Feels like I’ve been screaming into the void for two years. Mostly privately, to the best of my ability. I’ve expressed deep concern about how the lack of effective diplomatic representation hurts Nigerians & communicates an unmatched level of banana-republic-like unseriousness.

https://twitter.com/msszeeusman/status/1944773771836952998

Everything is so deeply politicized in Nigeria. It’s why I’ve curtailed my public commentary on NG. People get defensive and project their political alignments/insecurities on you: “you must be an agent of X”, “you’re positioning for Y position”, “you are against candidate Z”

Nigeria faces severe U.S. visa restrictions and 24% new tariffs (14% reciprocal + 10% for BRICS alignment) from the U.S.

Worth noting that Nigeria has not had an ambassador to the U.S. since Oct 2023, and has not had a consistently engaging ambassador in D.C. for a decade. 1/ Since Oct 2023 when the Nigerian govt recalled its top diplomats, NG embassies/missions around the world have been w/out ambassadors. People have made public & private appeals in futility. Last year, a group of D.C. experts almost wrote a public letter to urge action 2/

In the new year, we should leave old baggage behind.

But the specious argument in this article with its offensive title, “The world economy’s biggest problem is Africa” reminiscent of The Economist’s “the Hopeless Continent”, needs to be tackled 🧵 1/
ft.com/content/178bdc…
“The biggest problem for global growth is Africa”.

According to the IMF, "Sub-Saharan" Africa grew by 3.3% in 2023 (higher than the global avg of 3%, as the world’s 2nd fastest growing region) and is projected to grow at 4% in 2024 (higher than the global avg of 2.9%). 2/

The U.S. just gave the death blow to 30+ years of Washington Consensus of free markets & small govt

A new American Industrial strategy unveiled by NSA Jake Sullivan will profoundly shape the global economy and prevailing theories of int’l development🧵1/ brookings.edu/events/the-bid… In laying the old Washington Consensus to rest, NSA Jake Sullivan identified 4 challenges associated with the previous approach:
1- hollowed out US industrial base
2- geopolitical risks from competitors
3- the climate challenge
4-Rising inequalities within & btw countries. 2/

The fireside chat between Mo Ibrahim & Pres. Ruto is the most riveting session of #IGW.

The candid convo was wide-ranging: global financial architecture, climate justice, African Union reforms, Africa’s external relations, etc. Some highlights 🧵1/ youtube.com/live/ny2jgGMMt… “The current international financial architecture is, to put it bluntly, rigged against those of us in the global south because we cannot meaningfully address our development needs with the financial resources from this architecture” - @WilliamsRuto 5.50min 2/

The global discussion around debt relief for low-income and fragile countries during #COVID19 is gathering momentum. There are various dimensions to the current debt situation, especially for #Africa. Here’s a short thread for those interested to follow the discussions 1/n The World Bank and IMF recently issued a joint call to the G20 for temporary suspension of debt service payments by IDA countries (low-income and fragile countries) to help provide liquidity in these countries to tackle #COVID19 2/n imf.org/en/News/Articl…