In this interview with WALE AKINSELURE, Director-General, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Professor Eghosa Osaghae speaks on the emergence of President Bola Tinubu as Chairman of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS).
President Bola Tinubu has emerged chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), founded with a mission to promote economic integration, foster self-sufficiency, create single, large trading bloc for integration among other responsibilities to member states. What would you set as his agenda?
He has already set the agenda for himself. In his acceptance or inaugural speech, he outlined the main points of what his agenda would look like as chairman of ECOWAS. He said, for foundational reasons, that Nigeria is ready to provide leadership, that is when he said, ‘We are back.’ That is a commitment that would be reassuring to the rest of West Africa because, at some point, it would have appeared that Nigeria was a bit too lukewarm in some of the things that we were doing in West Africa, especially compared to what Nigeria had done leading up to ECOMOG operations, which showed that Nigeria was the leader of West Africa and is the country that all of West Africa looks up to for guidance and leadership. So, the assertion, ‘We are back,’ is a way of saying, we are back to those times when we offered leadership that is very profound. Nigeria is the largest economy, not just in West Africa but in Africa. Nigeria is the dominant power in West Africa so, when the president of Nigeria says, ‘We are back,’ it is to reassure the continent of what his focus would be.
He talks about democracy and democratization. This is against the backdrop of the fact that in the last couple of years, we have had threats and dangers to democratic consolidation. In the global South, West Africa has been most directly affected; we have actually had democratic reversals and so on. So, to state the determination of ECOWAS to ensure that democracy thrives, it is very significant because he said, democracy is difficult, nobody has ever said it is an easy task, but, it is something we can grow with and become strong at. Nigeria again has shown, by example, that democracy may be rough but it is not unattainable. So, I think that is critical. The point is about the credibility of Nigeria’s assertion to the president. In the past, many people would say practice what you preach. Nigeria didn’t always live up to the democratic expectations of the rest of the continent, West Africa, so we had a dissonance between what we were saying and what we were advocating or pushing for, but now, this is a credible voice that even has greater resonance because President Bola Tinubu himself is now an established democrat. He was part of the democratisation struggle in Nigeria. He was one of the first to embrace the new democratic platform that made him governor of Lagos State. Also, he has talked about the fight against terrorism which is transnational; he recognizes that if terrorism has any foothold in any part of the region, the entire region is not safe. So, we must all work together to ensure that it is solved. Next, he talks about economic integration and prosperity for all. He says that he knows that we cannot eat democracy; democracy is something that we must all embrace because it promotes economic development. So, the whole point about the rule of law, the rights of individuals are things to enhance the economic capacity that makes democracy thrive. And, he has said there will be an extra-ordinary summit on Trade Liberalisation at some point, that is just to give content to what he said. I think that in terms of what platforms exist and how to realise all of his dreams, he has also talked about the need for inclusivity which in my estimation, would include bringing non-state actors, civil society, youths, giving gender dimension to all of these processes. So, he himself has set an agenda for himself; he has a very clear idea on his mind of what he wants ECOWAS to do.
The ECOWAS itself talks about having an agenda: “ECOWAS for the people: Peace and Prosperity to All by 2050.” Some will argue that countries in the sub-region continue to record conflicts and issues with democratic governance. Isn’t the target of achieving peace and prosperity in the area by 2050 a tall order?
The whole point about promoting prosperity and human progress all around is what ECOWAS identified since beginning. If you see the ECOWAS protocol on the free movement of persons and goods, protocol on good governance and so on, the whole idea has been to see how we can best approach shared prosperity and so on are things you find in the agenda 2050. Those things cannot happen in one happen; they cannot happen in one year; it is a cumulative process. But, we need to have very strong foundations and I am saying that the kind of statements we have heard, the kinds of trajectories that the president himself has identified are capable of strengthening the drive towards actualizing the goals of agenda 2050.
Conflict and insecurity have lead to the displacement of about two million people in the sub-region. There is also the issue of terrorism in ECOWAS-member states. Isn’t it high time West Africa had a regional force to tackle terrorism and restore constitutional order in countries were peace is being threatened?
When I hear questions like this, I am a little uncomfortable because we ourselves don’t exactly understand what democratic approaches that international politics require. We are dealing with 15 countries in West Africa that, big or not big, are sovereign, independent countries. Part of the rules set for international politics is the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states. Yes, there is the imperative or responsibility that every country in West Africa has to ensure that no country falls under completely, therefore, when any country is in trouble, there is the doctrine of responsibility that states that we should act. It is in that spirit that ECOMOG emerged in the past. Today, there is an ECOWAS Stabilisation Force; that stabilization force is currently active in Guinea Bissau. But, to say that should we have a standing Army that can move into a country, it cannot happen. No regional organisation has done that; it would be imposition, oppressive. Even if the intentions are good, those things really are infractions on international law and practice. In Europe today, the war in Ukraine is actually war between two independent countries, not minding that Ukraine used to be part of the old Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). So, it is not the might that will determine things. I will insist that if there are problems of any kind that are internal, we must use the diplomatic tracks, use persuasion, engagement and consultation. It is significant that if you listened to president Tinubu’s acceptance speech, he kept saying, ‘we would not allow.’ He was using the diplomatic ‘we’ which is very inclusive, carrying everyone along, emphasizing the strength of cooperation, not Nigeria, not ECOWAS can do anything that is unilateral.
