Efforts to transform Nigeria through economic diplomacy

 Cross section of participants at the 13^th Brainstorming Session 

of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs 

on the Plight of Nigerians in

 Foreign Prisons held recently at the Institute.

 By Paul Arhewe
The scorecard for Nigerian foreign policy in harnessing and contributing positively to government’s transformational agenda, since 2011, is adjudged by stakeholders that more impetus is required to garner more dividends in comparative to what is achieved. Identified challenges need to be addressed to make the policy more effective and result oriented.
Economic diplomacy which forms the centrepiece of Nigerian foreign policy is a foremost instrument used by the current administration to propel the attainment of a robust economy.
The President Goodluck Jonathan administration’s agenda which is anchored on attaining specific targets in its vision 20:2020 policy; foremost among these are job creation, poverty alleviation, and the creation of a robust economic growth for the country.

My NUJ Award

Paul Arhewe, Winner of Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ) Best Foreign / Diplomatic Reporter of the Year ( 2012), in March 2013.

Gloom, pageantry mark 2012 at international scene

By Paul Arhewe

The outgoing year, like previous ones, witnessed its share of awful and gloomy moments and some instances for jubilation, merriment and pageantry.

Syrian war

The Arab spring crisis which began in December 2010 in Tunisia continued in Syria war as a full blown war that has claimed more than 44,000 lives. The conflict began in this Arab country in March 2011 with peaceful protests, before degenerating into a large-scale deadly conflict.

The Syrian president Bashar al-Assad tenaciously held on to power, even when some of his generals had fled to the rebel side. Many efforts to bring peace to the country has failed, as world powers divided over what has become an majorly sectarian strife between mostly Sunni Muslim rebels and Assad's security forces, drawn primarily from his Shi'ite-rooted Alawite minority.

By December 12, United States and other western countries like United Kingdom, France, Turkey and some Gulf states recognised the opposition coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

US Presidential election

The United States’ 2012 general election, no doubt was one remarkable event at the international for the outgoing year.

President, Barack Obama, beats his Republican presidential opponent, Mitt Romney, to clench his second term for another four years as leader of the world’s leading economy in the November 6 general polls. Obama won 332 electoral votes to Romney's 206.

The 2012 election was adjudged to be the most expensive in US electoral history.

Obama and Biden and their families celebrating

Candidates flooded the airwaves with relentless attacks on each other, with accusations of lying, deceit, fabrications and other chicanery — even renewed charges over the long discredited claims over whether Obama had been born in this country — which flew for almost a year.

Obama questioned Romney’s lack of a specific plan for reviving the economy while branding the challenger a candidate who changed his positions to suit the shifting political winds.

Egyptians’ angst over Morsi’s power grab

By Paul Arhewe

Morsi

Six month after his election, Egypt’s democratic leader, President Mohammed Morsi has attracted the denouncement of his people, with the sudden attempt to conduct a referendum on the country’s constitution; in his latest moves to grab more power and clip the wings of the opposition.
If Morsi succeed in this manoeuvring, he may be on the path to acquiring more power and consolidating on his Islamist party’s dominance in Egypt. This is likely to split opposition and make them weak.
The autocratic regime of Hosni Mubarak, spanning three decades, was brought to an abrupt end in 11 February 2011, with the vigorous and unrelenting protests of millions of people in Tahrir Square in Cairo, and across other major Egyptian cities. The emergency law operated by Mubarak’s administration where a supposedly heir successor was groomed, no doubt is one epoch the Egyptians would never want to replay.
The victorious feat spurred by the revolution, making Egypt the second country after Tunisia to have a change of government, fallout from the Arab Spring, provided room for a democratic process which brought Morsi to power.

How Nigerian foreign missions frustrate investors, tourists





L-R: Hillary Clinton, Olugbega Ashiru and President Goodluck Jonathan



Nigerian Embassies abroad are not driving the Federal Government’s economic development policies as PAUL ARHEWE reports that the Missions are still operating archaic information system that makes them inaccessible and traumatise Nigerians in the Diaspora.

Nigeria’s quest to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) and boost tourism revenue will remain mere sloganeering until Nigerian Embassies abroad upgrade their information system and make their Missions accessible.

National Mirror investigations have exposed the rot in Nigerian Missions abroad, especially the trauma Nigerians in the Diaspora and others willing to do businesses in the country face while trying to access the embassies.
The President Goodluck Jonathan administration has adopted economic diplomacy as part of its foreign policy thrust. To this end, the country’s embassies are seen as gateways for attracting investors and tourists to Nigeria.
But stakeholders have expressed concern that the objectives of the economic development diplomacy would not be realised because of the archaic information systems Nigerian missions abroad still operate, which make them not able to meet the yearnings and aspiration of Nigerians resident in such countries and also frustrate genuine investors and tourists from coming to Nigeria.

