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It’s a new dawn over Nigeria
People flocked to the capital, eager to catch a glimpse of the man who would return Nigeria to its rightful place in the society of nations. Gray-bearded elders and village chiefs were ensconced in carved wooden chairs. Traditional elites clothed in brightly colored wraps arrived in Mercedes cars. Peasant women with babies tied around their waists bustled through the crowds. Diplomats from Britain, the United States, Europe and across Africa arrived flanked by security, and thousands upon thousands of young men swayed in crowds, chanting “Obasanjo” over and over. For that moment democracy was palpable, shared by all Nigerians regardless of ethnicity or class. Obasanjo waved as he drove around the square side by side with General Abdulsalami Abubakar, the man who helped make the transition to democracy a reality. “Abubakar ran a faster race in 11 months than many run in 10 years,” commented the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the inauguration. “He deserves tremendous credit for this transition, because he could have had the military power to have kept this going for several more years. Instead he chose democracy.” Winning Back Trust Nigeria now stands on the threshold of realizing her potential. Her people, for too long subjects of military rule, have made a choice. Abundant natural resources will no longer lie neglected or exploited without their benefit. Corruption and poor governance will no longer be tolerated. Nigerians refuse to allow the country’s dark past to cloud its future. This is a new dawn in Nigeria and this time, say Nigerians, there is no turning back. Nigerians seem happy with their new leader. Obasanjo is an experienced statesman. Thrust into power for the first time following the assassination of General Murtala Mohammed in a 1976 coup, Obasanjo kept to his word and ushered in an elected civilian government led by Shehu Shagari. The act earned him the respect of both Nigerians and the international community, a respect that has only grown since he reassumed power. This year’s transfer of power from one government to another, was important in gaining people’s confidence in a nation where coups have been all too frequent. Nurturing the energy Nigeria’s transition has created, Obasanjo is moving his country forward. He has set in motion a program to raise the standard of living of the average Nigerian by diversifying industry, rebuilding the country’s once renowned education system and increasing agricultural production to feed the nation. No one doubts that the road will be rough. The world’s largest black nation, Nigeria is a complex society with more than 250 different ethnic groups, some 3,000 different languages and traditions that predate its existence. More than half Nigeria’s population lives in poverty. The economy is in tatters; infrastructure is crumbling and rampant corruption has created widespread cynicism about the trustworthiness of government. Relationships both within and outside the country need to be mended. Despite its problems, Nigeria is potentially Africa’s largest market with tremendous untapped investment opportunity and an unbridled entrepreneurial spirit. Transforming that potential into infrastructure and enterprise that will bring wealth and long-term prosperity will take both international assistance and private-sector investment. “This is a government that intends to serve Africa and its people, and is wise enough to know that it can’t do that unless it has good relations with the U.S. and the private sector in the global economy,” said Ambassador Andrew Young, a longtime friend of Obasanjo’s. The new president is busily rekindling lost friendships and forging new ties to ensure the broad support necessary to achieve his goals. Few doubt that Nigeria’s success as a nation and as a leader in Africa would benefit the international community. Pledging U.S. support for Nigeria’s transition in March, Thomas Pickering, under-secretary for political affairs, acknowledged Nigeria’s global importance: “Our mutual stake in Nigeria’s future is significant, most especially because Nigeria is a leader, and its choice in favor of democracy would be a model throughout the African continent.” Clearly, the stakes for the U.S. are considerable. Last year, Nigeria was the U.S.’s second largest trade partner in Africa. It and American companies have invested more than $7 billion in the country’s petroleum sector. Nigeria currently ranks as the fifth largest supplier of oil to the American market, with U.S. firms accounting for roughly half of its oil output. Regaining International Status For years Nigeria has been shunned by the international community with sanctions and the diplomatic cold shoulder. But the former pariah state has now been welcomed back into the fold. May 29 marked Nigeria’s full resumption of Commonwealth membership while U.S. sanctions were lifted. More recently Secretary of State Madeline Albright designated Nigeria as one of four ‘priority countries’ across the world. Since then, Nigeria’s relationship with the U.S. has thrived. Team after team of Americans including Pickering, then Under-Secretary Stuart Eizenstat, Commerce Secretary William Daley and Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, and various members of Congress, came to discuss possible areas of cooperation with their Nigerian counterparts. At the request of President Clinton an interagency team spent almost two weeks in Nigeria discussing with government, civil society leaders and U.S and Nigerian companies to determine how best to direct both this year’s and future assistance programs. The talks have been fruitful and new projects are beginning to emerge. Already some $30 million in development assistance has been earmarked by congress to assist in building Nigeria’s democratic institutions and strengthening civil society. Military to military ties have also been resumed, beginning with a USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives funded team from the private company Military Professional Resources Inc. (MPRI), which is finishing a comprehensive review of the nation’s military and working on determining the best course for its reprofessionalization. Meanwhile the Department of Transport and Nigeria’s Ministry of Aviation are working hard to ensure American flights resume before year-end. “Nigeria’s successful transformation is key to anchoring the climate of peace and rapid development that our citizens hope to see throughout Africa, and thus central to meeting all our economic, security, and political objectives in the region,” said Ambassador Howard Jeter, Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs in his August 3 testimony before the House International Relations Committee Subcommittee on Africa. Today, with sanctions lifted, the ties between the U.S. and Nigeria have been renewed and a future of long and fruitful relations seems to lie ahead.
