Making Mr President more voluble

By Tunji Ajibade

Nigeria ’s foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Ojo Madueke, voiced President Musa Yar’adua’s mind the other day. He said Mr President did not like the manner the new administration in the African nation of Madagascar came to power. The new regime had arrived the State House through the back door and Nigeria is not comfortable, the president had pointed out. As the leader of the most populous nation in African and a force to be reckoned with on the continent, it’s a good thing the president spoke up on the situation in Madagascar . The problem however is that when the foreign affairs minister quoted the president as he did on an issue that bordered on legitimacy, lots of questions arose for the nation’s leadership to answer. In fact, the morality of questioning the legitimacy of the government in another nation in the present situation Nigerians find themselves is the first thing that comes to the mind of any close observer. But first, some good things could be noted about the position of both the president and the minister.

That Nigeria ’s diplomatic bureaucracy in the past had not been forthcoming on major continental and global issues for which the nation’s stance ought to have been made known is legendary. In fact, it was enough reason to wonder if the foreign affairs ministry existed in the first place. Much of the time, when other major nations made statements concerning an event that were of interest to global community, nothing was heard from the Nigerian end. Journeys that were tagged ‘diplomatic’ made by sitting ministers but which had nothing that showed the effectiveness of a well-oiled diplomatic machine were undertaken. It was as if there was no machine in that ministry in the first place. That appears to have changed. At least, with the sounds coming from the direction of the foreign affairs minister. Now Nigeria is making official statements on major world issues. It is taking definite position on matters that serious and well-organized nations pass swift comments on. The ministry has been doing this fairly regularly on issues that concern Africa more recently. For instance, none of the latest instabilities in the West African regions have passed without a comment from the foreign ministry. Mr President has even been made to host series of meetings of head of states in the West African region to resolves some major issues. The recent military coup in Mauritania had not escaped his bashing. All this says something about the man at the head of affairs in the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

The fact that the honourable minister has ensured that the foreign affairs arm of this administration is working is understandable. Chief Madueke is an individual who knows what he is doing. A highly opinionated and strong personality who is imbued with wisdom, the minister has been on the national scene for quite a while. He it was during Obasanjo’s first term who canvassed that Nigerians, buy and ride bicycles. He even rode on a bicycle to one of the meetings of the Federal Executive Council to which he belonged during the first term of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Having been at the centre for many years, the minister had seen some things that were not going the way they should with the country’s image in the international arena. Now he has the opportunity to do something about what is wrong.

When the president commented on Madagascar and some other issues that are of importance to Africa , the role played by the foreign affairs minister was important. It’s the foreign affairs minister’s duty to get the president to air his view, on the position of the nation on international issues. He has done his job creditably in this wise. Some ministers would have gone to bed without attaching any significance to the situation in Madagascar , not to mention asking the president what the policy stance of the country should be. Up to this time, some ministers may not even be aware that anything happened in Madagascar ! This land had seen some shoddy handling of foreign relations in the past and this had contributed in large measure to the image problem the country suffers from. But the time has arrived for Nigerians to heave a sigh of relief.

While the diplomatic wheel has begun to roll, some issues may still constitute a barrier to the effectiveness of the diplomatic machine in the foreign affairs ministry. That the president has for a while been silent on legitimacy issue as it has to do with nations reeling under illegitimate governments is a known fact. The circumstances surrounding the April 2007 elections that brought his administration to power is a reason. But this yoke needs not affect the role he plays on the international scene, especially Africa, much longer.

As a matter of fact, the President should have been more voluble on the international scene if he had come up with tangible efforts to deal with the mess that marred the last series of elections in this nation. The delay in making the corrections has been too long.

Now that the president appears to be doing something about giving the nation better electoral rules, the confidence of many close observers is no longer what it should be.

Thanks to the tinkering his Federal Executive Council did to the report submitted by the Justice Uwais panel on electoral reforms. And no less thanks to the legislators in the National Assembly who have done all they could to stall the process of constitutional reforms that should help in the conduct of credible elections in the future. This is an embarrassing situation for people in this nation. Getting to reform electoral rules that everyone acknowledges is woefully faulty has become as Herculean a task as making electricity available by the agency that collects public fund for it.

The time is ripe for the current administration to pull things together. The position statement on Madagascar made by the president and voiced by Foreign Affairs minister should not be a one off thing. It should be improved upon. Nigerians love to see their government becoming more relevant on the international scene. They also would like to have a Minister of foreign affairs who is taken as seriously as the American Secretary of State on the global scene. This has relevance for the respect citizens enjoy as well as the clout the nation has among the committee of nations. But much can only come out of the renewed energy at the foreign affairs ministry and the president can be more voluble on the foreign scene if the Yar’Adua administration takes some measures that would boost its credibility. As things stand, these will have to be in the area of ensuring that upcoming elections are more credible. The president must ensure that the review of the nation’s constitution is carried out while the electoral reforms are seen to their logical conclusions.

This is necessary if the president must be seen to be keen in correcting the mistakes of the past and making legitimacy which is of concern to him in Madagascar of concern to him in Nigeria too.

Ajibade writes from tunjioa@yahoo.com