NewzIt was bemusing to read in the news that Nigeria has joined the Red Sea Alliance, an ostensibly “maritime security” coalition cobbled together by Saudi Arabia, along with 12 other predominantly Muslim countries in tow. The announcement exposes our current approach to foreign policy: episodic, sentimental, and reactive rather than deliberate and strategic. It has the fifth-largest Muslim population in the world.
It is Africa’s largest country by population and ranks in the top three biggest economies on the continent. Nigeria’s annual Hajj and Umrah contingent probably doubles those of all sub-Saharan African countries combined. Much the same applies to Christian pilgrimage to Israel, a country with which our relationship has been deepening over the years, if surreptitiously.
A sizable number of Nigerians study, work, and live across the Gulf in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, etc. Yet, we have shown a stark inability to weave all of this political, economic, and cultural capital into a coherent and long-term Middle East regional strategy for advancing our national interests. Instead, we have allowed our age-old domestic divisions to encroach upon and becloud our thinking about foreign policy.
Since the unnecessary controversy over Nigeria’s membership of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the late 1980s, virtually every Nigerian leader has had to walk on eggshells in the Middle East, be it with Israel or the Arab states, as demonstrated during President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent visit to Turkey. Yet, the international arena is distinctly shaped by broad and long-term national interests, where domestic divisions are subordinated to the overall national interest. Countries that succeed at the international level are those that develop coherent strategies capable of translating their geography, history, culture, and diplomacy into tangible economic, security, and political gains.
As the Chinese have shown so spectacularly these past few decades, there is something to be gained in every country by those who are clear-eyed and strategic. Nigeria has moved in the opposite direction, and as a result, we have failed to exploit the strategic opportunities in the Gulf and the wider Middle East region, even though countries like Ethiopia and Rwanda, not to mention China, India, and South Korea, have deliberately targeted the Gulf countries in pursuit of their…
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