Days of economic prosperity, effective security of lives and property, eradication of poverty and drastic reduction of institutionalized corruption are now foreseeable in Nigeria, considering diplomatic assurances and goodwill gesture the nation had received recently.
The two-day summit of the Group of Seven (G7) most industrialised nations of the world which President Muhammadu Buhari attended last month in Munich, Germany, as an invitee of Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, presented him an opportunity to brief the international community on prospects the country holds, as a destination for investment and developmental strategies he intends to adopt for better standard of living the citizens have been agitating for.
At the summit, Buhari, sought help from the most powerful economies on tackling terrorism, improving economy, infrastructure, corruption as well as power and energy. The president also requested assistance in environment, good governance and enhanced transparency in elections. It was a golden opportunity for him to discuss matters of mutual interest with representatives of other global institutions.
President Buhari had soon secured notable sympathizers as the G7 members like France, United States and others have pledged to support Nigeria in its war against Boko Haram which has been linked to world terrorist groups like ISIL. The US already announced a donation of $5 million to the Multinational Joint Task Force combating the insurgency in the Lake Chad region. Also, there are expectations for viable economic partnerships and interventions from the world powers.
Traditionally, the Group of Seven’s summit invites several heads of government from countries facing tough economic hardship and terrorism, like Iraq, to attend the talks. “In this context we welcome the continued efforts of the Global Coalition to counter ISIL/Daesh. We reaffirm our commitment to defeating this terrorist group and combating the spread of its hateful ideology”, the G7 communiqué said.
While some analysts described the gesture extended to Nigeria as a symbol of high regard the world has for the country as Africa’s leading economy and also the role it has been playing as a strategic nation within and without the continent, some observers have cautioned President Buhari to be watchful of direct and indirect negative consequences of obtaining foreign helps, arguing that some assistance or pledges could be so tantalizing that their negative consequences on the economy may not be immediately contemplated.
For several years now, Nigeria has led Africa to resist signing the lopsided Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the EU and the continent. As presently drafted, African countries are supposed to open up to 83 per cent of their markets to European imports. Is romancing Buhari part of a strategy to remove resistance to the EPA?
The G7 nations have been advocating for removal of trade barriers as a way of fostering global economic growth. The communiqué said that the leaders have “commitment to keep markets open and fight all forms of protectionism, including through standstill and rollback”. Earlier, there was speculation that the British Prime Minister and a member of the group, David Cameron, while extending invitation to Nigeria, sought Buhari’s endorsement for free trade. The call was greeted by mixed reactions from Nigeria’s economy watchers who argued that free trade partnership between Nigeria and any more sophisticated economy of the time will, certainly, not be in the interest of our nation.
Speaking with Economic Confidential, a Lagos base financial manager, Mr. Lawal Abiodun, observed that “Nigerian economy will quickly gain global acceptance if cost of doing business is drastically cut; G7 nations can invest in the Nigeria’s economy through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in accordance with IMF rules, rather than nursing any ambition to make Nigeria’s market a dumping ground for their products”.
Emphasizing on robust regulatory regime for foreign policy and investment, Abiodun said “through FDI, they can invest in the financial or non-financial corporate sectors of Nigeria’s market in which they would own at least 10 per cent of the voting power of any incorporated enterprise or has the equivalent ownership in the enterprise,”.
Expressing his misgiving over any thumb up from the powerful nations, a public affairs analyst, Dr. Kari Umar, argued “I’m not sure they really want to help us, if they are serious, to me, the biggest assistance they can give Nigeria is to repatriate millions of dollars some Nigerian public office holders and crook business men and women have siphoned and illegally saved in their banks, and they should also serve as whistle blower for Nigeria against other social and financial evil perpetrators who make their countries destination for hiding’.
“President Buhari should be careful. It is clearly self-serving by G7 nations to demand for a free trade from Africa. Nature of trade relations between Nigeria and the first world is quite lopsided in favour of G7 group, our industries are collapsing, so, such demand is dangerous to the survival of our economy”, Umar said.
Echoing similar sentiment, an astute academician and Director of International Institute of Journalism, Abuja, Dr. Emma Shehu, contends that “free market or trading demanded by the Group of Seven is a fraud against developing countries because they do not allow others to bring in products to some areas of market in their countries”.
“In terms of investment that we may think they will help Nigeria, if they bring in their money, it is to their advantages; they still control the market and in some cases repatriate profit to their countries while Nigeria only provide labour for such successes”, Shehu said.
Citing instance of how goods from robust economies have been flourishing in the local market at the expense of local industries, Dr. Shehu posited that ‘China have copied some of the indigenous cloth making techniques in Kano and are now dumping made-in-China fabrics in Kano’s market at the expense of indigenous textile industries that are already at the verge of collapsing’.
Speaking on the pledge made by the G7 to help Nigeria fight terrorism, Shehu said, “if interventions are in forms of intelligence, training of our military personnel, supply of equipment and military hardware, installation of sophisticated satellites to monitor activities of terrorist group, Nigeria will be grateful to them but anything like physical presence of their soldiers in Nigeria’s territory to fight Boko Haram should be totally rejected, our soldiers are capable”.
Expressing his views on foreign economic bailout and its consequence, the Executive Director of the Centre for Information Technology and Development, Mr. Yunusa Ya’u said: “talking to global leaders is good. Countries must trade and engage one another but we must understand that when developed countries say they want to help other countries, it is just a euphemism for seeking ways to protect and promote their interests in the countries they purport to help”.
“This issue is therefore, not about whether other countries can help us or not, but how we can leverage economic diplomacy to advance our interests”, Ya’u said.
Advising government on the need for tightening legal noose around the neck of any public official or business men and women who demonstrate fiscal rascality and sharp practices with public fund, an Abuja based lawyer, Barrister Shitta Danshitta, said “President Buhari should ensure effectiveness of our local laws against corrupt practices and he should seek for sincere collaborations with these countries on financial intelligence that ensures proper tracking of bio data and financial records of foreign accounts owned by Nigerians so that it could be easy to repatriate siphoned money back to the nation’s coffer”.
Nigerians are hopeful that resultant effects of bilateral and multilateral relationships established between the government and the powerful economies, including multinational financial institutions across the world, will defeat insurgency, minimize corruption, reduce unemployment, improve infrastructure and fuel massive exportation of made in Nigeria goods, diversifying the economy and thus end uncertainties resulting from volatilities in international crude oil market.