I have attended enough UN General Assembly weeks over the years to know that the General Assembly itself is only part of the story. The speeches matter, the bilateral meetings matter, and the symbolism matters. But increasingly, the real business of UNGA week happens outside the UN building-in hotel conference rooms, investment forums, private dinners and side events across Manhattan. This year, that reality became impossible to miss. The side events were no longer really ‘side’ events. In many ways, they were the main event.
And Nigeria showed up.
Not simply to attend, make speeches and take photographs, but increasingly to negotiate, attract capital, build partnerships and convert international interest in Nigeria into actual commercial conversations. Nigeria arrived in New York under the impressive and energetic leadership of Vice President Shettima, with state governors, ministers, business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs spread across dozens of engagements. What struck me was not simply the size of the Nigerian presence, but the seriousness and focus.
For me, nothing captured the potential of the week better than one 24-hour period midweek. One evening at Nigeria House, Solid Minerals Minister Dele Alake and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau signed a Critical Minerals Framework Agreement between Nigeria and the United States.
The following morning in an event co-hosted by Dr. Jumoke Oduwale, Nigeria’s Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment, and the US Chamber of Commerce, Nigerian mining company Promethean Resources was signing commercial agreements with a series of American partners: Vermeer for precision mining equipment; Renewvia for renewable power for mining and processing operations as well as surrounding host communities; and Terra Industries for mining security infrastructure.
Government creates the framework. Business follows with transactions.
Investment follows opportunity. And ultimately, communities and the wider economy should benefit. That is how these things are supposed to work. A framework signed one evening and commercial partnerships being advanced the following morning is certainly not proof of success. But it is the right sequence-and one we need to see much more often.
Call it Naija dey carry first.
Even by Friday, when UNGA fatigue had set in across New York, Wale Adeosun, the CEO of Kuramo Capital was still able to bring together a strong room of investors and financiers from Nigeria, across Africa and beyond. People were not there simply as a courtesy. They came because there was business to discuss. And another deal was signed there by Hannatu Musa Musawa, Nigeria’s Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy – this one focused on Nigeria’s booming creative sector.
Nigeria was indeed one of the stories of UNGA 81. We should, however, be careful not to confuse attention with achievement. Nigeria is not the only country with critical minerals. Across Africa and the rest of the world, governments are competing aggressively for the same capital, technology and strategic partnerships. Some have better infrastructure. Some have simpler regulatory environments. Some have fewer security challenges. And many are moving quickly.
The opportunity Nigeria has today is therefore real-but it is not permanent. Signing ceremonies create attention. Framework agreements create opportunity. Neither creates a mine. That requires the far less glamorous work of financing, exploration, permitting, infrastructure, security, logistics, power and sustained engagement with host communities. It requires projects actually moving forward in places suc/h as Kaduna, Plateau, Zamfara, Nasarawa, Niger and Bauchi-far from the ballrooms of Manhattan.
If the agreements being celebrated today are still only agreements twelve months from now, investors will move on. What made this UNGA week particularly interesting, however, was that the minerals story was only one part of a much broader Nigerian story.
Dangote’s recent ‘peoples IPO’ and his expanding regional industrial ambitions in Kenya and beyond were a big part of the conversation-a Nigerian industrial platform increasingly looking beyond Nigeria itself. United Nations Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed remained one of the most visible figures in global diplomacy, demonstrating again that Nigerians are not simply participating in international institutions but helping lead them. And the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority signed an agreement with the World Bank and Africa50 for a $300 million distributed renewable energy fund for the country, yet another milestone of the week.
Meanwhile, some of the biggest Nigerian investment stories of the week were happening thousands of kilometres away from New York. TotalEnergies and AMNI International announced an $800 million final investment decision for the Ima gas development offshore Bonny Island, designed to supply significant gas volumes to Nigeria LNG’s Train 7 expansion. Importantly, the project also carries substantial Nigerian financing and local-content participation. And in Paris with President Tinubu himself in attendance, the Ogun State Government and DP World advanced a proposed multibillion-dollar deep-sea port and Blue Marine Special Economic Zone-an ambitious project intended to create another major industrial and logistics gateway while helping relieve the chronic pressure on Lagos ports.
Mining, renewable energy, and creative economy agreements in New York. Gas investment offshore Nigeria. A major port and industrial-zone initiative being advanced in Paris. Different sectors. Different investors. Different locations. But all within the same week. That begins to look less like an event and more like a broader shift in how Nigeria is engaging global capital.
And then there is Nigeria’s cultural economy, which increasingly requires no government delegation at all. Popular restaurant Lagos Times Square was doing brisk business. Afrobeats seemed to follow you through Manhattan, even in elevators. And the Tony Elumelu Foundation marked fifteen years of entrepreneurship impact with a gathering of entrepreneurs, investors and partners from across the continent.
These may appear disconnected from mining, renewable energy, gas and ports. They are not.
Countries attract investment partly through economics, but also through relevance. Nigeria’s culture, diaspora, entrepreneurs and business leaders have created a global presence that government could never manufacture through a communications campaign alone. Perhaps that was what struck me most about the week. No single ministry coordinated all of this. No single government agency could have. Nigeria’s presence emerged simultaneously through government, business, finance, infrastructure, culture, entrepreneurship and the diaspora.
That makes it more credible.
When a country’s global presence is visible at the same time in critical-minerals negotiations, renewable energy funds, mining equipment and offtake agreements, gas investments, port infrastructure, global institutional leadership, entrepreneurship gatherings, Afrobeats and restaurants, it begins to look less like national branding and more like economic momentum coming from multiple independent directions.
But momentum is useful only if it is converted into outcomes. So the real test of UNGA 81 will not be how many Nigerian events were held in New York, how many ministers spoke, or how many agreements were signed. The test will come over the next twelve months.
Are the mining agreements translating into equipment arriving at operating sites? Is renewable power reaching mines and host communities? Are security systems being deployed? Is Nigerian tin entering international supply chains under new offtake arrangements? Are the gas investments progressing? Is the port project moving from announcement toward construction?
Those are the measures that matter. Nigeria showed this week that it can command attention. More importantly, it showed how to use that attention to negotiate partnerships rather than simply celebrate its potential. Now comes the harder part: execution. The opportunity may have been created in New York, Paris and other global centres this week. But whether it becomes real will ultimately be determined back home-in the mines, communities, ports, industrial zones and project sites across Nigeria.
That is where the next UNGA story needs to be written, hopefully long before UNGA 82.
Dr. Wiebe Boer, Chief Growth Officer, JIPA Network, and member, BusinessDay Editorial Advisory Board