ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening bilateral relations after a meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja between President Bola Tinubu and the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Shakhboot Bin Nahyan Al Nahyan.
The deal-making keeps moving at the top. Ordinary people get the bill, while the state and its business partners talk about “market access,” “investment” and “economic development” as if those words somehow feed families on their own.
Who Has the Power
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, said in a statement on Sunday that the two countries are set to expand cooperation across agriculture, banking, energy, artificial intelligence, industrialisation and infrastructure. She said the meeting was “not only a highly constructive engagement, but a candid interaction” and described it as part of a growing strategic partnership between Abuja and Abu Dhabi.
“Our two countries are moving to deepen bilateral ties and are expanding cooperation in agriculture, banking, energy, A.I, industrialisation and infrastructure, with a Joint Commission meeting also in the pipeline,” she said.
That’s the language of power speaking to power. The people most affected by these arrangements are nowhere in the room, even as the machinery of state and capital keeps widening its reach.
The meeting came months after Nigeria and the UAE signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, a trade deal aimed at boosting investment, expanding market access and deepening economic cooperation between the two countries. Odumegwu-Ojukwu said the agreement would give businesses in both countries greater market access by removing tariffs on thousands of products and opening new investment opportunities.
“This pact eliminates tariffs on more than 7,000 Nigerian products entering the UAE and over 6,000 Emirati products entering Nigeria, while opening service sectors and business establishment opportunities in both countries,” she said.
Who Gets the Gains
Odumegwu-Ojukwu said non-oil trade has reached an estimated $5 billion, and said Sheikh Bin Nahyan Al Nahyan believes the potential exists for scaling up that figure, especially because of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement signed in January this year.
The numbers are big. So are the interests behind them. Trade deals like this don’t arrive as neutral paperwork; they’re built to smooth the path for corporations, investors and the institutions that already hold the leverage.
She also pointed to deepening financial and energy ties. “Furthermore, our bilateral banking ties are deepening, marked by the planned entry of the First Abu Dhabi Bank into Lagos,” she said. “The Dangote Petroleum Refinery also recently diversified its feedstock by purchasing its first-ever cargoes of crude oil from the UAE,” she added.
That’s the hierarchy in plain sight: banking expansion, refinery supply chains, tariff removal, and a Joint Commission in the pipeline. The people at the bottom don’t get to vote on any of it. They live with the consequences.
What They Call Cooperation
Odumegwu-Ojukwu said Nigeria remains committed to strengthening relations with the Gulf nation and building on the longstanding diplomatic ties between the two countries. “Nigeria remains committed to strengthening our bilateral relations at the highest levels, and to building on the solid foundation of the very warm, cordial and longstanding relations that exist between our two nations,” she said.
The latest engagement is expected to pave the way for a Joint Commission meeting between Nigeria and the UAE, where both countries are expected to outline additional areas of cooperation aimed at boosting trade, investment and broader economic development.
That’s the official script: higher-level relations, broader development, more cooperation. But the facts on the page show a familiar arrangement — state officials negotiating with state officials, business interests getting fresh openings, and the public left to absorb whatever “development” means once the contracts are signed and the tariffs are gone.