Expectations from Obama’s second term

By Paul Arhewe

Obama

There was global jubilation when United States President Barack Obama emerged victorious on Wednesday and was re-elected for a second term. However, there are high expectations as the American leader takes control of the world’s leading economy for another four year.

The unemployment rate in US is still very high with 7.9 percent, which nearly marred his chances of retaining the seat in White House. His second term administration is expected to provide millions of decent paying jobs for Americans.

Also, China that is jubilant at the defeat of Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, may have enjoyed a less or non-confrontational foreign policy from Obama’s regime, resulting in the Asian country’s rising global profile.

Obama’s second term will need to formulate policy that will address Chinese ‘cut-corners’ trades, in order to win over the large supporters of Romney’s intended confrontational policy on China’s trade.

For Africa, Obama , who only visited the continent just once; seven months after his inauguration in January 2009, flew to Ghana and delivered a ‘non-commitment’ policy; urging Africans to fend for themselves. He said Africa didn’t need interference and that the continent’s future should be built by Africans.

Dead: Repulsive replay of violent South Africa

By Paul Arhewe

The killings of 34 protesting South African miners penultimate Thursday quite unfortunately amplified the global perception of Africans still ruminating in the Stone Age, in spite of the privilege of co-existing among people of civilised parts of the world where the value for human lives is inestimably cherished and protected. The apartheid era in South Africa was a blight in world civilisation because of the callous indifference of the minority white rulers to the rights of black Africans and the regime’s dehumanising and discriminatory practices against them, especially treating them as second class citizens and subjecting them to all kinds of cruelties.

The massacre of the 34 miners by South African police at the Marikana platinum mine, Rustenburg, Johannesburg brings back memories of the ugly affairs of the apartheid state.

Poverty reduction, not dollops, for our pregnant women

By Paul Arhewe

A Nigerian health personnel attending to pregnant women


Access to antenatal services is one sure way of uncomplicated labour and childbirth for pregnant Nigerian women. With a reputation of the second highest rate of maternal death in the world, Nigerian governments would need radical reforms in their healthcare delivery system. It is within this context I situate the recent moves by the federal government to introduce monthly stipends for our pregnant women to enable them access available antenatal services and thus bolster our healthcare service delivery system. The latest United Nations estimate puts annual global deaths during pregnancy and childbirth at 287,000 out of which India accounts for 56,000 (19 percent) and Nigeria 40,000 (14 percent). Nigeria is still miles away from plugging the loopholes and obvious gaps inherent in its ill-equipped public healthcare centres. Accessing full antenatal services at our various health centres, no doubt, would bring down drastically the problem of deaths during and after pregnancy.

Oshiomhole and the social contract with Edolites

By Paul Arhewe


Governor Oshiomhole standing in queue to cast his vote in Edo state



The Edo State governorship elec-tions held on July 14, 2012, has since left in its trail a victor and a vanquished. Incumbent Governor Adam Oshiomhole triumphed over his closest rival, Major General Charles Airhiavbere (retd) of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), in what observers dubbed the ‘most one-sided electoral contest’ in Edo political history. The clear victory of ACN received enthusiastic responses even from people outside the state. Social media were awashed with commentaries from thousands of applauders and cen-surers.

My congratulations to Comrade Governor Oshiomhole for a well deserved victory.
The Oba of Benin, His Royal Highness Omo n’Oba n’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo Solomon Igbinoghodua Aisiokuoba Akenzua Erediauwa I, had captured the endorsement of the incumbent governor for a second term thus: “You have cleaned up the roads not only in Benin Kingdom but in several other towns. The last time you came I prayed through our ancestors for you to come back and complete the work and also do more for Edo people”.

How relevant is NYSC now for national integration?

BY PAUL ARHEWE

NYSC members

There are strident clamours for the scrapping of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme in some quarters, in the face of the prevalent near intractable insecurity situation in Nigeria. Ironically, the national unity raison d’être for the establishment of the scheme in 1973, has come under severe assaults as the country slides into pervasive insecurity. By the NYSC Act, partici-pating graduates could be sent to any of the 36 states and FCT, Abuja. More importantly, no participant is allowed to serve in his/her state of origin. There are few exceptions to this rule. However, the implementation of the NYSC statute in the face of the worrisome security challenge posed by the exacerbating insurgency in the North has exposed the programme to attacks bordering on insensitivity.