September, 2017 Fight against Terrorism and Economic Development ...

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Fight against Terrorism and Economic Development as Key Nigeria’s Foreign Policy Objectives under Muhammadu Buhari 2015-2017 Asma’u Isyaku Dutse 1,2 and Ismail Bello2 1 General Studies Department Federal University Dutse, Jigawa State, Nigeria. 2 School of International Studies, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia.

Abstract: Foreign policy as the actions or activities of the state towards her external environment and this policy are shaped by states domestic and external conditions. The actions which states use to form her activities determined by internal dynamics of the state, i.e., domestic issues. Since his inauguration as Nigeria’s President in May 2015, President Buhari three Cardinal promises were fought against terrorism, economic development and fight against corruption. This paper explores the centrality of the fight against terrorism and economic development to the foreign policy of Nigeria under President Buhari. The paper utilized secondary data such as a journal, books, newspaper among others. The paper found out that the foreign policy objectives and diplomatic trips of the President since coming to office in 2015 are related to the two issues stated therein. These are evident in the president diplomatic shuttle to it immediate neighbors of Niger, Chad and Cameroon to build a sub-regional task force to combat terrorism, there were also improved ties to the United States to boost military and trade relations. Key among his foreign policy of economic development was the renewed ties with China and signing of many business deals totaling about $6 billion for infrastructural and by extension economic development in Nigeria. The paper concludes that President Buhari has been able to make considerable progress in the fight against terrorism and economic development since the President made it a cardinal objective of his administration foreign policy.

Keywords: Foreign Policy, Terrorism, Economic Development, Buhari, and Nigeria. 1.0

Introduction

Since its independence in 1960, various Nigeria leaders have pursued foreign policies which are essential to the success of its administration and government. There are certain factors which influence the government foreign policy at a time, these factors include, the personality of the leader, regime type, nature of the economy, psychology of decision makers, pressure groups, historical experiences, among other factors affect Nigeria’s foreign policy. The foreign policy of Nigeria under different leaders was influenced by the number of factors stated above. For example, under Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa between the period of 1960-1966, Nigeria being a newly independent country in a world where the global arena divided between allegiance to Capitalist United State on the

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one hand and the communist Soviet Union. The administration decided to follow nonaligned foreign policy with also the policy of total liberation of African countries from the shackle of colonialism and apartheid. The General Yakubu Gowon administration 1966-1975 placed more emphasis on uniting Nigeria which has experienced a civil war, his foreign policy also regional integration which led to the creation of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Gowon administration also enjoyed good relations with the international community. The foreign policy of Murtala/Obasanjo (1976-1983) administration departed from the standard norm of Nigeria foreign policy, the government pursued a radical foreign policy which marked a turning point in Nigeria’s relations with the international community, with an near-hostile and strict policy towards Western powers, which include confirmation with United States especially with regards to the independence struggle in Angola the administration pursued anti-colonial rule policies in her foreign policy (Aluko, 1976; Kolawole, 2005). The Shehu Shagari administration followed the Murtala/Obasanjo regime and as the norm since 1960 he declared that Africa should remain the corner stone of Nigeria’s foreign policy, also the country’s foreign policy will be based on promoting Nigeria’s national interest in the comity of nations, among the success of the government was the role it played in independence of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) in April 1980 the government also supported SWAPO in Namibia. The Shagari government was overthrown, and General Muhammadu Buhari took over the reins of government and stated that the government foreign policy is based on national interest, the Buhari government (1983-1986) took a leave of Murtala/Obasanjo’s foreign policy. The General Ibrahim Babangida administration 1985-1993 pursued coming on the heels of strained relations with West during the previous administration, the government pursued a foreign policy of economic diplomacy, his administration was followed by that of General Sani Abacha(1993-1998) who sought a type of isolationist foreign policy, his administration was followed by the short-lived

Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 5(9) September, 2017

9 General Abdulsalam(1998-1999) who tried to restore Nigeria’s battered image in the international system. The Chief Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007) was the year of restoration, he embarked on shuttle diplomacy around the world to improve relations with global powers and also seek debt relief. The Yar’adua/Jonathan administration (2007-2015) maintained the centrality of Africa to Nigeria’s foreign policy and also the citizen diplomacy. The objective of these paper is therefore to analyze the centrality of the fight against terrorism and economic development to the foreign policy of President Muhammadu Buhari within 2015 and 2017. 1.1

Methodol ogy and Structure

This paper utilizes secondary sources of data for the research; this includes journals, relevant books, periodicals, newspapers reports, internet sources, government releases, and pronouncement. These data were analyzed through text mining and content analysis. The paper was divided into the following thematic section, Section one gives a general introduction to the research, followed by section two which provides a conceptual discourse on foreign policy. Section three discusses the foreign policy of President Buhari between 2015 and 2017 especially the centrality of the fight against terrorism and the reposition of Nigeria economy for economic development; section four concludes the paper. 1.2

