Modi In Nigeria
By Prof. (Dr.) D.K. Giri
(Secy Gen, Assn for Democratic Socialism)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a stopover in Nigeria enroute to Brazil to attend the G-20 Summit. It was a significant step towards increasing India’s Africa push. It may be likened to Modi’s visit to Poland on his way to Kiev, Ukraine. That visit after 45 years, stirred up India-Europe relations by giving a foothold to New Delhi in a strategic country like Poland. Likewise, Prime Minister’s presence in Nigeria since 17 years of the last Indian Prime Minister visiting the country marked a milestone in India-Africa relations including India-Nigeria bilateralism.
Nigeria is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, the third largest manufacturing sector and the fourth largest economy in the Continent, known as ‘Giant of Africa’. It is the most populous country in Africa. It was the founder member of Organisation of African Unity in 1963 which later became African Union. Nigeria also is a member of OPEC – Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OIC – Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the United Nations and the Commonwealth. It is also a leading member of ECOWAS – Economic Community of West African States, a political and economic union consisting of 15 countries. Currently, Abuja holds the Chair of ECOWAS.
In view of the above multilateral and regional organisations, Nigeria is part of, India’s close relations with the country will be beneficial to both. India-Nigeria interactions go back to 1958 when India set up a diplomatic house in Lagos. In fact, this was two years before Nigeria got independence in 1960. Quite a few engineers, doctors and teachers worked in Nigeria from that time. India established the National Defence Academy and National War College in Nigeria. Nigeria’s military officers were trained in India and a good many students came to India for studies in different disciplines.
Regrettably, for various reasons at both ends, the relationship became cold and dormant in 1980s. Nigeria was going through political instability and India was not recording impressive economic growth in order to be able to help Nigeria. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit in 2007 gave a new impetus to the bilateral ties; it was elevated to strategic partnership. Prime Minister Modi announced in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, to take it to the next level. He said, “My visit was productive and historic”. The Prime Minister was awarded with Grand Commander of the Order of Niger, the second highest national award of the country. This was for the second time this award was given to a foreign Head of Government since way back in 1969 when Queen Elizabeth was honoured with this award.
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said in his speech at the award ceremony that it was given to Prime Minister Modi for his visionary leadership and stellar performance as the Prime Minister of the most populous country. The Nigerian President said, “Prime Minister Modi has provided transformative governance by fostering unity, peace and shared prosperity for all”. Prime Minister in his reply expressed his humility in receiving the award, dedicating it to 140 crore people of India. He added that this award will inspire both countries in deepening the bilateral relations. Quoting an African saying, Modi stated, “A friend is someone you share the path with”.
At present, there are about 60,000 Indians in Nigeria. Diasporas, particular the Indian ones contribute greatly to improving relations between their host country and the country of origin. Prime Minister Modi expressed his appreciation for the work of the Indians living in Nigeria who thronged to meet him. At the same time, he thanked the Nigerian government for looking after the Indian communities. He emphasised that the Indian Diaspora will help improve the ties in multiple sectors.
About 200 Indian companies are engaged in Nigeria. They have so far invested up to 27b USD in the country. Notably, they are the second largest employer of Nigerians after the Federal Government. Furthermore, Government of India has extended 100m USD as concessional loans and capacity building training programme. This is a part of India’s support to Africa in the shape of development projects in various sectors. Three MoUs were signed during the visit – on cultural exchange, cooperation in customs and third, Survey Cooperation. Prime Minister announced 20 tonnes of relief supplies for floods that recently ravaged parts of Nigeria.
Reiterating the integration of Africa into the Global South, Prime Minister stressed the turning point of Africa (AOU) was in joining the G-20 as a regular member. In this visit, Prime Minister invited Nigeria to join the International Solar Alliance, International Big Cat Alliance and the Pro-Planet Green Initiatives launched by India. Modi hinted that there is great scope for collaboration in a range of sectors with Nigeria, “defence, trade, energy, health, education, IT and more”.
Both countries expressed their common concerns on terrorism, drug trafficking, separatism and piracy. They agreed to collaborate in tackling these problems. Both countries are large economies and big democracies, adhering to pluralism and co-existence. Like other African countries, Nigeria has crude oil; bulk of their export earnings comes from crude oil exports. India has the expertise and skills to transfer to Nigeria for their multifarious development.
As usual, there is a comparison of India and China in dealing with Africa. China has pumped in billions of dollars in Africa. In 2012, China invested 128b USD compared to 100b USD by USA. Thus, China became the biggest trading partner with 200b USD of trade per year, overtaking USA. About 10,000 Chinese firms are operating throughout Africa. This is where New Delhi has to provide alternatives and mark the difference of approach. Prime Minister Modi had hinted that Chinese strategy is to extract resources from Africa whereas India focuses on human and infrastructure development.
Remember that Africa moved from colonialism to neo-colonialism, the latter meant exploitation of resources. Africans needed the financial resources to develop their economies. China through its BRI came up with bagful of money. Africans took this money despite the risk of the debt-trap. If democracies like India provide alternatives to BRI, African countries will surely pivot towards India. For that to happen, India has to build its own economy in partnership with Africa. New Delhi has to offer hard transactions instead of charity or humanitarian aid which of course, are necessary at times.
India-Africa partnership is critical for India’s growth. China has an advantage over India in GDP which means greater investment. But in the evolving geo-politics, Beijing will be defensive and New Delhi can be more assertive. The challenge for India’s foreign policy in Africa is to balance trade and political values, and building its own economy and consolidate its democracy to be able to trade more. The PM’s visit to Nigeria perhaps marks that shift in India’s foreign policy. — INFA