Author: Buhari Muhammadu

Why should our 54 countries not lend weight to each other in international bodies, compounding our influence as the EU does? What becomes of the Commonwealth should one of its 15 members that is not a republic join those 39 others which are? With Jamaica considering such a move, this question is being asked. But it is misplaced: the modern Commonwealth was constituted in 1949 specifically to accommodate a republic – newly independent India – precisely after such constitutional change. Still, it is right to debate the Commonwealth’s future. Though perfectly sustainable in its current form, it would be a…

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A deal would enable Britain to practice the free trade it has long preached and represent recognition by a G7 economy of the benefits of African unity, writes President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria Two years after the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union, my country Nigeria and her African partners seek a new settlement with Britain: one based on cooperation in fairer – and freer – trade. The UK and Nigeria share a deep and special partnership. We are champions for peace and security in Africa. We are custodians of the Commonwealth. Yet in recent years our relationship, particularly…

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Today, leaders from across Africa meet in Paris to discuss plans to recover from the impact of a common enemy – COVID-19. But for African nations from across the Sahel region and beyond, the issues are inseparable from the fight against another common enemy which is terrorism. And like the war against the Coronavirus, it is one we are fully united with France in our strong determination to overcome. Across the world, conflict and Coronavirus have not been far apart. As governments have struggled to contain COVID, jihadists have taken advantage in the Sahel – the vast arid stretch of…

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