The relationship between France and Nigeria has no doubt, assumed a stronger dimension in the last one year, a development that sceptics attributed to the face-off between France and some Francophone African countries. In this interview with BRIDGET CHIEDU ONOCHIE, French Ambassador to Nigeria, Marc Fonbaustier, dismissed any political undertone. According to him, both countries simply share the same interests and values. He also highlighted areas of mutual benefits as well as his country’s stance on the diplomatic and political situations in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.
What is your view about the visit of Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to France? Many have perceived it as an attempt to leverage the current face-off between France and some Francophone African countries.
No need to say that the state visit was an important cornerstone, but it started far before now. We started when Sani Abacha died. Then, we started to have a different look at Nigeria and felt that it was time for France to commit increasingly to English-speaking countries in Africa. We could not stand the usual suspects, and the transition to democracy was a remarkable window of opportunity for engagement. But Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) started its operations here around 2009 or 2010.
So, it is true that Public Aid for Development became the cornerstone, but we brought another more sophisticated and more sovereign layer in 2014 when President Hollande and his counterpart talked about how to engage against jihadism particularly, Boko Haram. We established a strong strategic partnership in those days and President Emmanuel Macron, whose six-month stay in Nigeria shaped his vision of Africa completely, speaks about Nigeria very regularly. So, he has a strong focus on your country, and this brought additional means to the various actors of the French team in Nigeria and helped to foster and scale up the bilateral relationship. So, there have been steps and this state visit has just confirmed and served as a catalyst for things which were already on track.
Is there any political angle or some sort of alignment in the “renewed” relationship?
Obasanjo was the first President to come to France for a state visit, it did not start with Tinubu. Buhari came five times during his period for an official visit to France. So, it is just to tell you that the history of your leaders going to France or receiving French leaders like François Hollande in 2014 was not new. I don’t like the word alignment. We are not aligned with each other. We share interests and what I see and detect very much is that our two Presidents are commonly concerned about public goods and common challenges in the world.
And they think rightly – that the influence of France in Europe and the influence of Nigeria in Africa can be put together to try to set up initiatives which will be worthy. And you see the meaning of that? When a country of the size and power of Nigeria moves ahead and takes a position close to what France tries to do on the West side, we bring forces together. So, you are right to say that there is a personal factor but that counts. I can testify as a diplomat that heads of state are not escaping that human law. It is very basic for you to feel sometimes more at ease with somebody. The two Presidents fit very well but we cannot sum up the relationship between two countries like France and Nigeria to just a personal relationship.
Yet, it brings additional strength and impetus to what is currently a good track. We are on a good track and being a French Ambassador in Nigeria in 2025 indeed makes me a lucky man but my obsession is not to serve President Macron only. It is to serve the relationship between two states and two people. So, the people-to-people relationship is a key level. The fact that more students go to France and come back to say that France is a good country is a plus for us. We are lucky to have 15 settlements in Nigeria. Education, Alliance Francaise, Institute for French Research on Africa in Ibadan, the Institut Français here, free schools. Frankly, this is an asset.
Recently, Niger Republic accused Nigeria and France of instigating terrorist attacks on their soil and your country didn’t attempt to respond. Does that mean consent?
There is a moment when things become so ridiculous that you must refrain from responding. Let us be serious. France has unfortunately lost 58 soldiers in the Sahel over the last decade. These soldiers were fighting terrorists. France has experienced the loss of 250 citizens over the last 15 years due to terrorist attacks in France. And I recall, in 2015, when we lost about 200 people in Bataclan. Remember the lorry which killed 80 people. France has paid a very huge price to terrorism. Is there somebody serious around who can think that France is nourishing a phenomenon which has been so lethal to France and French soldiers? I tell you why that happened. It is because France has been seen, for the right reasons, as a leader in the camp of the ones who fight terrorism.
We were seen as a prominent country in the fight against terrorism for decades and that is the reason we are exposed to these severe threats and attacks. So, when somebody tries to insinuate that France can, in a way or another support them, I am tempted to think that this is not only scandalous but outrageous. It is not acceptable for a French diplomat to acknowledge that. I don’t recognise that as something which is valid and acceptable.
But your silence over time appeared like consent?
Did you think I accepted anything in what they said when I said to you what I said just before? No? I explained to you what happened exactly. These are facts and matters, they are not speculations, insinuations or fake news. That is the sad reality.
France has been the most exposed Western country to terrorism over the last decades, and our soldiers have fought very bravely, and they paid the blood price for that on African soil. And I think we should recognise that after all, we have done our part and we will do it again if necessary and if people call us for that.
As an Ambassador to the ECOWAS, the three countries that just left ECOWAS alleged that France was dictating to ECOWAS and was overbearing?
The decision of the three states has been taken by the states. The three states and the three juntas have decided jointly to create a new body -AES and they decided that they would quit ECOWAS. I don’t know where France stands here. We are not here. Absolutely not. It is not our choice or anything. It is the destiny of these three countries. They are free sovereign governments. I don’t know if they are legitimate but at least, they exist.
They have taken this decision for the good of their people. We will see if it works. We will see if it is a wise decision or not. It is not my role to comment on that, but France is nowhere here as you can see. Three sovereign states decide to leave an organisation like ECOWAS. Let us make a comparison with the UK. The UK decided sovereignly to leave the EU. France has no role in that and nobody else. It is a decision from the UK. So, the only thing I wish, and I think we can expect from a serious government, is that the three governments of Mali, Burkina and Niger just take responsibility for their decision. They will be accountable to their population for the outcome of that decision. That is all that I can say at this stage. Of course, we favour ECOWAS as you know because we think African problems should be dealt with by African solutions. And ECOWAS is a manufacturer of African responses to African challenges. That is why we support ECOWAS very much but supporting does not mean that we have any influence in it. We are just sitting behind the leaders and we listen to what they decide. And we stand by you, of course, but we cannot force history. Here, we are in a history-making process and it is unfortunately not within our hands.
Can you also respond to the allegation of perceived loss of influence in Francophone African countries and the place of Nigeria in the matter?
The relationship between Nigeria and France started far earlier than the early stage of our problems in the Sahel. And let us be clearer, when we think about a loss of influence or presence of France in Africa, there are only three countries where France had issues – the three Sahelian countries in the North. For the rest, our presence has never been disputed or put into question, and I would say we even increased our relationship with most of the African countries.
So, this idea that there would be a kind of fallback position in Nigeria is absolutely meaningless. It means nothing to me. There may be a kind of coincidence between the focus of President Macron on Nigeria and a certain attraction to France by President Tinubu, that is a personal factor which of course, plays a role but it is not the long trend of bilateral relationship. It started after the death of Abacha. So, there are steps, and we are in a good stepping approach. I am happy with that, but it is not the end of the story. I also think that the relationship between the two countries will go far beyond the two current Presidents because there is a shared interest, and we have shared values.
You see how chaotic and unpredictable the world has become. The partners you thought were your strongest allies can suddenly shift and treat you as downtrodden people. In that situation, I very much praise the mutual attachment of France and Nigeria to strategic autonomy. What is strategic autonomy? It means that you make your national interest prevail in a manner that does not over-rely on another partner. And when I see the way your diplomacy is developing currently. I think we are very close because we see things a bit in the same manner. We have to trust ourselves, in our strengths, and we have to multiply alliances. I mean, look at your country; you are partners with BRICS, you are partners with the West and you are partners with Gulf countries. This is good for Nigeria.
But then, Nigeria does not depend or over-rely on one partner. France has made the same type of choices and in the world of 2025, I feel more secure as a French than if I were in another country over-relying on a very, very, shaky transatlantic relationship.
Can you give insight into some of the activities of your Embassy in the area of agriculture and food security?
You have three layers. The first and the most urgent is the emergency action we take in the North. Unfortunately, the population is confronted with severe threats in terms of food security and health, which are connected. That is the reason we set up a project through Nutriset Group. The subsidy is called Nutrik in Kano. They produce therapeutic food for the benefit of young mothers and young children. Beyond that, we have a humanitarian programme worth about 13 million Euros a year to provide emergency food for the people who need it. The second layer is the training and education through AFD in particular. The third, which I think will be the most promising and most massive, is that we will invest hugely in food corridors, wholesale markets, connection from producer to end users through storage capabilities, meat processing, and dairy process, very much stemming from private-public partnerships. Thanks to a French company called Semmaris, which has launched a study for the benefit of AFD worth 3 million Euros.
Coming to the implementation phase, we will think about three main areas, two in the south and one in the North – Kano and Kanuda The two would be connected, while there will be others with Lagos and Ibadan. This will be a huge push in terms of agri-food production and the scale of agri-business in Nigeria. And we are very proud of that. It will require funding and a lot of commitment.
But I have spoken to the Agricultural Minister and the Livestock Minister. Both of them are absolutely focusing on these future programmes. So, that is emergency training and agri-business through new corridors. We will always think that we don’t do enough but I would say it is a promising start.
Explain how your country is investing hugely in food production in Nigeria?
You have heard about Fanmilk and Danone already. We were looking for the same approach with big players like Danone. We are talking to Flour Mills and BUA also. We are trying to connect and bridge businesses with big investors. We look forward to food security in Nigeria. That is the main target. We would like to help your authorities to reach strategic autonomy in the field of food and food safety. We are not the sole partner but if I present France to you, we are a balancing partner. A balancing partner is a partner, who is not a historic partner but has been here for decades. It is not a global partner which can substitute for the authorities. It is a partner who, in a very genuine manner, aims at helping Nigeria in certain sectors to bring common responses to shared challenges. That is exactly what we have in mind, a balancing partner. We are not too pretentious. We don’t want to overplay our role but we think we have a real edge in certain sectors, and agribusiness is one of them.