PERSPECTIVE ON NIGERIA’S FOREIGN POLICY

BY
SALISU NA’INNA DAMBATTA

Nigeria’s contemporary diplomacy cum foreign policy took-off sometime in 1957 when as a British colony the country sent 12 diplomatic personnel overseas to serve as trainee diplomats, or rather, understudy, the nuances of diplomatic practice in British missions in some parts of the world. A few days after gaining independence, Nigeria established a ministry for foreign and commonwealth relations. The county joined the United Nations organisation within the first week of becoming independent. Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa doubled as minister of foreign Affairs, before handing over the portfolio to Mr. Jaja Wachukwu, who served in that capacity between1961 and 1965.

From that modest beginning, Nigeria’s international relations grew into a systematic and purposeful pursuit, guided by our national social, economic and political interests, just as it is with other countries. Other objectives or ideals that drove the foreign policy focus included a commitment to end colonization on the African continent, the elimination of apartheid, and the promotion of peace and unity on the African continent as well as good neighbourliness. Nigeria’s determined effort to end apartheid in south Africa and colonial domination by other countries in Africa was done in various ways: It trained cadres of the anti-apartheid movements, funded some of their activities, offered sanctuary to some of their leaders and backed united nations and organisation of African unity (OAU) sanctions against south Africa. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. h. Odein Ajumogobia emphasised this point in a speech to the US’ Council on foreign Relations on August 4, 2010 in Washington DC “Even in periods of our own domestic difficulties, Nigeria has never been a bystander in African or world Affairs.
It was in the front lines of the struggle for liberation in Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa. Today, from Guinea Bissau to Guinea Conakry, Congo DRC, Liberia to Sierra Leon, Niger Republic to Cote D’voire, Chad to Sudan, no one could justifiably deny Nigeria’s efforts, commitment and impact, ECOWAS, a sub-regional organisation that has successfully pioneered the establishment of a standing peace-keeping force (ECOWAS), now the ECOWAS stand by force) has undoubtedly made historic impact in Liberia, Sierra Leon and Cote d’voire. The feat achieved by ECOWAS would be inconceivable without Nigeria’s contribution and leadership role” From independence in 1960 to date, Nigeria had sustained a positive posture in its relations with other countries in the world, recording only a few conflicts with other countries, notably border disputes which led to limited military skirmishes with Chad and Cameroon in the Lake Chad region both, and over Bakassi with the latter.
The foreign policy focus of the country remained largely the same despite the hard diplomatic lessons of the civil war and military rule, except for a shift in emphasis and the usual pragmatism, flexibility and a dose of self-assertion, leading to a diversification of friends. This was manifested in the forging of closer diplomatic, economic and cultural relations with the defunct Soviet Union and a few other countries that supported the federal side during the war. The Non-Aligned movement which Nigeria joined in its earliest stage reflected its desire to be neutral in the ideological conflict and struggle for supremacy between the communism/socialism and capitalism. Its contribution of military personnel to the United Nations for peace keeping which started in the 1960s in Congo Kinshasa (Zaire) has been appreciated worldwide, earning the country appreciation and respect in the comity of nations. Working with the United Nations, the economic community of West African states and the African union, Nigeria played a decisive role in restoring peace, political stability and the preservation of Sierra Leone and Liberia. It committed human and material resources to end devastating internal conflicts in the two countries. As Nigeria’s economy and self-confidence grew over time, it gradually joined or initiated regional bilateral or multi-lateral institutions. It created structures that serve as vehicles for the achievement of some of its foreign policy ideals and add more substance and coherence to its international relations, without losing sight of its afro-centric foundation. The creation of the ministry of integration and cooperation in African, which is now subsumed by the ministry of foreign affairs; the directorate for technical cooperation in Africa and the technical aids corps are good examples. The Directorate for technical cooperation in Africa for example, has the following broad objective: To promote technology transfer through technical cooperation between nigeria and other countries in Africa; to promote the exchange of highlevel research experts in science and technology, Humanities and Arts; to provide sustainable funding for the scientific and technical exchange programmes (STEP); to provide a database of all Nigeria and African experts in Science and technology, Humanities and Arts and to facilitate capacity building for research and development in Africa. Its other objectives are to generate new ideas for Africa’s development through cooperative research and collaborative development activities; to cultivate and expand strategic relationships with key agencies in order to stimulate growth and development and to facilitate cooperation and integration in Africa through the transfer and diffusion of technology and dissemination of innovations. The Directorate was able to execute some programmes, using the fund at its disposal, the largest chunk of which was contributed by Nigeria. Its most impact is in the areas of raising awareness of the problems of Lake Chad, whch is now just a big muddy pool. A government document for public enlightenment on Nigeria foreign affairs said that ‘the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1987 established the Nigerian Technical and Corps (TAC) scheme as a “foreign policy tool that would serve specific national interests”

The informational document explained the background of the TAC further “the TAC programme is an alternative to direct financial aid for African, Caribean and pacific (ACP) nations. It is designed not only to provide manpower assistance in all fields of human endeavour, but to also represent a practical demonstration of South-South co-operation, but to also represent a practical demonstration of South-South co-operation “(South-South refers to underdeveloped and developing countries in the Southern hemisphere)” The informational document listed the key objectives of the scheme “Sharing Nigeria’s know-how and expertise with other ACP countries; giving assistance on the basis of assessed and perceive the needs of recipient countries; promoting cooperation and understanding between youths of Nigeria and those of recipient countries and complementing other assistance to ACP countries”. The other objectives are: “ ensuring a streamlined programme of assistance to other developing countries; acting as a channel through which South-South collaboration is enhanced and establishing a presence in countries which for economic reasons, Nigeria has no resident diplomatic mission.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. H. Odein Ajumogobia in his speech in Washington DC spoke of the impact of “Nigeria’s Technical and Corps volunteer, engineers, nurses, Doctors, Teachers, Lawyers in far-flung places as Namibia, Mozambique. Gambia, Seychelles and the Carbbean to name a few. And this has been on-going without break for nearly 20 years. over foreign policy in Africa is first and foremost, based on a clear conviction that our destiny is ultimately and inexorably connected to those of our neighbours and Africans in Diaspora” There is no doubt that, the TAC has contributed in projecting the positive image of Nigeria in the world. Finding indicate that “the TAC has generated an over whelming interest from both Nigerian volunteers and recipient countries under the biennium TAC scheme. The strength of the TAC programme and its assistance programme geared towards the development of recipient countries. In addition to the DICA and TAC among other instruments of foreign policy, Nigeria in 1987 conceived the concert of Medium Powers or Lagos Forum, comprising of Nigeria, Sweden, Austria, Zimbabwe, and Egypt.

It is no longer functioning, but then Nigeria is a member of D8 countries, which held its last summit in Nigeria. The Developing eight countries which groups Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey and Iran in an economic alliance is another platform for Nigeria to pursue her national interests and be in friendly relations with countries that share and respect our national values. The deliberate, skilful and sober manner with which Nigeria recently managed the crisis with Iran over the arrival of some weapons in 13 containers from an Iranian port was impressive. The ability of Nigeria to deflect pressure from elsewhere to treat the matter in a disproportionate manner, without causing any diplomatic offence is an evidence of the calmness with which issues are determined in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That is how it should be after 50 years of practice. Indeed, Nigeria’s roles in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) , the African Unoin, the Organisation for the Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Commonwealth, the United Nations Organisation (UNO) and various other regional groups in the last fifty years have been remarkable and consequently raised our profile from a country without diplomatic missions of its own in 1957, to a power to reckon with in global affairs. This is worthy of celebrating.