrangements, and governance representation that reflects Africa’s 21st-century weight.

The forces reshaping the world technological disruption, green industrialization, shifting supply chains create opportunities Africa and her massive youth population has every right to claim. But those opportunities will slip away if global rules remain rigged against emerging economies. President Tinubu intends to make it unmistakably clear: Africa will not remain at the receiving end of decisions taken elsewhere. Africa will help set the terms.

This summit in Johannesburg is not merely another gathering; it is an accountability moment. If the G-20 expects Africa’s partnership in security cooperation, energy markets, mineral supply chains, and global stability—then Africa must be accorded the respect, representation, and policy influence commensurate with its value. Nigeria is prepared to lead that conversation, and to lead it with candor.

For Africa, the stakes go beyond communiqués and cordial photographs. The real objective is a permanent shift from episodic recognition to structural inclusion; from rhetorical solidarity to measurable action; from polite acknowledgment to genuine partnership.

President Tinubu arrives at the G-20 with a simple but uncompromising message: Africa is not the world’s afterthought. Africa is a strategic power center in its own right. And the global system must now adjust to that reality.
And on President Tinubu’s Watch Nigeria is beginning to chart the desired critical path to developmental growth.

-Sunday Dare is the Special Adviser on Media and Public Communications to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria.