France is back at Mike Adenuga’s door. According to the latest reports, President Emmanuel Macron’s team is negotiating with the Nigerian billionaire to finance a new Institut Français in Abuja, with Macron expected to personally lay the foundation stone during a state visit later this year.
The ask makes sense once you understand the template. Adenuga already fully funded the Mike Adenuga Centre in Ikoyi, home to Alliance Française Lagos, a cultural landmark France now wants replicated in the capital without waiting for public funding to materialise.
This is the most recent evidence of a growing reality for Western diplomacy across the continent. With state budgets under pressure and traditional foreign policy facing friction, France needs efficient ways to sustain its cultural presence. Relying on an influential local partner allows Paris to move quickly and secure instant local backing without getting bogged down in foreign ministry bureaucracy.
Why Adenuga specifically?
Their bond runs deeper than one building. In 2018, Macron made him Commander of the French Legion of Honour. His businesses, Globacom and Conoil, are threaded through French firms like Eutelsat, Nokia Alcatel-Lucent and TotalEnergies. Macron even calls him every birthday.
