The gains of Jonathan’s diplomacy by Rueben Abati

Given the damage that the Nigerian interest
suffered a few years ago, the same interest needed to be clarified and
strengthened. We are living witnesses to that short, critical, phase in
Nigeria’s foreign relations when the country failed to show up at important
international meetings, lost many positions in multilateral associations,
forsook obligations, and found itself in a situation where many of our allies
started wondering what had gone wrong with Nigeria. President Jonathan has
brought the much-needed change in this arena, and has launched an operational
framework for Nigerian diplomacy, which continues to strengthen the place of
Nigeria in the world.

In 2010, as Acting President, he embarked on a
number of diplomatic shuttles, as part of a deliberate attempt to reassure the
world that Nigeria was well and secure despite the trauma of succession that it
had just experienced and the divisive politics of zoning that threatened to
scuttle the country’s political transition. Many may have forgotten, selective
amnesia being a dangerous national malaise, that President Jonathan’s
statesmanship, his humility, and the maturity that he displayed during that
momentous season proved to be a strong stabilizing influence on a nervous
Nigerian community. He had promised that Nigeria’s next general elections to be
conducted undernis watch, in 2011, even with him as a contestant, will be free
and fair, and that nobody’s blood was worth being shed for him to win an
election.

That promise was kept. The elections were not
only free and fair, they were adjudged the best ever in Nigeria’s modern
history. The achievement was not merely one of legitimacy; the applause from
the international community was redemptive. Nigeria, at that point, almost a
typical case study of the challenges of democratic consolidation, became yet
another success story. President Jonathan has since taken many steps further to
build on this.

One of the very early steps was a four-day,
August 2011, seminar on Nigeria’s ForeignPolicy Process, with inputs from the
Presidential Advisory Committee on Foreign Affairs led by Chief Emeka Anyaoku.
The seminar and the foreign policy experts, recommended, inter aha, a robust
diplomacy, driven by Nigeria’s economic interests.

This accent on self-interest had shown up during
the Obasanjo years. It reflected an increasing awareness that Nigeria’s foreign
policy should not be driven by the vainglory of being a certain brother s
keeper? or the Father Christmas pretensions that dominated it for years,
rather, hard-headed pragmatism. The world had changed a lot since Nigeria
distributed its oil wealth to other countries and asked for nothing in return.
The new strategy called for partnership, mutual respect, enhanced and
innovative diplomacy, and constructive exchange. In this context, President
Jonathan leads a foreign policy process that has been fruitful and meaningful,
and properly linked to domestic policy.

His foreign travels fall into three categories:
state visits (formal state to state activity), courtesy visits (attendance at
ceremonies, burials, inaugurations) and working visits (trips to attend
multilateral, bilateral and regional meetings). Each of these visits is
official, the ultimate gainer is Nigeria, and it is well worth noting that
since his assumption of office, President Jonathan has not gone on any
unofficial or private trip abroad. It is a trite point that a strong foreign
policy process, one which involves constant interaction and openness brings a
country much goodwill, promotes understanding and strengthens the country’s
friendship with other countries.

Closed countries are often treated with
suspicion; their leaders are subjects of mystery. President Jonathan has worked
very actively in the last two years to promote Brand Nigeria. His foreign
travels are usually, carefully chosen. He has equally played host to Heads of
State and Governments and delegations from around the world including high
profile visits by Britain’s David Cameron, Germany s Angela Merkel, and US
Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.

On all of these occasions, Nigeria’s interest is
strategically promoted. The President is accompanied on each of his trips by
members of the National Assembly and Ministers who attend the relevant meetings
and make necessary inputs for follow up action. Trade and investment always
tops the agenda. The President personally leads the campaign of inviting
investors to set up industries in Nigeria, and produce locally if they wish to
take advantage of Nigeria’s huge market potential. Interestingly, Nigerians
domestic security challenges have not proved to be a disincentive.

Foreign Direct Investment generated in the last
year alone according to UNCTAD’s 2012 Investment Report was $8.9 billion making
Nigeria No 1 in Africa and a top quartile investment destination in the world.
During a recent trip to Rio, Brazil, Nigeria signed an MOU with Electrobras to
invest in the generation of 10, 000 MW; since then, there have been subsequent
visits to Nigeria by Brazilian investors interested in infrastructure, food and
beverages and consumer items. 

In October 2011, when President Jonathan met
with the Australian investment community in Perth, on the sidelines of CHOGM,
the Australia-Nigeria Trade and Investment Council (ANTIC) was established to
facilitate the flow of investments into agriculture, mining and the
petrochemicals sector. Australian Council members have since visited Nigeria,
and there is an agreement in place to provide technical support for the local
mining sector. In April 2012, the President, in the course of an official visit
to Germany, got Siemens to commit to investment in power generation, and
turbine maintenance and repair in Nigeria. Generally, there has been massive
support from governments and investors for the President’s policies and strong
interest to invest in the country.

The corollary to this is the search for
opportunities for Nigerian investors in foreign markets. The President often
times travels with Nigerian businessmen who are looking for in-roads into
foreign markets: the Nigerian private sector is involved in banking and
insurance in Rwanda and other parts of Africa (Access Bank, IGI, GTBank), in
manufacturing in Ethiopia, and Southern Africa (the Dangote Group, LUBCON) and
so on.

Such investors often require the support of the
Nigerian government, which has been readily and consistently provided by the
Jonathan administration. The class of Nigerians who have probably benefitted
most or who stand to do so, would be the Nigerians in Diaspora. Wherever
President Jonathan goes in the world, he insists on the local embassy
organizing a meeting with the Nigerians in the country. He likes to exchange
views with them, find out how they are faring and even ask them to raise issues
they may want him to take up with the host country. Such issues usually range
from immigration to Nigerian issues, particularly absentee voting, and in one
instance, request for the airlifting at Government expense of Nigerians who are
willing to return to home, but cannot afford to do so.