Conceptual Discourse of Foreign Policy

Like every other concept in the field of social sciences and specifically political science and international relations, there are no general definitions; this is because definitions differ on situation and context of the concept. However, for this research, some scholarly explanation of the idea of foreign policy was provided. One of the original definitions of foreign policy was offered by Holsti (1983), who defines foreign policy as the actions or activities of the state towards her external environment and this policy is usually shaped by states domestic and external conditions. In the same vein, Kissinger (1970) asserts that domestic conditions play a significant role in formulation of states foreign policy, because state or leader try to achieve domestic goals in the external environment especially when this issue cannot be reached locally, furthermore he asserted that where internal politics ends foreign policy begins from there. On their part, Khan, McNiven, and Mackown (1977) believes that a state foreign policy includes a set of objectives which states seek to achieve in its relations with other countries and non-states actors in the international system and environment. For Hill (2003) a state foreign policy

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refers to the total official engagements or relations conducted by states in international relations. As Abdulrasheed, Muda and bin Ahmad (2016) argues foreign policy transcends not only government policies, because there are also systems which are considered foreign from other actors within the state, these actors include opposition parties, nongovernmental organization, business corporations, press, a terrorist organization, and religious groups. These groups which are domestic usually have interactions with other groups internationally without the approval of officials of government. It shows that foreign policy transcends just official engagements between states in the international system The above conceptual definition provides an insight into foreign policy thrust of President Buhari between 2015-2017 especially in the fight against terrorism and economic development which are domestic issues but cannot be dealt with in isolation which has made it imperative for the president to make it core of its foreign policy or policy in relations with other states in the international system. 1.3

Muhammadu Buhari Foreign Policy 2015-2017

Muhammadu Buhari was Nigeria’s former military ruler who had ruled between 31st December 1983 to 27th August 1985; he was removed through a military coup de ’tat. With the advent of democracy in 1999, Muhammadu Buhari ran for the office of president under various opposition parties during the 2003,2007 and 2011 general elections but failed to win. In December 2014, he emerged as the flag bearer of Nigeria’s opposition parties he subsequently won the March 2015 general election by defeating an incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan in a tightly contested election. He was sworn in as Nigeria’s 15th president on May 29, 2015, for a four-year term. On the assumption of office in 2015, The President had hinged his campaign on three cardinal principles of the fight against insecurity and terrorism, improvement of the economy and fight against corruption. The paper focuses on two cardinal issues of combating terrorism and development of the economy as central to Buhari foreign policies. 1.3.1

Fight Against Terrorism in President Buhari Foreign Policy

The fight against Boko Haram terrorist dominated the campaign promises of both the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and the then presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari. Before the election in 2015, Boko Haram had become violent, and its actions were an issue of concern both to domestic and international actors. The


9 group shot to prominence in 2014 with the kidnap of 276 schools girls at government secondary school Chibok in Borno State, this was coupled in the groups seizure of territories in Nigeria, in a such that by January 2015 over 15 local governments in Nigeria totally about 20,000 square miles of territories an area which is the size of Belgium. The group also carried out attacks among which are the Baga attack, Bama attacks, suicide bombings in different states of northern Nigerians including the Federal Capital Territory (Bello & Dutse, 2017; Blair, 2015; Kassim & Zenn, 2017; Shehu, 2015). During the campaign, Buhari made the fight against Boko Haram terrorist a cardinal objective of his administration if elected, as a former military head of state and army general he was dismayed that a group of insurgents could hold territories in Nigeria and attacks Nigeria military installation at will. Boko Haram had taken an international dimension with operation bases in Niger, Chad, and Cameroon which were Nigeria’s neighbor. Apart from that, the country needed the support of other international actors such as the United Kingdom and the United States, especially in the areas of provision of necessary ammunitions, intelligence sharing among others. President Buhari first trip outside the country on assumption of office was Niger republic, his visit on June 3rd , 2015 provided both countries leaders discuss the threats of Boko Haram to Nigeria’s peace and security and the West Africa sub regions. Buhari held meeting with President Mahmadou Issoufou on the need for regional collaboration to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency. President Buhari highlighted the reason for his trip to Niger where he asserted that Permit me also to acknowledge the consistency with which the government and people of Niger Republic have stood beside Nigeria under all circumstances. Here, I would like to convey the appreciation of Nigeria for the sacrifices by Niger in the ongoing efforts to counter the menace of the Boko Haram insurgency. We appreciate your efforts and extend our condolences to the loss of lives occasioned by the insurgents’ attack recently and pray… The Niger Republic has over the years, proven to be a reliable ally to Nigeria both at bilateral and multilateral levels (Akinloye, 2015). The trip to Niger enabled the president to form a sub-regional alliance for the fight against Boko Haram. Central to fight against terrorism in the

