The administration of US President Barrack Obama and especially senior diplomats led by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have become sharper in their public criticism of Nigeria because of their growing frustration with not just its current leaders but also the next line of potential leaders, according to a BusinessDay investigation.
BusinessDay has learnt from senior US officials that at a recent meeting between top level US oil executives with senior State Department officials in Washington, discussions focused on Nigeria and her steady slide into irrelevance and possible chaos and how both factors have helped to make her unstable for business and top-level investment.
During the meeting at which Hillary Clinton was present, the senior oil executives spoke of their disappointment over how even the simplest of issues linger on in Nigeria without hope of their resolution.
The US oil executives told their State Department hosts that years of lackluster leadership in Nigeria have meant that key economic reforms have been abandoned or are going no where.
In particular, they mentioned the failure to really seize the initiative offered by the amnesty in the Niger Delta to put in place an enduring mechanism for peace in the region while ensuring that Nigeria retains investors’ interest in the oil industry which is largely based in the Niger Delta.
They said that this has left them unsure of their existing investments and how to tackle pending investment decisions relating to Nigeria.
Clinton’s frustration with Nigerian leaders again poured out on Tuesday at a State Department town hall meeting with staff where she said “the failure of the Nigerian leadership over many years to respond to the legitimate needs of their own young people, to have a government that promoted meritocracy, that really understood democracy can’t just be given lip service, it has to be delivering services to the people, has meant there is a lot of alienation in that country”.
Last month, the US slammed sanctions against Nigeria by placing her in the terror watch list, categorising the country among the so-called countries of interest.
According to one retired Nigerian diplomat, “there is nothing diplomatic anymore in the statements coming out of Washington about Nigeria. It would appear that by being so critical of our leaders, the US has chosen to talk to Nigerians in the hope that they will understand given that the leaders are not there or willing to be engaged.”
Also reacting to US increasing criticism of Nigeria, Kayode Soremekun, professor of international relations, department of political science, University of Lagos, said “the Nigerian ruling class has not lived up to the responsibility of providing cohesion and coherence. The US has equally taken advantage of the terror incident to put Nigeria on terror watch list. This was done because the ruling class has not been able to organise itself. In fact, it’s a ‘ruining class’ composed of upstarts.
On the part of Victor Ukaego, lecturer, department of history and international relations, Redeemers University, Nigeria’s “diplomacy is not being properly managed. If we say we are not a terrorist country, what have we done to change the perception considering the religious extremism in the northern part of the country, and the fact that in the recent Jos crisis the culprits are still free and the country has not been able to manage religious extremism properly.”