By Linus Aleke
President Bola Tinubu on May 29 told Nigerians, and by extension, the international community, his direction on Nigeria’s foreign policy thrust, at least, for the next four years.
This is coming at a time when the nation’s foreign policy is so unpopular that even scholars of international relations and diplomacy, as well as carrier and non-carrier diplomats are at crossroads, as to which direction Nigeria’s foreign policy is focused on.
In the early 60s, up to the 70s, Nigeria was a voice to reckon with, at the International Arena. Liberated newly from the choking, colonial experience, the new government in Africa, particularly, Nigeria weaved its foreign policy thrust around the liberation of the African continent from the shackles of colonialism.
This zeal led to the intellectual and philosophical base upon which “African First,” – the centre piece of Nigerian foreign policy, within the period under scrutiny, was built.
This foreign policy thrust, yielded positive outcomes no doubt, as the entire continent of Africa, were freed from the murderous chains of imperialism, colonialism and apartheid.
Unfortunately, Nigeria did not reap the bountiful harvest of this indomitable fight against injustice, and the reign of terror by the West, as Nigeria blinded its eyes to the juicy economic opportunities, for others who did not labour for it to reap.
These ancient, primitive, unprepared, and lack of coordinated efforts to reap the fruits of one’s labour led to so many negatives that Nigeria is currently suffering.
But armed with this historical knowledge, and wisdom, an international relations scholar, Dr Pine Atah, called on the Federal Government (FG), to review Nigeria’s foreign policy.
Pine, who is the Head of the Department of Political Science, Benue States University, Makurdi, told the incumbent administration of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, that the concept of ‘Afrocentrism’, has no place in contemporary International Relations.
He spoke to ThisNigeria exclusively in a telephone chat, saying that in the international arena, Nigeria must re-examine her foreign policy thrust.
According to the university don, the concept of ‘Afrocentrism’ have no place in contemporary international relations, adding, “Tinubu must be made to look much more proactive and see how foreign policy can also be a catalyst of managing and developing the economy and the citizenry of this country.”
This, he said is part of his expectations from the new administration in Nigeria.
But shortly after taking the oath of office at Eagle Square, the venue of the presidential inauguration in Abuja, Tinubu asked for permission to speak on foreign policy, given the tumultuous world today.
He said, “The crisis in Sudan and the turn from democracy by several nations in our immediate neighbourhood are of pressing concern. As such, my primary foreign policy objective must be the peace and stability of the West African sub-region and the African continent. We shall work with ECOWAS, the AU, and willing partners in the international community to end, extant conflicts and to resolve new ones.”
He said conclusively, “As we contain threats to peace, we shall also retool our foreign policy to more actively lead the regional and continental quest for collective prosperity.”
In a fresh hypothesis, the former Nigerian Ambassador to Mexico, Ambassador Ogbole Ode, said, yes, “Afrocentrism, Africa being the centre piece of our foreign policy, is okay, but noted that it also has to be redefined.
He observed that the traditional ‘Afrocentrism’, focused specifically on the liberation of the entire African continent from foreign domination.
Having achieved political independence across Africa, he said, “Afrocentrism has to refocus on improving the economy of Africa, in general, and Nigeria in particular.
This, according to him, is because of the critical mass, “we are endowed with, both in terms of human endowment and material endowment”.
Going down memory lane, he explained, “Nigeria, played a critical role in the African continent, in fact, in one sentence, Nigeria is the elephant in the African room, and we need to put in place, policies and procedures, to enhance the welfare of the generality of the people and improve their economic well-being.
Then, we are doing that for the entire African continent, because out of every five Africans, is a Nigerian. So, we need to work on that and focus on the national interest, i.e. Nigeria’s national interest. However, that should be defined in the ambient of African community”.