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region was also the issue of Small Arms and Light Weapons proliferations. Both leaders agreed to improve surveillance and improve joint border control to curtail this trans-border crime. The diplomatic visit was followed by a visit to N’Djamena the capital of Chad for a bilateral meeting with the president, Idris Derby on 4th June 2015. It is pertinent to note that before Buhari election as president. The west Africa neighbors of Nigeria were skeptical about the commitment of the government of Jonathan to the fight against terrorism especially with the nonchalant attitude of the government towards the issue of Chibok girls kidnap and continuous expansion of Boko Haram (Harding, 2015). The visit to Chad is said to have been critical to the success achieved against Boko Haram; this is because Chad currently hosts the Multinational Joint Force (MNJTF) which coordinates regional assault against Boko Haram. The president himself stated that Your Excellency, permit me to note that our security is intricately linked. This compels us to cooperate fully on security issues in a robust and sustained manner. To this end, we must redouble our efforts to operationalize the Multi-National Joint Task Force with its Headquarters in Ndjamena. I believe the Task Force will stabilize the areas that have been ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgency when it becomes fully operational very confident that, Insha Allah, this insurgency will be brought to an end soon (Thurston, 2015) President Buhari also visited Cameroon, to gather the needed support for the fight against the insurgency. Both presidents agreed on the need for activation and full deployment of forces from both countries to the MNJTF to successfully tackle the Boko Haram menace. There is no doubt the diplomatic shuttle of the president coupled with the commitments of the regional countries to contribute troops to the MNJTF has to a great extent turn the tide of war against the Boko Haram terrorist (Obamamoye, 2017). Apart from the Nigeria immediate neighbors, countries such as the US among others have been key in President Buhari foreign policy objectives of tackling Boko Haram. As stated above, governments around the world were skeptical about the previous administration fight against the terrorist, and even human rights abuses by the military in the name of fighting terrorism. This led


9 to the partial severing of relations between Jonathan government, and Obama led administration in the US. Subsequently, the US Congress blocked avenues for sales of modern weaponry which is supposed to aid the government fight against Boko Haram. The election of Buhari and his subsequent visit to US on July 20th , 2016, where he meets with President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, US Joint Chief of Staff General Martin Dempsey and Deputy Defense Secretary provided an avenue for a new relationship between both countries especially in counter insurgency. It includes sharing of intelligence, training of Nigeria’s military and provision of military equipment to aid the fight against terrorism. Apart from other forms of support, in April 2017, the Donald Trump administration concluded plans to sell about a dozen A-29 Super Tucano aircraft worth $600 million to help in the fight against an insurgency (Ibekwe, 2017). In the same vein, countries like UK, Germany, Saudi Arabia among others also have committed to helping Nigeria in tackling the problem of terrorism in the country. This was largely because of shuttle diplomacy by President Buhari to these countries to gather support for the fight against an insurgency which he has made a cardinal objective of his foreign policy.

1.3.2

Economic Development in President Buhari Foreign Policy

On the assumption of office president, Buhari promised to tackle the monster of corruption which has impeded economic development in Nigeria. During his first year in office prices of crude oil which is the country the primary source of revenue crashed below $50 per barrel, this among other factors triggered economic recession which meant a shortfall revenue which significantly affected the ability of the government to carry out campaign promises. To cushion the effect of fall in oil prices which has affected the revenue base of the country and foster economic development. The president embarked on shuttle diplomacy to sign many bilateral economic deals with some countries around the world to boost foreign direct investment in the country. This trip includes the G-7 summit at Munich Germany between 7-8 June 2017, where he presented a “Wishlist” to the G7 members on their help to revive the country’s economy, the president also used the opportunity for bilateral talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Canadian Stephen Harper, France François Hollande, Japanese Shinzo Abe and world bank President Jim Yong Kim. President Buhari also

