Nigerian politics, leadership and nation building (3)

Continued from yesterday
IN fact, the federalism, including fiscal federalism which they founded, was principally a contractual decentralisation that respected and recognised the Autonomy, Legitimacy and Authority as well as the cultural identities of each region. But as a result of the civil war and prolonged military rule, the political restructuring of Nigeria drastically changed with its imbalances, incongruities and manifest injustice at various levels.

Foreign Policy
Foreign policy of nations is generally organised under three levels of interests.
a) Military/strategic interest
b) Political diplomatic interest
c) Economic/socio/Ccultural interest
In the end, what all nations seek can further be reduced to:
(a) Survival (b) Security (c) Prosperity
(d) Honour/prestige (e)Peace (f) Don’t be deceived, nations denied any of the first four powerful or potentially powerful will not go for peace.

In international relations, 1-4 are the causes of conflicts and war. Peace is defined by school of realism as; ability of a nation to defend its interest through peaceful means or protect their national interests by any means from coercion, intimidation to war. Many countries in the world are helpless in the sense that they can’t defend or protect their vital national interests – highest totality of which is sovereignty and independent. Nigerian vulnerability on the Military / Strategic level is evident in the present high threat perception and actual general insecurity caused by Boko Haram and other militant groups within the country.

Our country is virtually at war that nobody wants to declare and fear factor has not allowed citizens to ask the cost in human and material resources. In fact, the world was mesmerized by the way the Boko Haram was able to instill fear in a country with great potentials like Nigeria. If the truth must be told, it was the domestic/Nigerian and international panic and outrage over Boko Haram insurgency that made President Jonathan’s defeat inevitable.

Nigerian Diplomacy after President Obasanjo, took a serious nosedive. Nigeria by itself as a country matters within the international system. However, since international relations is a high profile business/game, high profile personalities/leaders dominate the field more so than others. Thus the international system looks like the biblical injunction that many are called but few are chosen.

In my view over the years, personality, leadership, and circumstances or the international environment have played critical role in the success or failure of Nigerian foreign policy. To put it bluntly, if other countries particularly our principal foreign policy partners, the United States, and Britain like our leaders; our foreign policy objectives get advanced, projected, recognized and appreciated. You notice the flow of diplomatic visits, subtle diplomacy, etc.

Nigerian diplomacy must learn how to cultivate and retain friends at personal and institutional levels/variables. To do this successfully, countries combine using their successful businessmen in what is called Economic Diplomacy, along with prominent citizens as well as their diplomats.

But one thing we must note is that the United States ‘foreign policy is rooted in its domestic axioms and doctrines. First is that “it is a land of the free but home of the brave”. Second is that “there is no free lunch”, and the third is “in God we trust”.

Consequently, throughout their history, the Americans are enigmatic friends and dangerous enemies if you dare them. Indeed, to be successful in dealing with the United States, you must know what you want and be prepared to pay the price. The United States foreign policy is not based on “Good Samaritan” or “Red Cross” philosophy but rather, it is strictly based on the country’s vital national interests that correspond to the tripod – military/strategic, Political/Diplomatic, and Socio/Cultural interests. The United States will help you if they are convinced that you can help yourself. If your case is too bad and desperate, they leave it for God and go home.

Economic/Socio/Cultural
For a long time, Nigeria’s power potentials were based on two positive factors – human resources and material resources (oil/petroleum). And for a while these factors carried the country very far within the hierarchy of nations. It is obvious that the difficulties we have today stem from the management of the economy in general and the fall in oil price.

In the present circumstances, we must do our best to retain our customers even if they are buying less or none of our oil. How to do this will require political engineering and diplomatic ingenuity. Afterwards, there are many ways to keep diplomatic relations open even in times of crisis or war. In fact, Nkrumah’s doctrine should re-echo in Nigeria diplomacy today – seek ye first the political kingdom and everything else will follow.
Leadership, legitimacy and authority in Nigeria

In political science, legitimacy is the popular acceptance of a governing regime or laws as an authority. In fact, where such acceptance is absent like in Nigeria immediately after virtually every presidential election from 1979 to 2011 the environment for effective governance becomes problematic.

Nigeria has had too many protracted crisis of philosophical and psychologically nature and history has shown that too many such crises destroy nations, either through partition or outright disappearance into oblivion. Which way for Nigeria? This is the critical question that should determine the kind of leadership Nigeria needs. .

History has shown that the destiny of leadership is closely tied to the destiny of their respective nations. In fact, it is not easy to imagine India without Gandhi, Republic of Turkey Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, South Africa without Mandela, Ghana without Kwame Nkrumah, China without Mao Tse Tung, etc.

Nigeria needs a leadership and a constitution that focuses on nation building, national integration, and economic/social development. We should go back to the drawing board, look at our national priorities and design appropriate system that meets our goals and national aspirations.

In 1999, the nation went back to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who had left public office 20 years earlier in 1979; and in 2015, went back to Muhammadu Buhari, who left public office 30 years earlier in 1985. There is no explanation to this mystery than a country in search of its past, frightened by its present and uncertain of its future. Or to put it more clearly, Nigeria is a country whose past is better than its present and its future is a subject of debates and speculations at the national and international levels. One can consult two books – Karl Meir; Nigeria: This House Has Fallen, and John Campbell; Nigeria: Dancing On The Brinks, out of many books on the issue.

Certainly history has been kind to Nigeria, but nobody knows for how long. Nigeria must wake up. And if or when it disintegrates in spite of all our efforts, claims and clamours, nothing extra-ordinary will happen. The next day, the sun will rise. Look at the graveyard of history, it is full of nations great and small, empires and civilisations that failed to take timely decisions at their historic moments. In fact, the verdicts of history can be harsh and wicked to leaders and nations that neglected their responsibilities at critical times in their history. History, indeed, has no sympathy for nations without heroes.
Nigeria is today at its worst critical cross-road – don’t ask me; look around the country. Do you see security, peace, unity, prosperity and one nation under God?

• Concluded
• Prof. Obiozor was Nigerian Ambassador to the United States, Israel and Cyprus.