Buhari: Whither A Foreign Policy?

During the Murtala Mohammed and the first epoch of Olusegun Obasanjo – years which coincided with the oil boom, our foreign policy was Afrocentric as our new found wealth made us the Big Brother of the continent. We supported the liberation movements of Angola, Zimbabwe then Rhodesia, Mozambique and led efforts to release the world’s most famous prisoner: Madiba Nelson Mandela.

Prior to Buhari’s second coming to office, he was the darling of the west who saw him as the poster boy of anti-corruption and good governance. The Jonathan administration which was largely regarded as corrupt and inept drastically needed a change and the most potent agent at the time was the no nonsense general who was making his fourth try for the highest office in the land of the most populous country in Africa.

One of his first official visits was to Washington and the visit was greatly heralded in the press. I was a bit skeptical as to any gains to be made by the trip as I didn’t see much concern shown by Uncle Sam to our plight occasioned by the boko haram insurgency. The suave Barack Obama hid behind the sinister Leahy’s law to opine that the hands of America were tied.

They didn’t care that bombs tick off almost on a daily basis leaving hundreds of thousands dead, destitute with millions becoming internally displaced persons in their own country. Do our lives really matter here? It is all about the oil. The need for our oil has declined and we can go to hell for all they care. We remember the eternal words of the late Afrobeat Maestro, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, “Dem don release you but you never release yourself.”

The rate at which Nigerian leaders run to the west is sickening as though the solution to our plethora of challenges lay in the sanctum of Washington or London. The paltry $5 million given to the Nigerian military by Obama should have told Buhari that it won’t be in our interest to align with Washington in our fight against boko haram. That amount can easily be raised by a corporate body in Lagos so what was the sense in running to Washington and then getting our hopes dashed after the writing was clearly written on the wall.

General Sani Abacha for all his murderous insanity was the first to spite the west when he looked into the east to make an alliance which saw the entry of Asian interests into the country. Buhari was in South Africa to sign an agreement with the Chinese President, Xi Jinping.

In as much as I support a better alliance with Asia as the West as foreseen by the Guyanese historian, Walter Rodney is only interested in perpetually under developing Africa, we have to be careful in also securing an alliance as equals with the east so that there won’t be a replacement of taskmasters. It is an incontrovertible fact that the cheap goods from China have the unending potential to permanently cripple our local industries. We have to think of reviving the moribund textile of the north to create employment for our teeming unemployed youths.

The entrepreneurial prowess of the south east can be converted into exportable commodities that can shore up the revenue base of the country. We can borrow a cue from the Japanese who sent their best minds to the west to understudy their auto industry and then later emerged as their greatest competitors. We can adopt a similar strategy in order for us to transit from being an import dependent economy.

The falling oil prices has made our Afrocentric foreign policy suffer a setback as economic interests is now of expediency. The boko haram imbroglio has seen the nation have better collaboration with her neighbours such as Chad, Niger and Cameroun. This should also extend to more tangible economic benefits such as building a railway line for instance that could connect us to Ghana, Senegal and even as far as Cote d’Ivoire.

The visits to Chad, Niger and Cameroun which Buhari embarked upon should have contained more sturdy economic benefits to the country. Gone are the days when we helped the continent without getting anything in return beyond accolades. The vagaries of the times should make us develop a nose for economic gains.

Given the fall of apartheid, there is now a surreptitious rivalry for supremacy between South Africa and Nigeria. The fact is South Africa has the edge over us. They have thriving business interests here while they make it almost impossible for us to enter their market. Our folly and craze for anything foreign has given them the leeway to have a solid foothold in Nigeria.

When the issue of the fine which MTN was compelled to pay by the Nigerian Communications Commission, it was an opportunity for Nigeria to reassert itself as a country who lived by the rules and change the negative image of herself as a country that turned a blind eye to impunity. We are already beginning to lose it as sentiments are creeping into the entire matter.

A reduction and time extension was made and before you know it, it will fizzle out like a candle in the wind as is common with matters here. The economic importance of Nigeria to MTN was shown by the resignation of their Group CEO in Johannesburg and the tumbling of the share price in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Would a similar concession have been given to Nigeria if the tables were turned?

What business did Buhari have in attending the commonwealth meeting in Malta? What have we really gained from being part of the commonwealth? Visa introductions came up in 1987, 1984 under Margaret Thatcher saw the cancellation of automatic citizenship for Nigerians and other blacklisted commonwealth countries in the United Kingdom. Our citizens go through harrowing experiences to get a UK visa even for valid reasons. I recall a denial given to the spouse of a mixed race British citizen.

I don’t support the Islamization of The Gambia by Yahya Jammeh but the withdrawal of the tiny country from the Commonwealth makes a whole lot of sense as you are forced to ask a pertinent question: What have we really gained? America was smart from the outset never to be part of the so called Commonwealth maybe because they obtained liberty from them through the barrel of the gun.

Britain is currently rethinking their current membership of the European Union. Is it not high time we reassessed our membership of the Commonwealth? There is a plot to deport 29,000 Nigerians with the first tranche of 48 already back in our shores. Must we always act like zombies?

Our foreign policy thrust should be backed by clear cut interests especially economic for the benefit of our citizenry. It is high time Buhari made strategic foreign visits rather than the ones he is making devoid of any visible beneficial agenda to the country. We should give meaning to the independence that we claim we obtained 55 years ago.