By Fred Chukwuelobe
At the US National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, President Donald Trump introduced Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, with routine protocol pleasantries:
“We are honoured to be joined today by the First Lady of Nigeria, who also happens to serve as a Christian pastor at the largest church in Nigeria – a very respected woman. Thank you very much, it’s a great honour.”
Back home, this standard diplomatic courtesy triggered wild celebrations – especially among supporters of President Bola Tinubu and members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), where the First Lady serves as a deacon.
Let me be clear: there is nothing wrong with Nigeria’s First Lady being acknowledged on a global stage. What is troubling is our overreaction. Why are we congratulating ourselves over basic protocol? Reverse the roles: would any serious country go into raptures because their First Lady was politely mentioned at a breakfast event abroad?
And that claim that RCCG is “the largest church in Nigeria” – who supplied those statistics? On what basis? We swallow flattering lines uncritically because they massage our egos. (I expect attacks on this).
This is the same Donald Trump who once classified Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” and lumped African countries into derogatory stereotypes. Has his worldview suddenly changed because he read a line from a protocol note at a breakfast meeting? Of course not. This is politics – soft power and polite optics. Nothing more.
Our excitement betrays a deeper problem: an inferiority complex. We crave validation from oyibo approval, and when it comes, we amplify it as if it were a diplomatic victory – while our own house is on fire.
Instead of celebrating courtesy mentions abroad, shouldn’t we be asking harder questions at home? Why is Nigeria, 65 years after independence – blessed with vast resources and favourable weather – still struggling to catch up with the developed world? Why do we keep mistaking symbolism for substance?
Protocol recognition does not change how powerful countries perceive Nigeria. It does not translate into better policies, improved governance, or dignity for the Nigerian citizen. It is politics, played smoothly. Egos were massaged. Headlines were harvested. Nothing structural changed.
We need to stop clapping for crumbs of validation and start demanding the kind of leadership and nation-building that earns respect – without begging for it.
It is 2026. We should have shed this garment of inferiority by now. We can – and must – do better.
@Fred Chukwuelobe
