In 1988, the Nigerian state freely, or so it seemed, adopted yet another slogan in its external relations……
Unlike
the previous slogans or thrusts (such as African center piece) which
were hinged on the supposedly huge resources of the country, the state
was pushed into adopting the current thrust by the major reverse in the
circumstances that had warranted the adoption of previous thrusts.
For
example, the Naira diplomacy and the concentric circle thesis with
which Professor Ibrahim Gambari has been intimately associated had
rested on the premise that Nigeria could ward off any
real or
potential threat to her interests, coming especially from the African
sector area through the qualitative use of her enormous oil wealth or by
availing herself of the advantage of the intimidating perception of her
power by other state actors in the international system.
With
the deepening economic crisis, however, which set in the early 1980s,
the state began to shift emphasis from thoughts on how Nigeria could use
her financial muscle to show how she could use her political weight as
reflected in her geographical size, population and huge oil resources of
national greatness to effect a turn around in her heavily self-damaged
economy. Thus, the focus of the state has profoundly been on how the
instrumentality of foreign relations can be made to have a positive
impact on the national economy.
The
thrust of economic diplomacy was therefore astutely embraced in Nigeria
as a panacea to the observed external distortions in the policy of
Structural Adjustment
Programmes (SAPs) adopted in 1986. The
overriding objective of economic diplomacy is to generate sufficient
external support for SAPs (Federal Ministry of Budget
and Planning,
1990). In terms of origin, Asobie (1991) has argued that although its
formal adoption is dated back to 1988, its conception could be traced
further back to 1985 when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suffered
a setback in Nigeria.
To
be specific, the Fund Special Drawing Right which had been haunting
Nigeria since 1983 was overwhelmingly rejected through a national
debate. As part of the substitute package for the IMF loan, the thrust
of economic diplomacy was canvassed.
Despite
a nine-year history behind its formal adoption, the debate on the
newness or otherwise of economic^ diplomacy has not sufficiently
subsided. Although one would be correct to say that since Ibrahim
Babangida was eased out of power in 1993,not much is being held about
the thrust.
Nevertheless,
the continuous existence of structures which were hitherto put in place
to implement the policy and the apparent silence of the Abacha
administration over a new foreign policy direction seem to suggest the
continuation of the same thrust.
Globe Chamber Business Times 