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visited the United States between 19-23 July 2017. During the visit President Buhari meet President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, US AttorneyGeneral, Loretta Lynch, US Secretary of Treasury, Jack Lew, US Trade Representative, Michael Froman, US Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker, addressed members of United States Chamber of Commerce and Corporate Council for Africa in order assist Nigeria in fight against corruption and also improve trade relations between Nigeria and United States with a view to boost Nigeria’s economy (Blanchard & Husted, 2016; Brune, 2015). Another land mark of President Buhari diplomatic shuttles aimed at improving economic development was his visit to France from 14-16 September where he held bilateral talks with France president Francois Hollande; both leaders discuss trade between both countries which was aimed at cushioning the effect of economic turbulence which Nigeria was experiencing. During the visit to France, President Buhari held meetings with the head of Total which is a French oil company and Lafarge. The bilateral meetings also provided an opportunity for the inauguration of FrancoNigerian Joint Trade and Investment Council which will enable stakeholders from both countries and facilitate the opening of France Business office in Lagos Nigeria. France leader pledged to increase support for Nigeria through the French Development Agency (AFD) which has already committed 380million Euros since 2013. This trip was followed by India-Africa summit trip which held in India. The India trip was followed by a number of trip to South Africa for China-Africa Corporation Forum, the United Arab Emirates for World Future Energy Summit, it also provided the President an opportunity to sign a number of Trade agreement which was ratified by Nigeria’s National Assembly and assented by President Buhari on August 24, 2017 (Adetayo, Akinkuotu, Adesomoju, 2017) Key among President trips abroad was his official visit to China. This was preceded by a bilateral talk with Chinese President at Forum on China–Africa Cooperation in South Africa between 4-5 December 2015. This was a follow-up on a state visit to Beijing between 11-14 April 2016, where trade deals and agreements are totaling over $6 billion with Nigeria governments, Chinese firms, and Nigeria private sector players. These visits provided the Nigeria government under President Buhari to get the needed form to cushion the infrastructural deficit in the country and also finance the state’s budget which was on the deficit.


9 A summary of loans provided by Chinese to Nigeria includes S/n Amount Project 1 $ 1.231 billion Lagos-Kano modernisation projects, Lagos -Ibadan segment 2 $1.146 billion Lagos-Kano railway modernisation project, Kano-Kaduna segment 3 $ 3.474 billion Lagos-Calabar Coastal Rail project 4 $ 6.1 billion Ibadan–Ilorin–Minna-Kaduna– Kano line 5 $ 1.4 billion Lagos to Ibadan Rail Project 6 $ 15 billion Agricultural Development 7 $ 2 billion Dangote Group Cement Project 8 $478 million Construction of 300 Mega Watts solar power in Shiroro, Niger State 9 $55 million Construction and equipping of granite mining plant 10 $1 billion Greenfield expressway for Abuja-Ibadan-Lagos 11 $250 million Ultra-modern 27-storey high rise complex 12 $1 billion Hi-tech industrial park in Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone 13 $200 million Construction of two 500MT/day float gas facilities 14 $363 million Comprehensive farm and downstream industrial park 15 $500 million Project for the provision of television broadcast equipment 16 $25 million Facility for production of pre-paid smart meters Compiled by author 1.4 Conclusion good relations with its West Africa neighbors to counter Boko Haram terrorism coupled with The research paper takes a critical review of support from other actors in the international Nigeria foreign policy under President Buhari environment. On the economic development front, within the period of 2015-2017 with a particular China has proven to be a worthy partner to the focus on the president fight against terrorism and government of Buhari through the provision of economic development. The paper observed that necessary funds to help the government address its since his inauguration as president both issues budget deficit and spur economic development in discussed in this article were central to the the country. The paper concludes that President president relations with the external environment Buhari has been able to make considerable progress and this points form the pillar of its foreign policy, with regards to situating fight against terrorism and this is because as discussed in the article, a economic development within his foreign policy domestic policy largely influences the state foreign objectives. policy. President Buhari has been able to build References Abdulrasheed, A., Muda, M., & bin Ahmad, M. Z. (2016). Personality Factor in The Foreign Policy Making: A Case Study of Nigeria Under General Sani Abacha Regime, 1993-1998. International Journal of Management Research and Reviews, 6(10), 1452. Adetayo, O., Akinkuotu, E., & Adesomoju, A. (2017, August 25). Corruption: Buhari hailed for signing extradition pact with UAE. Retrieved from http://punchng.com/corruption-buhari-hailed-for-signingextradition-pact-with-uae/ Aluko, O. (1976). The “new” Nigerian foreign policy: Developments since the downfall of general Gowon. The Round Table, 66(264), 405-414. Akinloye, D. (2015, June 3). 'We have started process to end Boko Haram' - President says. Retrieved from http://www.pulse.ng/local/muhammadu-buhari-weve-started-process-to-end-boko-haram-presidentsays-id3826255.html?ajax=true Bello, I. & Dutse, A. I. (2017). Political-Economic Impact of Boko Haram Terrorism on Nigeria’s Development, presented at Conference on Correction and Criminal Justice 2017. SOIS Auditorium Universiti Utara Malaysia. 17th August 2017. Blair, D. (2015, January 10). Boko Haram is now a mini-Islamic State, with its own territory. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/nigeria/11337722/ Boko -Haram-isnow-a-mini-Islamic-State-with-its-own-territory.ht ml Blanchard, L. P., & Husted, T. F. (2016). Nigeria: Current issues and US policy. Congressional Research Service.

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