Amid Niger Leader’s Claims, FG Statement Confirms Tinubu Accepted €300m French ‘Investment Plan’

A recent statement from Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that President Bola Tinubu agreed to a €300 million investment plan in France amid claims by Nigerien leader Abdourahamane Tchiani that Tinubu received money from the French government in exchange for the establishment of a military base in the country......Read The Full Article>>.....Read The Full Article>>

Alkasim Abdulkadir, special assistant on media and communication strategy to minister of foreign affairs Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, stated on Thursday evening that the Tinubu-led government accepted a €300 million plan from France but for investment in critical infrastructure.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was in Paris, where Nigeria and France signed two agreements to boost infrastructure development and food security. At the same time, Nigerian lenders Zenith Bank and United Bank for Africa (UBA) expanded their operations into France,” Abdulkadir wrote.

“The agreements also included a €300 million investment plan to support critical infrastructure, healthcare, transportation, agriculture, renewable energy and human capital development across Nigeria. Thus the funds are not in exchange for the establishment of a military post.”

This Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement is among the numerous pushbacks issued by the Nigerian government since Tchiani’s claim began to circulate on Wednesday.

Government officials have denied Tchiani’s accusations but the statement from the foreign ministry corresponds with the claims that Tinubu accepted funds from Paris.

The Nigerien leader said in an interview, published by state-controlled Radio-télévision du Niger (RTN) on Thursday, that the French Army had established a military base in Maiduguri, North-East Nigeria.

The most popular recorded version of this claim is a two-minute video where Tchiani claimed that the French military base is in Bagawa Forest, Maiduguri.

“They gave Tinubu money in exchange for a space in Borno, Maiduguri. We sent people there, they went there,” Tchiani said.

“Since Nigeria has the power, they should investigate this place called Bagawa Forest thoroughly. I have spent four months there and there is nothing I do not know.

“These people have investigated and confirmed the French are there. The French, with the knowledge of the Nigerian leaders, built a company and named it Canada.”

This is coming in the midst of mounting concerns about the relationship of the Nigerian government with France after a recently signed

MoU and the country’s fallout with its former colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Just two weeks earlier, a now-deleted X post by Mahdi Shehu, a public commentator claimed that French troops arrived in Nigeria on December

He said that Olufemi Olatubosun Oluyede, Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS), welcomed the French troops to Maiduguri. FIJ fact-checked this claim and found it to be false.