Appraising Nigeria/S’Africa Relations – By Arnold A. Alalibo

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics, Arnold Alalibo, Articles, Columnists, NNP Columnists Friday, April 8th, 2016

By Arnold A. Alalibo | NNP | April 8, 2016 – South Africa’s President, Mr. Jacob Zuma, was in Nigeria on Tuesday, 8th March, 2016, on a two-day state visit. The visit was characterized by some key events which included an address by Zuma to the National Assembly. He also had a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari and a meeting with the South Africa-Nigeria Business Forum, among others. Bilateral relations between both countries have not been cordial. That is why some observers see the visit as an attempt to mend fences between the two economic giants of Africa to improve bilateral political, economic and social relations and open up potential new business opportunities. Nigeria has about 32 bilateral agreements with South Africa.

Mr. Zuma’s visit has been termed historic by some analysts, who have said that the South African leader’s presence in Nigeria is a sign of a desire to resolve some mutual complaints that had festered for a while. Both countries share very strong historical ties. However, those bonds were threatened by certain recent events.
They include the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians resident in South Africa and their businesses. The second issue is the battle between the federal government and the MTN over failure of the telecom firm to disconnect about 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards which led to their being fined $3.9 million. The botched arms deal during former President Goodluck Jonathan’s regime was an additional factor that affected relations between both countries. The SCOAN building collapse in Lagos remains another sore point. However, Nigeria and South Africa share two similarities. First, they are both super powers in Africa. The role Nigeria plays in the West Africa sub- region extends to the Central Africa sub-region and it is strategic in terms of securing Africa. South Africa also plays a similar role. They have their soldiers on peace mission in Central Africa Republic, Burundi and in all the conflict zones in Southern Africa sub-region including Central Africa.
But what is the crux of this visit and how would Nigeria benefit from it? The most important aspects of a visit of this nature are the foreign policies of the nations involved. The foreign policy of any nation is first of all dictated by economic and security interests. If this is so, it therefore stands to reason that the foreign policy of a nation is an expression of its domestic policies. Nigeria has been magnanimous in its foreign policy dating back to the 70s. The country has always made Africa the centre of its foreign policy. That was why late Gen. Murtala Mohammed was committed to the fight to end apartheid in South Africa. The late Head of State went as far as introducing a Mandela tax which civil servants in Nigeria were made to pay to dismantle apartheid regime in South Africa. Also, South African students schooled in Nigeria gratis while some members of Africa National Congress, ANC, were kept and protected here.
One recalls the famous speech of Gen. Mohammed which declared that the foreign policy of Nigeria was dictated by core Africanization which made Africa its centerpiece and South Africa was at the heart of it all. Following that, Nigeria was declared a member of the frontline states. Nigeria’s harmonious relationship with South Africa further led to the establishment of a Bilateral National Commission, BNC that brought about trade investments, promotion of investments, trade and opening up of markets. This resulted in the instituting of over 120 South African companies in Nigeria today. When this is juxtaposed with what Nigeria gained in return, it is glaring that it got nothing but xenophobia and prevention of the businesses of its citizens in South Africa.
The case of Thisday newspaper is a typical example of a Nigerian investment that couldn’t withstand South Africa’s hostile business environment. The newspaper died soon after takeoff. Additionally, Prof. Wole Soyinka was prevented from getting a visa into South Africa for reasons that were not revealed. The question is, why must we have a foreign policy that does not benefit us? That is why Nigeria must begin to think deeply about making reciprocity the centre of its foreign policy.
From the things he said when he addressed members of the National Assembly, it is clear that Zuma acknowledges what Nigeria did for his country, especially during the apartheid era. But one keeps imagining what stopped him from explaining the same thing to his countrymen and women in 2012 when, for just yellow fever card infraction, 125 passengers aboard a Nigerian airline ( Arik Air) were stopped at the airport for days and deported later. Why didn’t he tell the same story to the South Africans who killed or maimed Nigerians and destroyed their investments in xenophobic attacks.
In the face of these, what have we benefitted from all our investments and the troubles we took to make South Africa what it is today? Absolutely nothing. But are the South Africans to blame completely? Certainly not. The reason is that Nigeria had a golden opportunity to move into South Africa and massively invest there after the apartheid regime collapsed, but the chance was frittered away.
We failed to take the advantage we had perhaps because we were comfortable and thought we had so much money or wealth. Nigerian businessmen were indeed docile and failed to realize that political diplomacy goes with economic diplomacy. It is painful to realize that we helped many African countries to stabilise, but failed to make economic gains from our efforts.
Again, who is to blame for the low Nigerian investment in South Africa? The Nigerian government is surely to blame because they didn’t show the way. Most nations that have huge foreign investments successfully did so because their governments took the lead and pointed the way to local investors in their countries. Not only that, their home governments also gave them diplomatic backings to move into other countries to do business. For instance, when Cote d’ Ivoire fought a civil war few years ago, Zuma, who then was African Union (AU) President, moved into the country with a retinue of South African businessmen for talks to end the war. While the talks were on, the businessmen were busy prospecting for business opportunities in the country. The result of the exploits was that MTN moved into Cote d’ Ivoire before the civil war ended.

Today, South Africa has more business presence in Ivory Coast than France.
We made a similar mistake in Liberia where we spent huge resources and expended over $20 billion plus the human lives that wasted without a follow-up policy on how to reap our investments. Similar scenario played out in Sierra Leone when Nigeria intervened in the civil war there. Till date, we really don’t have businessmen or investments in all these countries. Why is it so? Because we got it all wrong in our foreign policy by making Africa its centerpiece but failed to give attention to our strategic national interests.
No country behaves like Nigeria. Take United States of America, USA, as an example. This country, with all its resources, moved into Kuwait during the Gulf War, destroyed the country in the pretext that it was liberating it from Saddam Hussein, and afterwards awarded contracts to American firms to rebuild it. That is what every serious country does.
Indeed, our foreign policy is due for reforms. Since 1960, the centerpiece of our policy has been Africanization. But in the 21st century, Nigeria’s foreign policy needs an absolute paradigm shift. It must be driven by core national economic interest. But in doing that, we must have sound people to man our External Affairs Ministry; people who understand what the nation needs. Notwithstanding the imbalance in Nigeria’s relations with South Africa, there are areas we can partner with them for our benefit. Security is one aspect. We can articulate our relations with them in this area in a way that will engender mutual benefits. After all, we have the Boko Haram challenge with us and South Africa has a very sophisticated military. Can’t we have a pact with them for their assistance in the war against insurgents?
Food security is another phase we can cooperate. There is need for agricultural training and development. In all, Zuma’s visit presents yet another opportunity for Nigeria to strike deals that will aid its economic growth. But this must be done on mutually beneficial basis. The times dictate that we formulate a new foreign policy that takes cognizance of our people’s needs. A foreign policy that must be in line with the change mantra of the present administration. But its workability depends on our leaders. This is the challenge before President Buhari.wp_posts

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Posted by admin on Apr 8 2016. Filed under Africa & World Politics, Arnold Alalibo, Articles, Columnists, NNP Columnists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry