Nigeria-U.S. Ties in focus as Buhari visits Obama

Posted by admin American Politics, Latest Politics, Muhammadu Buhari (1983-85, 2015 - 2023), Presidency Monday, July 20th, 2015

Photo: Vanguard

President Buhari, in Washington for his meeting with President Obama, on July 20 is staying at Blair House, the official guest house of the president across the street from the White House.

In his inaugural speech as Nigerian president on May 29, 2015, Mr. Muhammadu Buhari memorably declared: “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody”. He has already taken drastic action to reduce corruption in the oil sector and even cut his official salary and benefits. Just days before his July 20 meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, Mr. Buhari replaced his country’s top military and security leaders. They had been criticized for incompetence and human rights abuses in the fight against Boko Haram. These actions and others set the stage for an agenda-setting meeting between the two leaders. Soon afterwards, Mr. Obama will leave on his third presidential trip to sub-Saharan Africa with stops in Kenya and Ethiopia. Richard Joseph discusses the significance of the Obama-Buhari meeting, the need to reframe American policies towards Africa, and hopes for a new era in U.S.-Nigeria relations.

President Barack Obama advocated democratic governance as the key to African progress in his historic address to the Ghanaian parliament on July 11, 2009. Six years later, other policy priorities—especially growth and security—compete with the promotion of democracy. This is a good time for the U.S. to reframe its priorities in Africa: On July 20 Mr. Obama will host a visit from the recently elected Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, and then leave a few days later for Kenya and Ethiopia.

Democracy and governance in Africa

This is a perplexing period for statehood and governance in Africa, and especially for Nigeria and northeast Africa. South Sudan, just four years after its American-promoted independence, is engulfed in politically inspired inter-ethnic warfare. Kenya was similarly traumatized after the falsified results of the 2007 elections, albeit not on the same scale. In Nigeria many feared that a similar fate awaited its ethnically and religiously diverse population in the March-April 2015 elections.

Thanks to a favorable alignment of domestic forces and institutions, Nigeria had a successful election and peaceful transfer of power. Kenya has also made significant constitutional and institutional progress. However, the indictments of its president and vice president by the International Criminal Court for their alleged role in the 2007-2008 violence (despite the case against President Uhuru Kenyatta being dropped) will cast a shadow over Mr. Obama’s visit.

In addition to meeting the leaders of the ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), and the African Union (AU), Mr. Obama will attend a Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Kenya.

Since the EPRDF swept to power in 1991, it has benefited from high levels of external aid and posted impressive development achievements, but also conducted harsh repression of its opponents. The high point for party competition was reached in 2005 when the EPRDF was reduced from 88 to 60 percent of parliamentary seats. A brutal crackdown by the regime followed. Its share of the legislature ubsequently rebounded to 91.2 percent in 2010 and stayed level in the May 2015 elections at 91.6 percent (or 500 of 546 seats).

The narratives of growth, security, and democracy in Africa have become snarled. In a different but not unrelated context, The New York Times writer David Brooks wrote: “We work hard to cram our lives into legible narratives. But we live in the fog of reality.” Today’s geo-strategic and geo-economic concerns complicate the global promotion of democracy and good governance. This fog of reality induced the late Brookings scholar, Dr. Mwangi Kimenyi, to suggest that President Obama include
Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Kenya on his next Africa trip. Kimenyi’s intriguing argument deserves quoting:

The president has avoided countries [in Africa] facing major challenges such as terrorism and poor governance records. For a more lasting impact, though, the president needs to get out of his comfort zone, visit non-“safe bet” countries, and connect with countries showing openness to reforms, are rising economic leaders, and could be key strategic security partners. In this regard, I propose that the president trip cover at least the following countries: Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Kenya.

-AfricaPlus (Evanston, IL)wp_posts