By Gloria Ikibah
Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, has called on Europe and Africa to resist isolationist impulses and instead deepen cooperation rooted in shared history, geography and mutual responsibility.
Speaking as keynote guest at the 2026 Annual Conference of Spanish Ambassadors in Madrid, attended by 182 envoys, under the theme “Good Neighbourliness: Building Bridges or Building Walls” , Tuggar challenged the idea of Europe and Africa as distant or disconnected continents, describing them as part of a single geopolitical space divided more by perception than reality. 
The minister urged diplomats to focus on concrete realities rather than abstract fears. He noted that the Mediterranean had historically served as a meeting point rather than a barrier, linking peoples through centuries of trade, labour and shared economic foundations.
“The Mediterranean has connected peoples far longer than it has divided them.
“Europe and Africa have been intertwined long before the emergence of the modern international system,” Tuggar said.
He traced Africa’s contribution to the development of the modern world, recalling the trans-Saharan gold trade of the 14th century and early Atlantic commerce in commodities such as sugar and palm oil. Against this background, he argued that contemporary relations could not be separated from a shared past, proposing that Africa be recognised alongside Europe and Ibero-America as a constitutive element of Spain’s wider historical identity.
Turning to migration, Tuggar acknowledged the political sensitivity of the issue but warned against responses shaped by fear rather than realism. While reaffirming Nigeria’s opposition to irregular migration, he cautioned that the weaponisation of anti-migrant sentiment and the securitisation of labour mobility had produced destabilising outcomes, particularly in the Sahel.
He praised Spain’s circular migration arrangements with African countries as a practical and humane approach, noting that they reflected long-standing patterns of seasonal labour familiar across West Africa. By contrast, he said policies that criminalised migration in transit countries had dismantled local economies, empowered traffickers and contributed to political instability.
“Such approaches neither reduce migration nor enhance stability, they often deepen the very problems they are meant to solve,” he said.
Highlighting bilateral cooperation, Tuggar pointed to Nigeria–Spain partnerships on migration management, police training and the fight against human trafficking and smuggling. He described Spain as offering a constructive model for Europe through engagement rather than coercion, citing its Africa-focused development strategies and dialogue-driven partnerships.
On economic development, the minister warned that Africa’s marginal share of global trade was incompatible with its population size. He said reliance on exporting raw materials while importing manufactured goods entrenched underdevelopment and created pressures that eventually crossed borders.
“Development finance and value addition are not acts of charity. “They are investments in shared stability”, Tuggar said.
He also spoke candidly about the shrinking space for diplomacy in an era marked by militarisation and polarised domestic politics, urging diplomats to show courage in resisting simplistic security narratives and in defending dialogue and long-term thinking.
Addressing democratic setbacks and unconstitutional changes of government in parts of West Africa, Tuggar outlined Nigeria’s role in launching a Regional Partnership for Democracy with the United Nations Development Programme. The initiative, he explained, recognises that democratic systems must reflect local histories, cultures and stages of development if they are to endure.
The foreign minister therefore appealed to Spain’s diplomatic corps to act as advocates of good neighbourliness, not only within Europe but globally.
“In a world tempted by walls and withdrawal, the true test of statesmanship lies in the ability to build bridges that history, geography and common interest already demand,” he said.