New era in foreign policy
The tone set by Nigeria’s new Foreign Minister, Alhaji Sule Lamido, on July 20 following an Organization for African Unity (OAU) summit in Algeria, laid down markers for all to notice. “In the last four years, all of us know what happened,” he said. “We were ruled by a regime of force. The civilized world wouldn’t accept that standard…we are putting that era behind us…our mission is the return of democratic government to Nigeria, to fulfill our obligations as a sovereign nation.” Characterized by an African focus, but with an eye to the West, Nigeria’s present policy revolves around the core issues of African independence and unity, peaceful dispute resolution, non-intervention and non-alignment in sovereign affairs, and a promotion of regional development and economic cooperation. In pursuit of these goals, Nigeria plays an integral role in the activities of the OAU, the Economic Community of West African Nations (ECOWAS), the non-aligned movement (NAM), and the United Nations (UN). As a leader on the African continent, Nigeria’s emphasis on African unity has resulted in relatively cordial relations with other states in West Africa. Outside the region, Nigeria has also played a role in promoting African unity and the development of its regional neighbors as vibrant, independent countries. Lamido showed the essence of today’s Nigeria’s Afro-centric mindset by saying “[We need] to give the African focus of our foreign policy dynamism by getting direct to the people instead of remaining at a government to government only level. In this way, Nigerian foreign policy will be seriously confronting the practical challenges of development…It is a strategic national direction in which we will be very pragmatic; it is a direction which will be vigorously and robustly pursued.” In West Africa, Nigerian leadership has played a critical part in promoting peace and economic opportunity. Key indicators of this positive engagement are Nigeria’s efforts to resolve conflicts between Liberia and Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso and Mali, and between Togo and Ghana. Nigeria lent its full support to the creation of ECOWAS and subsequent ECOWAS-sponsored peacekeeping efforts in the region. ECOWAS has played a central part in regional attempts to foster the stability necessary for regional economic development while enhancing West Africa’s position in relation to international economic organizations such as the European Economic Community (EEC). Obasanjo recently underscored his desire to see African economic cooperation become even closer. Speaking to the 19th anniversary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Mozambique, Obasanjo called for the integration of the organization with ECOWAS as a step toward a unified African economic community. Acknowledging that such a step would have to be worked out over time, he emphasized that high-level discussions should be initiated immediately to realize this goal.
At the heart of its Africa policy was the move away from colonialism and the ending of apartheid in South Africa. Underscoring its desire to abolish the negative vestiges of colonialism, Nigeria was a key proponent of articles II and III of the OAU charter that committed all signatories to the eradication of all forms of colonialism from Africa and the respect of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of member states. Nigeria also supported Nelson Mandela throughout his time and prison and after his rise to power in Pretoria. Following the end of the Nigerian civil war in 1970, President and national hero General Murtala Mohammed began to increasingly assert the country’s influence throughout the continent. Nigeria aided the rise to power in Angola of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in 1975 by casting the deciding vote resulting in OAU recognition of the opposition movement, and helped Zimbabwe and Namibia achieve independence. Monetary assistance was also provided to liberation forces in Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia and South Africa. When describing his vision of what the fusion of SADC and ECOWAS would mean, Obasanjo remarked that “We should examine possibilities of cooperation in building and strengthening of subregional capacities for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts.” He went even further, calling for a moratorium on the manufacture, exportation and importation of light weapons, to control the proliferation and use of such arms by extremists. The thirteen member countries of SADC – including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DROC), Angola, Uganda and Rwanda – have experienced more war than economic progress over the last two decades. Nigeria has also provided aid directly to African countries as well as via the African Development Bank (ADB). A Nigerian-sponsored Technical Aid Corps, modeled after the American Peace Corps, was established in 1987 to provide Nigerian technical expertise to needy African as well as Caribbean and Pacific countries. Nigeria, the West, and the New World Order Although Nigeria has traditionally been more western-oriented, the extent and closeness of its ties with the West has varied throughout the years. Britain, because of its colonial legacy, enjoyed strong relations with Nigeria up until the 1966 coup and subsequent civil war. British neutrality during the civil war and its unwillingness to provide Nigeria military equipment or abide by the blockade against Biafra, as well as its support of white-dominated regimes in South Africa, resulted in a lessening of ties – at least symbolically – as new Nigerian leaders took power.
