The task before the foreign affairs minister
The Foreign Affairs ministry of any country should ordinarily rank amongst the top and most essential ministries, perhaps only in comparison with Defence.
For instance, in the United States of America on which Nigeria modelled its democracy, the secretary of state ranks only below the president and the vice president in order of importance, and the Department of State serves as the central organ for promoting and defending American values and interests all over the world. The Department is charged with the onerous task of protecting Americans and America’s interests the world over, advancing America’s economic prosperity through trade, etc, propagating and gaining international understanding and possible acceptance of America’s policies, values and way of life, and coordinating the work of diplomats and other government officials who work at home and abroad to advance America’s interests. It also works with foreign governments, international and multilateral organisations and peoples to promote everything American.
In Nigeria, sadly, the importance of the Foreign Affairs ministry has been whittled down considerably such that it is now considered a low-key ministry where those who are not so important in the scheme of things are deployed as compensation. Similarly, foreign policy hardly features in Nigeria’s presidential campaigns. Pray, how could a nation which treats its main agency or organ of interacting with the world with such levity gain any leverage internationally?
That said, Geoffrey Onyeama and Khadija Bukar Ibrahim, minister and minister of state for foreign affairs, respectively, have got their hands full and must settle down to work immediately. The task of repositioning Nigeria’s foreign policy into a more formidable vehiclethrough which we could project our national power and values and advance our vital national and economic interests in the world, as stated in Chapter 2 of the Nigerian Constitution under Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy, is an urgent one. We are hopeful that Onyeama in particular, with a good background in law and political science and some international bureaucratic experience, will lead this effort.
Urgent tasks before the nation’s top two diplomats would be how to use Nigeria’s diplomatic channels to drive the nation’s economic recovery and foreign investments, uphold Nigeria’s sovereignty through maintenance of peace and security internally and regionally to ensure stability and prosperity, and protect the rights and dignity of all Nigerians resident in foreign countries. For long, Nigeria has neglected or failed to use its foreign policy to defend ordinary Nigerians against attacks and discriminations in foreign countries. It has also failed to leverage its foreign policy to pursue its economic and other vital interests.
In apparent realisation of this, Minister Onyeama, on his first day on duty, reportedly said he would focus on attracting more foreign direct investments (FDI) into the country. “We have missions and embassies in so many countries around the world and we have to turn them into hubs for our economic development programme. They have to play an important and major role in promoting access to markets in countries where they are situated and also in helping to promote foreign direct investment into Nigeria,” he was quoted as saying. This is time to walk the talk.
One major challenge the new ministers will face would be how to realise President Buhari’s plan to prune Nigeria’s diplomatic missions around the world and improve their efficiencies without whittling down the country’s influence and harming its relations with its allies and friends, especially as it seeks to maximise its influence and gain a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.
Already, respected diplomats are arguing that the move may not save much for the country as the cost of closing and winding down missions far outweighs the cost of reopening them, not to talk of the reputational costs. As Umunna Humphrey Orjiako, Nigeria’s former permanent representative to the UN, has argued, “No actors in the field of diplomacy are likely to take a country seriously if the volume and reach of its foreign policy fluctuates with the quantity and price of crude oil it sells in the world market.”
It remains to be seen how the new ministers will handle this difficult task set by the president and make the Foreign Affairs ministry the hub and nerve-centre of Nigeria’s efforts to reposition its economy and take its rightful place of honour among the comity of nations.