The Presidency on Wednesday defended President Bola Tinubu’s mission to the ongoing 9th Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD9) in Yokohama, Japan, as that of seeking strategic engagements with development partners and not to attend a trade expo.
The Federal Government said the Nigerian delegation to the summit, led by President Bola Tinubu, is laser-focused on its core objectives of achieving tangible outcomes from the scheduled lineup of bilateral and multilateral engagements targeted at driving optimum performance in key sectors of the economy, especially in power, industry and agriculture.
The Presidency offered the clarification to diffuse a trending narrative on social media which is said to misrepresent the government’s mission.
The alarm was raised on the platform X (formerly called Twitter) on Wednesday by a Nigerian participant at TICAD 9, Idris Ayodeji Bello (@idrisayobello) who tweeted:
“Nigeria’s booth at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9) was left unattended for hours on the summit’s opening day, sparking embarrassment among delegates.
“While other African countries had officials actively engaging visitors and distributing materials, Nigeria’s section remained vacant.”
Bello’s account was corroborated by Investor Dr. Ola Brown, Founder HealthCap, who joined her husband, David Brown and Idris Bello, to engage international guests at the empty Nigeria booths, posting photos and videos from their engagements.
Reacting to the online accounts, Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President, (Information and Strategy), in a statement, laid out the various engagements by top government officials and the expectant results on Nigeria’s economy.
“The trending social media narrative about an empty booth labelled ‘NIGERIA’ at the ongoing 9th Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD9) in Yokohama, Japan, totally misrepresented our country’s mission and activities at the conference.
“The Nigerian official delegation working with Corporate Nigeria, represented by some of our leading business leaders, didn’t come to Yokohama and Tokyo to attend any Trade Expo, designed as an open forum for participating nations.
“The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA) is scheduled to host an investment forum on Thursday, August 21, 2025
“The Nigerian ministers are busy with bilateral sideline discussions. At the same time, President Tinubu will lead meetings with the executives of Toyota Corporation, CFAO, UN-Habitat, UNDP, and the International Finance Corporation. The delegation’s schedule does not include participation in an open forum trade exhibition.
“Specifically, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, is leading the pre-activation meeting to execute several power projects in Nigeria that are being funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
“One of the projects is the Lagos-Ogun Power Transmission System Improvement, which is designed to improve the wheeling capacity and grid stability and enable the connection of industrial customers on the corridor.
“There is also the partnership between the National Power Training Institute (NAPTIN) and JICA to enhance Vocational Training Delivery for the power sector. The third power project is the Distributed Access Through Renewable Energy Scale-up, for which $190 million has been provided.”
The Federal Government made specific assignments handled by critical members of the President Bola Tinubu’s economic team at the ongoing event.
“The Minister of Power is scheduled to negotiate with notable Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) such as TOSHIBA and HITACHI.
“The Bank of Industry, led by its Managing Director/Chief Executive, Dr. Supo Olusi, is also in high-level discussions with the Japan International Cooperation Agency and other participating multilateral institutions for its annual global fund syndication.”
Onanuga further said “Social media posts are often sensational and do not tell complete stories, just as the trending video does not capture Nigeria’s participation at TICAD 9. Our country is fully and well represented and part of the essential conversations and negotiations that are going on at TICAD9.”
In the same vein, Presidential Aide, Otega Ogra, (Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu), wrote.
AloJapan.com