The Cold War saw both the U.S. and the Soviet Union take a strong interest in Nigeria given its population, size, economic and military potential, and, of course, oil. From the mid-1960s to the late 1970s, relations with the U.S. were relatively cool as the two countries were in opposition over the liberation of sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the positive growth regarding southern African issues during the Carter administration, the Reagan presidency saw a renewed cooling in the relationship. Relations with the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc began during the civil war, largely due to the West’s hesitation in providing military equipment to the federal government. Despite the ties to the U.S.S.R. begun during the war, they never assumed the importance or level of those with the West. During the Gulf Crisis of 1990-91, Nigeria, given the U.S. position as its number one trading partner, remained a relatively low-key but firm supporter of U.N. policy towards Iraq. Following the annulment of presidential elections in 1993 and a series of human rights abuses under the Abacha regime, the U.S. imposed various sanctions on Nigeria. Included in the sanctions was the enactment of Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act that denied entry into the U.S. for those senior government officials or others implicated in policies impeding Nigeria’s transition to democracy; suspension of all military aid programs; and a ban on providing military goods or services. In a further show of displeasure at the actions of Nigeria’s Abacha regime, the U.S. Ambassador was recalled on Nov. 10, 1995, for a four month “consultation” in the aftermath of the Ogoni Nine executions. The events set-off by Abacha’s death, namely the taking over of the reigns by General Abdulsalami Abubakar and the May 1999 election of Olusegun Obasanjo, have set in motion a hopeful new era in the bilateral relationship. President Clinton, during his State of the Union address in January 1999 expressed his support of Abubakar’s transition plan. “We must support the democratization process in Nigeria,” he said. As a symbol of the depth of America’s commitment, a U.S. inter-agency assessment team was dispatched to Abuja soon after Obasanjo’s election while Nigeria was – along with Colombia, Ukraine, and Indonesia – identified by Washington as a primary recipient of U.S. aid to support the move to democracy. In addition to Nigeria’s role in ECOWAS and the OAU, it has been an important player in various international organizations. A Nigerian former U.N. representative, Joseph Garba, served from 1989 to 1990 as president of the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) while another Nigerian figure, Adebayo Adeedji, was executive secretary of the U.N.-affiliated Economic Commission for Africa. Newly elected President Obasanjo, a member of Transparency International, is recognized worldwide as a statesman and leading intellect on African issues. According to Foreign Minister Lamido, the new administration is busy putting together its strategy for taking Nigeria into the twenty-first century. The key points will embrace security as a sovereign nation as well as economic development, integration and cooperation. “If we are going to take part in the new world order then our internal problems must be addressed,” he said. “Globalization means the total collapse of all barriers, ease of communication and economic integration. African nations should accept programs aimed at repositioning ourselves among the community of nations.”
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During
its transfer to democracy in May of this year, Nigeria celebrated
and the world looked on as tensions, grievances and some 15 years
of military rule were submerged beneath a tidal wave of democracy.
Smiles swept across thousands of Nigerians’ faces and cheers rang
out across Eagle Square in the nation’s capital, Abuja, as they watched
President Olusegun Obasanjo inaugurated as their new civilian leader.
Since
Nigeria achieved its independence from Britain in 1960, it has striven
to create a foreign policy to meet its economic and security interests.
The dawn of a new era in Nigeria’s approach to the world, initiated
with the inauguration of President Olusegun Obasanjo on May 29, calls
for innovation and dedication to addressing the needs of Nigerians
and all Africans alike.
Nigeria
and Africa
In
the larger African context, Nigeria perceives that it, as a leader
on the continent, should play a “big brother” role in inter-African
affairs. As such, the nation was a founding member of the OAU in
1963, often using the organization as a conduit for major policy
initiatives while adopting its principles in non-OAU-related affairs
throughout the continent.
France
was viewed as the primary non-African threat to Nigeria in the post-independence
era. French nuclear tests in the Sahara in the early 1960s, combined
with Paris’ recognition of the Biafran secessionists during the
civil war and the continued presence of French military forces in
several African countries, are key factors in Nigerian reasoning.
In response, leaders in the former capital, Lagos, went so far as
to break diplomatic relations with Paris and deny use of Nigerian
ports by French vessels. A recent visit by President Jacques Chirac
indicates ties have improved as recent French policies in the region
have less negative consequences for Nigeria.