The Federal Government last week justified the approval of N1,145,000,000 for the purchase of vehicles for the government of Niger Republic following public outrage over the action. A leaked document showed that President Muhammadu Buhari approved release of the fund on February 22, 2022.
The leaked document from the Budget Office also showed the release of N1.145 billion to the office of the Accountant General of the Federal. The funds were to be made to Kaura Motors Nigeria Limited, supplier of the 10 Toyota Land Cruisers V8 vehicles to the Nigerien Government via its Fidelity Bank Account. Media reports said the Presidency of the Republic of Niger had requested logistic support from the Presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria via a letter with Ref. 000104/PRN/DIRCAB, dated January 20, 2022.
In justifying the move, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, said while Nigerians have the right to ask questions, President Buhari, who approved the purchase, also has the right to make his own assessment on situations and act on them accordingly. Interesting!
Since the issue was raised, it has generated ripples in the media, raising concerns among Nigeria’s teeming population of angry, disenchanted people. But to put these issues in proper context, it is important to provide clarity.
Nigeria’s Foreign Policy
For decades, Africa has been the centrepiece of Nigeria’s foreign policy. This notion is founded on the belief that by virtue of her size, population and (presumed) wealth, Nigeria has a historical mission in Africa.
Some archival records showed that the origin of this concept could be traced to the periods between 1960 to 1966, during the administration of the first republic in Nigeria, headed by the Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. “We belong to Africa and Africa must take the first attention in our foreign relations,” Abubakar was once quoted as saying, placing the continent at the forefront of the nation’s policy plan.
In essence, Africa being the centrepiece of Nigeria’s foreign policy means that the continent should be given a place of pride in Nigeria’s foreign policy formulation. In the years after Abubakar’s reign, a significant milestone was reached in the conception of the nation’s foreign policy when Africa was officially declared as the centrepiece of Nigeria’s foreign policy by the regime of Murtala Muhammed and Olusegun Obasanjo.
Over the years, governments after Murtala and Obasanjo have consistently pursued this policy thrust with the nation’s human and material resources.
The major purpose of this policy is ensuring sovereignty and equality of all African states, total eradication of racial discrimination and colonialism in Africa, opposition against aggression, support the demand for the restoration of fundamental human rights, promotion of friendly association among independent African states, and respect for and non- interference in the internal affairs of other African states.
‘Wealthy Nation’, Poor People
Although data has proven over time that Nigeria isn’t oil-rich in terms of per capita numbers, many Nigerians still hold the notion that the nation is “wealthy” although the peoples’ living condition is a sharp contrast to its supposed “wealth”.
In 2019, for instance, Nigeria produced 634 million barrels of oil, which translates to 3.2 barrels per capita using the 200 million population figure and dividing population by production capacity. So, at the then global price of $64 per barrel, that equated to about $202 per person in 2019.
In contrast, Saudi Arabia, the second highest producer of crude oil in the world, produced 3.579 billion barrels in 2019. With an estimated population of 34 million per capita, that is an estimated 105 barrels per Saudi citizen and at $64 per barrel, that is $6720 per citizen in 2019.
The oil analogy shows the difference between oil-rich and oil-dependent, and what title fits which country is obvious.
Between 2019 and 2022, given that the nation’s production capacity has reduced significantly due to oil theft, the situation has become far more worrisome. Yet in the midst of the uncertainty, the nation continues to spend on foreign interventions and peacekeeping missions across Africa.
According to a House of Representatives member, Oluwole Oke, Nigeria has spent over $8 billion in peacekeeping missions it provided within the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) in countries such as Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali and Sierra Leone.
Oke sponsored a bill which the House of Representatives passed for second reading earlier in the year to regulate peacekeeping operations by the Nigerian armed forces and other security agencies.
Wasteful Jamboree?
Nigeria’s intervention in peacekeeping operations dates back to several decades ago when General Aguiyi Ironsi led troops out for the first time in support of the United Nations Operation in the Congo crisis of 1960 – 1964. In that operation, the nation committed over 6,000 troops, according to Charles Azgaku of the Department of History, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nasarawa State. In subsequent operations, Jaja Nwachukwu led the United Nations Long Conciliations Commission and Nigeria was invited in 1965 to participate in the United Nations India-Pakistan Observer Mission.
Apart from its peacekeeping operations, Nigeria also commits enormous resources into supporting other African countries to protect their borders and secure their countries. The underlying intent is that the nation cannot claim to be safe if her neighbouring countries are insecure.
However, the recent donation to Niger Republic comes at a sensitive period when the nation seems to be going through difficult times and citizens are gasping for air. It also comes with the suspicion surrounding President Buhari’s worrisome interest in Niger Republic, on the basis of ancestral connections.
In February, President Mohammed Bazoum of Niger Republic expressed appreciation to Buhari for approving the $1.96 billion Kano-Katsina-Maradi railway project. The railway project generated controversies at the time given Nigeria’s infrastructural deficit.
Optics and Limit of ‘Father Christmas’ donations
Fundamentally and more importantly, the Niger donation also raises serious questions amid concerns that the country’s foreign missions are in dire straits with underfunding and debt to host countries.
The contrasting realities perhaps explain in part why there is so much angst against Nigeria’s “Father Christmas” posture in Niger Republic.