Nigeria and the Dilemma of Global Relevance: Foreign Policy under Military Dictatorship (1993-1999)

This paper examines the metamorphosis of Nigeria’s foreign policy from its traditional posture of a responsible nation in the international community, to a reckless player under the military between 1993 and 1999. Nigeria’s reputation as a respectable state diminished under the Abacha regime, whose tyranny led to multiple violations of human rights and breaches of international moral and legal codes. This infamous posture eroded Nigeria’s track record of provision of regional and global leadership. Its mineral and oil wealth had naturally imposed extra burdens of leadership in the continent of Africa and the world. The paper critically a ppraises this significant transition and departure from traditional foreign policy posture and international image during the Abacha era; and using the decision-making model of analysis, it discovers that with the Abacha intervention, a new chapter of domestic travails (anti-democracy activities, state-sponsored terrorism, poor human rights records, large-scale corruption and financial crimes, and the creation of artificial insulation against the world), coupled with an unorthodox manner of dealing with the international community commenced, which clouded the good image of the past. Nigeria thus got alienated in the global system. This paper identifies the pacifist role of the successive Abubakar regime, but submits that despite that approach, the grey area s such as the sudden death of Chief MKO Abiola (winner of the June 12 presidential elections) in his (Abubakar’s custody), did not allow for a complete restoration of Nigeria’s golden era of internationalism. Both regimes had thus bequeathed to the nation an unorthodox foreign policy and an unusual image, a development that compels a curious enquiry. The paper adopts a theoretical approach and relies exclusively on secondary data for analysis

RECONCILING THE TWO WEST AFRICAS: MANAGING ETHNIC AND LINGUAL DIVERSITY FOR REGIONAL INTEGRATION

In international politics, language is core in inter-state trust and relationship, and the West African region (or sub-region), which is multi-ethnic, culturally plural and bi- or multilingual in imported languages, may never evolve an integrated region if the diversity is not converted from source of disconnections to source of connections. At best, West Africans have regarded themselves as precolonial kinsmen but post-colonial strangers as a result of the factor of language barriers created in the years of colonial rule. The Yoruba, Ewe, Ashante, Mende, Temne and many more had similarities of languages and cultures and led a regular life of communal conflict and cooperation until the arrival of the French, English, Portuguese and Germans, who established sharp misunderstandings and divisions along the lines of European lingua franca. From a participation- observation experience and perspective, and having consulted literature and government records on futile integration efforts, the study, adopting a functionalist model for analysis, submits that the differences have led to alienation among West Africans since independence, and ECOWAS, despite its spirited commitment to regional integration by the protocol on free movement across the borders, has faced brick-walls from human and social forces engendered by language barriers. This paper looks beyond the artificial linguistic barriers inherent in the bilingual or multilingual character of West Africa, by exploring the richness of the linguistic diversity to advance the cause of regional integration. The paper strongly advocates that local languages spoken across most of the West African states such as Hausa, Mandingo, Peul and Yoruba be taught in primary and secondary schools, while ECOWAS leaders should agree on making English, French and Portuguese compulsory in all secondary schools and higher institutions in their respective countries. These will help demystify and dismantle the artificial linguistic barriers created by the accident of colonialism and make the formal and informal instruments, including ECOWAS towards integration, more functional

The Politics of International Visibility and Relevance: An Overview of Nigeria's Role Conceptions in World Politics

National Role Conception (NRC) is a fresh perspective in foreign policy analysis in Nigeria. It is however, not as new in western scholarship. Beginning with Holsti in 1970, and further explored by Walker in 1978, Wish in 1980, and Krotz in 2001, NRC has become an attractive prism by which the foreign and defence policies of nations are examined. Nations are viewed to be driven in international politics by roles they have domestically identified, which they wish to perform with the view to securing and furthering their national interest. National Role Conceptions (NRCs), the art of articulation by policymakers of the national roles for the external context, however, constitute the incubation stage of external policymaking, which involve a lot of calculations, strategizing, and rigorous analysis of cost implications of external roles to undertake. This paper examines the role conceptions of Nigeria since independence, arguing that the basic ingredients for conceiving strategic roles towards the realization of core national interest seemed lacking. It adopts the National Role Theory, and interrogates the policymaking process to determine the clarity and strategic importance of national or international roles. While the paper scooped data from oral interviews from the relevant research population and secondary sources; it concludes that Nigeria’s roles in the continent and world are motivated more by visibility and relevance, and not so much of a strategy for national development, which is the basic goal of foreign policy

