The main focus of Nigeria’s foreign policy would be to ensure that democracy is entrenched across the African continent, Acting President Goodluck Jonathan said in Washington on Monday, at a Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) briefing, according to transcripts of the interview made available to NEXT.
The Council on Foreign Relations is an 89-year-old US-based independent think-tank that aims to serve as “a resource for its members, government officials, business executives, journalists, educators and students, civic and religious leaders, and other interested citizens in order to help them better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries.”
“We believe that as a continent, all African countries must have a true democratic society… We want a system where people will elect their leaders. It’s not a monarchy where a king will hand over to his first son and so on,” Mr. Jonathan told the audience in a session moderated by Howard F. Jeter, Former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria.
Mr. Jonathan, even while noting that foreign policy results are “difficult to benchmark,” acknowledged Nigeria’s role in ensuring the demise of apartheid in South Africa. He added that the accomplishment of that goal has now necessitated a shift in foreign policy thrust by Nigeria.
Pointing out that this year not less than 16 African countries will celebrate their independence from colonial powers, he said that democratic freedom remains one of the significant “challenges” still being faced by African countries.
Importance of global peace
Mr. Jonathan also outlined “global peace” as another priority of his administration. “We don’t believe that a group of people or one individual, a group of individuals should be a terror to the rest of the human society. And of course I believe that’s also one of the key areas of interest to America.” In addition, Mr. Jonathan described the “the free movement of small arms and light weapons into African countries” as “worrisome” and “a big challenge”. He called on the United States and other Western countries to assist their African counterparts in curtailing the illegal trade in “small arms and light weapons” which benefits “ragtag” armies that end up posing “a security threat to the rest of society.” “We ask:
Who manufactured these weapons? Why are they shifting to Africa?” Mr. Jonathan said.
Small arms refers to weapons like pistols, sub-machine guns, landmines and grenades, and have been implicated in fuelling many of the conflicts that dot the African continent. It is estimated that there are up to half a billion small arms in circulation globally, and that the global small arms trade is currently worth between $5 and $10 billion dollars. A fifth of this is estimated to be tied up in illicit trade. Local production accounts only for a small part of the proliferation on the African continent, the bulk is from sales by international arms traffickers, and unscrupulous government armies. The porous borders of much of the continent ensure that these arms readily flow into conflict zones and into the hands of rebel armies.
Apart from the Council on Foreign Relations briefing Mr. Jonathan also had talks with the United States President Barack Obama, and his Vice, Joe Biden. The visit was his first foreign trip since he became Acting President February 9; and the first official visit to the United States by a Nigerian leader in more than two years.
On April 6, days before Mr. Jonathan’s trip to the United States, a US-Nigeria bi-national commission was launched in Washington to coordinate US efforts aimed at assisting Nigeria in a number of critical areas including electoral reform, security and counter-terrorism, energy reform and food security.