Agreeing that the period of “Father Christmas,” kind of foreign policy in Nigeria should be phased away, the Nigerian-born diplomat who also served as the Spokesperson of Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, averred:
“You are correct in your observations, that is because those who enunciated politics and put it in place did not know what to do with it. Or, let me put it differently, while, Nigeria was indulging in the liberation of the rest of Africa, indulging in peace enforcement in Liberia and Sierra Leone, Nigeria did not have a policy to recoup or invest in the economy of those zones because we could not so do, and that was why after we had fought and brought the west to its knee, we discovered that the post-apartheid South Africa, is the one investing in Nigeria. Not vice versa, Nigeria is not investing in South Africa.
“All Nigeria is doing in South Africa is just building churches. Meanwhile, South African super markets, banks and service providers, like DSTV are all over the place. It is lack of capacity to so deliver on investing in those countries, this is so because I see no reason why after we fought for peace in Liberia, that we were not able to invest in Liberia.
“For example, Fire Stone Rubber Estate, which was the mainstay of the Liberian economy was bought over by a joint venture business conglomerate between Taiwan and South Africa for $500 million, after Nigeria spent billions to buy peace in the troubled region.
“Nigeria has no capacity to mine, nor to process diamond, one of their mainstay, nor the iron ore. So, it is a lack of capacity. I am sure the idea is there but the capacity is not there for us to so invest. Or do we talk of the Diamond in Sierra Leone, do we have the capacity to mine diamonds? The answer is no, the capacity to process diamonds, the answer is no and these are the mainstay of those two economies. My argument is that we cannot do so.
“We fought foreign domination in Angola, after that who took over? We did not have anything to invest there, the Angolans wanted us to go in there but we didn’t have the investment capacity to go out there and invest.
“Maybe, like the way Dangote is building cement factories across the African continent or some of our banks are opening branches in other African countries, maybe now. But it has to be on the platform of a concrete government policy, pushing Nigeria’s private investment out there abroad.”
The Nigerian former diplomat said if the current administration wants to solve the insecurity problem, they would need to engage with our immediate neighbours because those who perpetrate these, apart from the Nigerian elements, are a large significant number from the reports we get of foreign elements being involved in the insurgency, banditry and the kidnapping that is going on.
A public policy analyst, Mr Ambrose Igbokwe, told the new President to resist multilateral, international financial aid institutions, like World Bank, and IMF, among others.
He said this ill counsel had made African countries agree to increase their inflation rate.
He argued, “Despite all kind of voodoo economy that they propound for us. Nigeria should be strong as it was in the 70s up to Gen. Murtala Muhammed and Obasanjo regime, when Nigeria for national interest, went against the Western bloc and supported the Eastern bloc, in alignment against apartheid, and Nigeria supported the fight against apartheid, which America, France, and Britain were supporting then, and ensured that through our effort, we stamped out apartheid in Africa”.
This, he said, is the kind of foreign policy contemporary Nigeria should be looking forward to.
Regrettably, Igbokwe added, there are several unfavourable trade treaties African countries have entered into.
He said, “These protocols and conventions do not make sense. How on earth can we ship our raw materials overseas, with a free for all license to foreign competitors to come and exploit our mineral resources?
“They come to buy our raw materials, at almost no cost they dictate the cost. Look at cashew, for instance, they determine the pricing, the Chinese, Indians, and Lebanon. The Chinese are given license to log our woods, these kinds of policies should stop.”
He further posited, “When the EU, IMF, World Bank, and the French, initiate an intervention programme, some of these projects come with its agreements which give them rights to bring in the labour force that should ordinarily create jobs for the unemployed citizens.
“Even when they have to source labour locally, they pay Nigerians pittance, by paying them in local currency while their foreign counterparts, smile to the banks on foreign currency. They give loans and award the contract to themselves and in the end, the funds are repatriated back to them. We should do away with such anti-growth foreign policy posture”.
The public policy analyst urged Nigeria to look at how it could maximise the opportunities in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), to ensure that Nigerian businessmen and women are not cheated.
Nigeria, he said, should promote its business potential from all sectors, adding that the football federation of other countries, for instance, travel abroad to negotiate on behalf of their players, to get good deals for them, especially in Europe.
He, however, lamented that the case is different here as the Nigerian FA will leave her players to be under-priced, and that is not good enough.