Reparation or Recolonization: MNCs, Foreign Investors and the New Euro- African Partnership for Development

The contemporary relationship between Africa and Europe, is not just that between two sovereign and ostensibly equal partners, but also very enormous and significant for the survival of the two continents; quite unlike in the past when it was that of the master and labourer-the labourer providing for the master’s survival-from slavery to colonialism and neo-colonialism: developments that bred deep-seated resentment and racial contempt. This paper takes a critical look at the new intense economic relationship between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa and appraises this with the view of determining whether the developments are new measures to appease Africa for the centuries of plunder, and cement Euro-African relationship; or whether they are just another set of strategies to further create a stranglehold on the continent economically and make it perpetually dependent. Indeed, the paper accomplishes its task by x-raying the influx and intense activities, in Nigeria, of MNCs and foreign investors which, to many Third World scholars, are effective instruments of neo-colonization. The paper looks at the implications of the new relationships for national development and concludes that the European presence is for meaningful partnership, but at the same time exploitative. The relationship has however increased the Nigerian government’s confidence in European business in Africa. But has it done the same for an average Nigerian, has it erased the horrific memories of the African past

International Pressures on Nigeria's Economy: An Evaluation of Activities of MNCs

Multinational Corporations play a major role in global economic development. Indeed, some scholars have argued that MNCs act as an instrument of both globalization and integration. But another school, particularly Third World scholarship believes that MNCs are rather a continuation of Western colonization by subtle economic means and thus, an agent of underdevelopment. This paper examines the strands with reference to the Nigerian socio-economic milieu, i.e., it attempts a critique of the activities of MNCs in the Nigerian economy. It identifies the overstretched limits and vicious impact these have had on the economy, including the promotion of social decadence and political corruption. This piece uses historical descriptive-analytical method, maximizing and adding to existing literature. The study not only provides alternative means by which MNCs can be used as launch-pad to economic prosperity, but suggests how Nigeria, like other Third World nations, can use its foreign policy to liberate themselves from neocolonial exploitatio

Democratizing the Nigerian Foreign Policy Process: An Inquest for Recipes

Democratizing many of Nigeria’s political institutions, structures, and processes has been a general clamor in the polity for the past ten years of return to civil rule. This is an obvious reaction to the decades of militarization of the system, which has led to very poor administration of civil-based structures. One of the worrisome areas is the foreign policy environment of Nigeria, which even between 1999 and now, has witnessed the personalization and personification of the processes by the chief executive in his “kitchen cabinet”. Civil society and indeed citizens have had little or no role to play in the decision-making of Nigeria’s external affairs (cases abound, including the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroon). But in democracy, citizens’ opinions, desires, expectations, and interests should count. Indeed, citizens have a major role to play in the diplomacy of contemporary times, as typified by the United States. Based on the author’s intense participation-observation across the American foreign policy terrains in a special Fulbright program, this paper explores the American foreign policy environment, and offers policy recipes for Nigeria in genuine democratization of its diplomatic environmen

Nigeria’s New “Citizen-Centered Diplomacy”: Any Lessons from the United States?

Nigeria’s repositioning of its diplomacy from an Africa-centered to a citizen-centered one under the Yar’Adua administration, represents a monumental departure and paradigm shift from an old foreign policy tradition. However, a more careful rather than vacuous conception of what it should look like and how it can be practiced is required. This paper interrogates the new policy focus and explores the American citizen diplomacy variation to see what can be learnt by Nigeria in implementing the policy. The new policy thrust does not however, put a stop to Nigeria’s Africa-centerpiece policy; and viewed from a realist perspective, the citizen-centered foreign policy could be engineered and implemented to make Nigeria regain its enviable image and more properly achieve its regional and continental leadershi