There is an ECOWAS protocol regarding having a unified currency, unified passport to further aid integration. Is the issue of respecting the sovereignty of nation the reason why this is yet to work out too?
These are aspirations. Every country, every society, every region is welcome to have these aspirations. And these aspirations are not borne out of nothing. There are regions across the world that have the kinds of things you have mentioned. They have common currency, common passport, free zones and so on. But, even if we don’t have models to emulate, there is nothing wrong with being innovative. The common currency has been in the pipeline for a long time, and one hopes that before long, it would be possible to achieve that. You know that when you have countries with different legacies, colonial legacies, such things stand in the way. But, I think West Africa has come a long way. There are many things you must never forget, which are foundational, such as the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), which is a common thing to all Anglophone West African countries; whether you are in Angola, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, you all write the same exams, so that helps. It is such things that happen in Anglophone that also happen in the Francophone end. So, it is how to synergise and see that we can all work together. I should say that ECOWAS has done a lot to encourage other regional organizations in Africa. In the areas of security and peace building, ECOWAS is the clear leader and the model that other parts of Africa are seeking to emulate.
In terms of economy, we can talk about a common currency, that is official, but the informal traders who cross boundaries all the time, from Nigeria to Mali, Senegal, Togo, Benin Republic, these guys already have the common currency. There are markets for the naira in Senegal; you can exchange the naira in Senegal; you can exchange the naira in Burkina Faso; CFA is in Nigeria and can be bought here. There is the formal and informal sector. In the informal sector, you don’t need to take dollars across the boundaries of West Africa; if you have naira, people will buy your naira, though the value of naira has fallen considerably in recent past. So, what we have in the integrated informal sector is what we want to transfer to the formal sector through the common currency. We hope that as we get stronger together, cooperation increases and the need for a common market now that we have the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement. We can have more and more to do together. And with time, we will find that a common currency is something that we all need.
The sub region still has issues relating to climate change, food shortage and malnutrition. How about ECOWAS finding a regional response to these issues?
Regional response will be one of the several layers of responses that today’s complex world will require. Climate change, for instance, is front burner on the global agenda, so all multilateral bodies are doing that. The good thing is that the United Nations (UN), the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF),Official Development Assistance (ODA), the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are all saying no country, no region can deal with climate change in isolation. That is why everyone is knocking on the doors of everyone else calling for partnerships. Food insecurity is closely tied to issues of climate change. Look at what the war in Ukraine has meant. It might have as well had the energy crisis, the whole demand for clean energy, renewable energy. These are things that West Africa can adopt common policies on and work hard to strengthen regional capacities but West Africa cannot work in isolation. West Africa has to work with other bodies like European Union, African Union, WTO, UN, and all such bodies that are involved. We have had very strong divisions and differences between the Global North and the Global South. People are saying the global South needs to come more strongly together to be able to get the global North, which has the resources to intervene in these areas. What is clear is that we all need international support. We have limited capacities for doing the things that we want to do. Today, everyone talks about technological solutions. Look at the country talking about technological solutions. We don’t have our own technology. Issues of food security, climate change, drought, famine, flooding, including the things they precipitate like the farmer-herder conflicts. All these have transnational character and global character, therefore, we need to team up and partner the rest of the world to do these things.
Knowing that Africa is meant to be the centerpiece of Nigeria’s foreign policy, how would you compare its foreign policy in the military era and civilian dispensation?
The processes in a civilian dispensation, especially one that is democratic, are more complex. They require balance, inclusivity; the people must be at the centre of all you are doing. In the not-too-distant past, Ojo Madueke had the doctrine of citizen diplomacy but it must be citizen-centred. When you use these parameters, you will find that perhaps the military being authoritarian. Some would say the military had the advantage of being more decisive in the things it wanted to do. The military didn’t have the kind of accountability that you have in a civilian government. When Nigeria lost Bakassi, there was a backlash and all kinds of demands were made. Accountability is more in a civilian democratic regime that it can ever be in a military, authoritarian government. On the whole, the kinds of things you expect of our foreign policy today are borne out of very bold decisions that the military was able to come up with especially in the Murtala Mohammed, Olusegun Obasanjo era. But, you must not forget that the global climate, at the time we had military rule, is not the same that we have today. That global climate was more of the climate of the Cold War. The Cold War has since ended and we had one country emerging as super power of the whole world. Things are just beginning to change a little bit. It is an evolving world. I would say there is change and continuity, so it is a cumulative process, especially with regards to Nigeria’s foreign policy. We have had things that we benefitted from in the past, especially under the military, when we had more money and the economy was stronger. The leadership claims that we have today probably owe a lot to what the military was set out to do.
Tinubu, during his inaugural address, acknowledged that he was a newbie, yet emerged ECOWAS. Yes, he has espoused his agenda but based on your wealth of experience in international affairs, what more would you admonish Tinubu to take into cognizance as ECOWAS chairman?
If any reassurance from the global community is needed to back his claim that: “Nigeria is back.” This is it that ECOWAS has said to him, ‘we are with you all the way and we want Nigeria to lead us again.’
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