The need to reinvent our foreign policy

Igboeli Arinze

As one who happens to be fixated on foreign policy issues and their resolution, I am always excited whenever I come across books or periodicals that deal with foreign policy issues while I am also at home with a few names that should naturally zing with foreign policy wonks or aficionados. Names like Prince Metternich, Talleyrand, Mikailovich Molotov, Lord Palmerston, Anthony Eden, Henry Kissinger, Joe Garba , Ibrahim Gambari and Bolaji Akinyemi and a few others are names that resonate with the numerous achievements posted in the running of foreign affairs.

The world’s growing interconnectedness and a number of other events, such as the surge of terrorism lately has shown that countries must take seriously how it conducts its foreign affairs and that there is need to effectively reinvent our foreign policy by ensuring that a spirited and active one is in place.

It will be recalled that Nigeria as the Giant of Africa did at at one point in time have its foreign policy glory moments; we recall with fond nostalgia General Muhammed Murtala’s 1976 ‘Africa has come of age speech’ given in Addis Ababa as a response to President Gerald Ford’s opposition to the recognition of Augostinho Neto’s MPLA as the legitimate government of Angola.

Murtala did kickstart through this speech the replacement of Nigeria’s foreign policy direction which had initially been pro-western and then nonaligned with Africa been at the centre of its foreign policy. The gangling Joe Garba, our then Minister for External Affairs , began what one can describe as a renaissance era, shuttling between continents and earning our nation enormous respect as a rising black power. Successive administrations were to follow suit with the duo of Ibrahim Babaginda and Bolaji Akinyemi bringing extra dynamism into our foreign policy goals. Sadly, after the Babaginda era, Nigeria’s foreign policy took a nose dive with successive administrations trying out new dimensions which have sadly failed to work.

The recent harassment of businessmen of Nigerian origin by the Ghanaian authorities is a pointer to such a failure and as well has raised questions about the dynamism of our foreign policy as well as the way in which it is been managed. The Ghanaian authorities had asked Nigerian owned shops in Accra to pay the whooping sum of $ 1 million Dollars before they could reopen their businesses. Such a demand, which I describe as mind boggling, breaches all known form of trade protocols for which both nations are signatories to. It is also an insult to the Nigerian people, that legitimate Nigerian businesses are often singled out for such maltreatment. Such actions test the effectiveness of our foreign policy but also the readiness of our government to protect the Nigerian citizen.

Lord Palmerston, one time British Foreign Affairs Minister who had championed the blockade of Athens, Greece owing to the Don Pacifico affair whilst defending his decision to send the British navy to compel Greece to compensate Don Pacifico, based such on the inalienable right of a subject of the British Empire to be protected from any form of indignity under the watchful eye of England, to Palmerston, it was some sort of Civis Romanus Sum.

As Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria’s claims to being a regional power cannot be contested. Our sacrifices to other African nations as we did in Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, Liberia, Mozambique Sierra Leone and Mali, coupled with our numerous economic interventions to other countries when we had the luxury to do so, justifies such claims. However, such claims can be said to fade quickly or exist on paper when our citizenry are regularly disrespected at will by other nations, mocked by the same nations that had at one point in time or the other benefitted from our largesse as a nation.

Yes, it will be rash for one to suggest a blockade of say Accra or some other extreme punitive measures should our African brothers here or foreigners be they Chinese or Americans maltreat our people. However, I believe it’s time that we reinvent our foreign policy to meet the challenges of the present age. It is about time that we adopt stringent methods to help other nations think twice before maltreating any of our citizens.

It is not enough to summon the ambassadors of such countries and express our frustrations, no; I do not even think reporting such issues to arbitration panels of supranational bodies such as ECOWAS or the African Union will help, rather can we attempt a quid pro quo sort of diplomacy that will exact maximum damage on the interests of such hostile nations?

Call it a Nigerian Civis Sum or big stick diplomacy, I am talking about the right mix of hard and soft power approaches enough to inspire adequate deterrence.

If the Nigerian government then could nationalize British Petroleum and Barclays Bank for the role of the British government in aiding and abetting apartheid in South Africa then, why should we not then wield the same big stick when Nigerian citizens are treated poorly?

We cannot aspire to become a global power status when we cannot function adequately as a sub regional or regional power.