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Tuggar Urges Europe, Africa to Build Bridges, Reject Isolationism
Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has called on Europe and Africa to resist isolationist impulses and instead deepen cooperation anchored on shared history, geography and collective responsibility.
Tuggar made the call while delivering a keynote address at the 2026 Annual Conference of Spanish Ambassadors in Madrid, attended by 182 Spanish ambassadors, where he said Europe and Africa should not be viewed as distant continents but as “a single geopolitical space separated more by perception than by reality.”
Speaking on the theme “Good Neighbourliness: Building Bridges or Building Walls,” the minister said the Mediterranean Sea has historically linked societies rather than divided them. “The Mediterranean has never been a wall. It has always been a bridge connecting peoples, economies and cultures across centuries,” he said.
He noted that Europe and Africa are bound by long-standing economic and social ties that predate the modern international system, stressing that present-day relations must be informed by this shared past. According to him, “Africa has been central to the making of the modern world, from the trans-Saharan gold trade of the 14th century to early Atlantic commerce in sugar and palm oil.”
Against this backdrop, Tuggar argued that Africa should be recognised alongside Europe and Ibero-America as an integral part of Spain’s wider historical identity. “Our histories are intertwined, and our futures are inseparable,” he added.
On migration, the foreign minister acknowledged its sensitivity but warned against policies driven by fear rather than realism. While reaffirming Nigeria’s opposition to irregular migration, he cautioned that “the securitisation of labour mobility and the weaponisation of anti-migrant sentiment have produced destabilising consequences, particularly in the Sahel.”
He explained that externally driven policies that criminalised migration in transit countries dismantled local economies and empowered criminal networks. “These approaches neither reduced migration nor enhanced stability. Instead, they deepened insecurity and weakened already fragile states,” Tuggar said.
The minister, however, praised Spain’s circular migration schemes with African countries, describing them as “pragmatic, humane and rooted in historical patterns of seasonal labour that West Africans have practised for centuries.”
Highlighting bilateral relations, Tuggar said Nigeria and Spain are strengthening cooperation in migration management, police training and the fight against human trafficking and smuggling. He described Spain as “setting a constructive example for Europe by choosing engagement and dialogue over coercion.”
On development, the foreign minister warned that Africa’s marginal share of global trade is incompatible with its population size. “Exporting raw materials and importing finished goods entrenches underdevelopment and creates economic pressures that ultimately spill across borders,” he said, adding that development finance and value-addition should be seen “not as charity, but as investments in shared stability.”
Tuggar also raised concerns about the shrinking space for diplomacy in an era of over-militarisation and polarised politics. “Diplomats must have the courage to resist simplistic security narratives and defend dialogue, compromise and long-term thinking,” he urged.
Addressing democratic backsliding and unconstitutional changes of government in parts of West Africa, he disclosed that Nigeria is leading a Regional Partnership for Democracy in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme. According to him, the initiative recognises that “democratic systems must reflect local histories, cultures and stages of development if they are to endure.”
In his closing remarks, Tuggar called on Spain’s diplomatic corps to act as advocates of good neighbourliness globally. “In a world tempted by walls and withdrawal, the true test of statesmanship is the ability to build bridges that history, geography and common interest already demand,” he said.
The statement was issued by Alkasim Abdulkadir, Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
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