Yusuf Tuggar, the Minister of international Affairs, advised international investors Tuesday not to see Nigeria’s future through the lens of sporadic security occurrences. According to Tuggar, these situations did not accurately represent the long-term investment fundamentals of Africa’s biggest economy.

Speaking to CNN from the sidelines of the current World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Tuggar acknowledged the security issues facing Nigeria. However, he emphasized that the administration is aggressively addressing them and that they are localized.

He claimed that the propensity to generalize about insecurity throughout the entire nation frequently resulted in inflated perceptions of danger, which masked opportunities in important industries. He asked the world community to reconsider their perception of Nigeria.

According to the minister, Nigerians are among the most diverse populations on the continent. He emphasized the nation’s strengthening macroeconomic reforms and the Bola Tinubu administration’s continued efforts to improve governance.

According to Tuggar, investors should have a more nuanced perspective on Nigeria, evaluating the nation on its unique qualities rather than making generalizations, even though no nation is impervious to security problems.

“I think it would be nice to see (Nigeria) as a very diverse country that actually has not fared bad compared to countries that are more homogenous,” he stated to CNN. Because despite certain peripheral or even warring areas, we have been coexisting peacefully in border regions that are currently cascading downward.

But in order to identify the best answers, it is crucial to define it for what it is. In addition to our forest guards, we offer a number of other programs. As a matter of fact, our efforts against Boko Haram had been quite successful.

The minister refuted what he described as an inaccurate portrayal of the Nigerian and African situations, stating that many of the assertions are exaggerated.

“Some of the discussions that are taking place here also have to do with Africa’s risk bias, where the issue of risk, particularly geopolitical risk, is overhyped when it comes to Africa, which doesn’t apply in other parts of the world,” he stated.

Therefore, it is crucial that we examine the advancements made by the Tinubu government in macroeconomic changes, such as the reduction of corporate income tax, the reform of foreign exchange, and the tax reforms that facilitate investment into Nigeria.

“We have $43 billion in foreign reserves, so we can literally come to Davos and use our Nigerian cards, which are limitless credit cards. The yield on our Treasury bills and sovereign bonds is between 8 and 10%. Let’s examine Nigeria from a broad perspective. Let’s stop focusing on a few isolated occurrences and using them to characterize the nation as a whole.

“And it’s also important to note that sometimes we dwell on some of these incidents, sorry, when we don’t frame the narrative correctly, we actually trigger some of these incidents, because that’s when some of the terrorists and bandits try to go for innocent civilians and use them as human shields because they know they’re going to be targeted,” he continued.

Tuggar acknowledged the impact of the recent coup in the Niger Republic and its detrimental effects on security in the Sahel, stressing that Nigeria is still willing to cooperate with other countries in order to provide equipment and training to address the country’s security issues.

“We were trying to sort out the thousands who had surrendered,” he said. Prior to the coup in Niger, some were innocent victims trapped in war areas. Additionally, because it permits the right of pursuit, Niger withdrew from the global joint task force that was operating so well.

Nigerian soldiers are able to pursue terrorists into Niger and vice versa because to this. We are pleading with prospective investors to view us and treat us similarly to other nations.

“You don’t write off the entire country just because there was an incident in a 923,000 square kilometer country.”

Regarding whether the targets in Sokoto were hit by the recent US-Nigeria airstrikes, the minister declined to provide a definitive answer. He said those in command of the armed forces and security were best suited to respond to such inquiries.

“Suffice to say that certain targets were hit, and as is the case with some of these strikes, sometimes you don’t get the right target,” Tuggar stated.

However, it shows how eager Nigeria, the US, and other nations are to comprehend the situation in the area and cooperate to put an end to it.

“The West African region, as well as the Sahel and Lake Shad regions in particular, are among the fastest growing regions in the world due to the global nature of the conflict.” The population of Nigeria will reach 400 million within the next 24 years. The continent of Africa will have the largest population.

In order to prevent these wars from spreading to other continents and to prevent terrorism, extremism, and other criminal activities from flourishing in the Sahel, it is crucial that we put an end to them early on. And we’re doing a lot on a regional level.

“Nigeria is taking on a lot of responsibilities,” said Tuggar. If you look at the job we’ve done in just one month—intervening in the Republic of Benin, where a coup attempt occurred, sheltering an opposition leader following an election, and overseeing a coup in Guinea-Bissau—you’ll see that we have a lot of duties, and we need your help.

“We need support in the form of equipment, training, and—above all—understanding and appropriate framing of what is going on in our region and the nation.”