President Jonathan never fails to acknowledge
the importance of Nigerians abroad and the invaluable resource that they
represent. To prove the point, many members of his government were sourced from
the Diaspora. The Jonathan administration has always had cause to defend the
interest of distressed Nigerians in diaspora in pursuit of citizen diplomacy,
famously the evacuation of distressed Nigerians from Libya (more than 2,000
between March and November 2011) and Egypt (more than 1,000 in January 2012).
It continues to engage with several development partners to ensure managed
migration in the overall interests of all sides, including Nigerians. The fifth
Nigeria/EU dialogue on Migration and Development was held in Abuja in January
2012. Thus, the welfare of Nigerians in their relations with other countries
has also been given the top most priority.
Government has stood up to all countries in
upholding the principle of reciprocity and by insisting that Nigerians be
treated fairly.

Multilateral institutions usually have vacancies
to be filled by nationals from all over the world. Even when the positions are
rotated on a regional oasis, the relevant countries still have to compete for
such positions. It is not always an easy struggle as each country jostles for
the positions with the highest possible visibility or influence. It requires
snarp diplomacy to secure the support of other countries and to get the
required number of votes for your candidate. When your country is not eligible
for the post, you become one of the brides to be wooed to deliver the vote in
favour of a particular country’s candidate. It sounds like routine diplomacy,
but it is high-wire politics. 

In the East one year, President Jonathan as
devoted considerable energy to lobbying and campaigning for Nigerian candidates
to get into positions in international organizations. The achievement in this
regard has been remarkable: Dr. Bernard O. Aliu, President of the Executive
Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) based in
Montreal, Canada; Mrs. Theodora Oby Nwankwo, member, UN Committee on the
Elimination of All forms Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); Dr. Aisha Laraba
Abdullahi, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs.

After three unsuccessful attempts, Nigeria
finally broke the electoral jinx at the AU for the first time in ten years.
Mrs. Salamatu Sulaiman, Commissioner Political, Peace and Security at the
ECOWAS Commission; Nigeria’s election to the Executive Board of UNESCO for a
term of four years in November 2011; Nigeria’s election to the Governing Board
of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP); Nigeria was also elected
to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on October 24, 2011; Election of
Mr. Adamu Mohammed, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, as the Vice President of
INTERPOL representing Africa at a meeting held in Hanoi, Vietnam in October,
2011; Re-election of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Hon.
Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN to the International Law Commission on November 17,
2011. The election of Dr. Chile Eboe-Osuji as one of the six judges of the
International Criminal Court (ICC) in a tightly contested election in New York
in November, 2011 and the election last year, of Nigeria as the first President
of the Executive Board of the United Nations Entry for Gender Equality and
Women’s Empowerment (UN Women).

Our embassies abroad are also better organized.
Ambassador Gbenga Ashiru, Jonathan’s appointee as Minister of Foreign Affairs
is a career diplomat who has been doing a good job of actualizing the new
framework for Nigerian diplomacy. He is collegial in approach, and supportive
of Mr. President’s vision. Career diplomats used to complain about their jobs
being taken over and messed up by politicians. This year, President Jonathan
handed over letters of commission to the country’s new set of ambassadors,
mostly career diplomats, and because he has thus encouraged the
professionalization of the diplomatic service, career diplomats are no longer
complaining. Many who have no foreign postings have achieved their career
dreams as ambassadors-in-situ; our diplomats are reciprocating by showing
higher levels of enthusiasm for the job. Nothing can be more damaging to a
country’s foreign policy process than a distracted professional foreign affairs
cadre.

We have a leader who is respected by the
international community. When TIME international magazine named President
Jonathan one of the 100 Most Influential leaders of the world in 2012, a
fitting acknowledgement of his achievements, and the only African leader to be
so recognized, the warm citation was written by the Liberian President. Our
President also holds one of the highest national honours in Liberia. In the
last year, he has also been honoured by people, governments and institutions in
Nigeria, Ghana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. At the regional level,
Nigeria’s voice now rings loud and clear; its interventions are taken more
seriously. President Jonathan served as ECOWAS Chairman for two years, and
received great applause at the end of his tenure in February 2012. 

Under his watch, he led both Nigeria and ECOWAS
to put an end to the threatened mayhem in Cote DTvoire when Laurent Gbagbo
refused to hand over power, after the 2010 Presidential elections in that
country. He helped to check a similar crisis of self-perpetuation in office in
Niger, and has provided support for democratic efforts in Liberia, Sierra
Leone, Senegal, Mali, Ghana and Guinea Bissau. He was one of the first African
leaders to recognize the National Transitional Council of Libya and ask Muammar
Gaddaffi to quit. Since handing over as ECOWAS chair, President Jonathan has
remamed a respected voice among his brother Heads of State. At the moment, he
is a co-mediator in the crisis in Mali. The relationship between Nigeria and
other countries in the region, particularly Ghana, Chad, Cote d’lvoire,
Republic of Benin, Niger, Senegal and Liberia has never been stronger.

Commentators often insist that greater emphasis
should be placed on domestic policy, not foreign policy. Our new framework
links both strategically. The investments that are flowing into Nigeria create
jobs, deepen competition within the market, push the drive for necessary
infrastructure further, and on all fronts, Brand Nigeria is strengthened.
Dr. Abati is Special Adviser (Media and
Publicity) to President Jonathan.