Charles Onunaiju
24 June 2009
opinion
Abuja — Russian President, Mr. Dmitry Medvedev makes the first ever Russia's leader state visit to Nigeria today. The diplomatic relation between Nigeria and Russia stretched back to the era of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Diplomatic relation with the two countries was established, soon after Nigeria's independence, on the 25th of November 1960. Embassy of then Soviet Union was opened in Lagos in 1961, while Nigeria reciprocated with the opening of its embassy in Moscow in 1962.
Beyond Nigeria, the then Soviet Union was active in Africa especially in giving impetus to the anti-colonial struggle. Even though, the conduct of the then Soviet Union was largely premised on ideological affirmation of proletarian internationalism, Moscow's moral and political repudiation of colonial domination was essential catalyst to eventual collapse of formal colonialism.
In the part of Africa, where colonial domination was most acute and unrelenting especially in Southern Africa, Soviet contribution to both political and military assistant to nationalist forces was remarkably. Infact, the United States of America that came very late to the concept of majority rule in dominated territories, especially in Southern Africa, did that on the impetus of the strong Soviet anti-colonial activities in the region. Former U.S Secretary of State, Henry Kissenger has written in one of his giant study, "Years of Renewal" that "we could not take a stand in Africa by giving lessons in geopolitics or by basing ourselves on minority governments. If we wanted to resist future Soviet and Cuban adventures in Southern Africa and to reduce and expel Soviet and Cuban influence there as we did in the Middle East - our policy would have to reflect the aspirations of the vast majority."
Earlier, before the Soviet anti-colonial activities in Africa jolted the United States out of its complacency and complicity with colonial and racist regimes, Kissenger wrote that the idea of "majority rule had been a liberal cause, never translated into policy," and the U.S administration was reluctant "to expose the white African minorities to precarious future" of eventual majority black rule.
It is no doubt therefore that the former Soviet Union for which Russia was one of the principal successor state was a critical partner to Africa most passionate political endeavour, the struggle to end colonial domination and white supremacist rule in the continent, even though, Soviet ideological motivation did not necessarily coincide with most of Africa's anti-colonial aspirations.
However, the sudden disintegration of the former Soviet Union in the early 1990s almost brought to a close a unique chapter of Soviet-Africa relation. The domestic pre-occupation of the Russian federation and other former Soviet Republics in gathering the pieces of unexpected dissolution, almost obliterated their presence in Africa.
Russia was economically weak and its immediate post Soviet leader, Mr. Boris Yeltsin was so encumbered in several western strategic snares to think of projecting Moscow beyond its borders. A robust Moscow as it is now would never have watched the western military alliance, NATO, bombard a crucial ally with strategic frontier like the former Yugoslavia into submission and eventual disintegration.
Nonetheless, the federation of Russia has weaned off from the ideological prisms of the Soviet era. In an article by the Russian foreign Minister, Mr. Sergey Lavrov written in a Russian magazine last May, he argued that "the new, democratic Russia, simply withdrew from the cold war, renouncing the ideology that underlay Soviet participation in it," and added that this "was the choice of the Russian people and the peoples of other ex-Soviet republics." Continuing, Mr. Lavrov wrote that "if there was a "victory" in the cold war, then, it was "the states and political forces that drew the right conclusions from what happened may be considered to be the top winners," and then went ahead to assert that "Russia turned out to be among the front runners."
This critical world view of "a new democratic Russia" leads the ebullient foreign minister to conclude that "the national state retains and even consolidates its significance as a basic element of international relations" and therefore stressed "the need for meetings of heads of state and government to overcome crises as an extra testimony to this."
From the point of a new and resurgent democratic Russia, the focus of her international relations and foreign policy is very apparent. In this context, Nigeria/Russia relation, which would gain new momentum from the summit of the two heads of state in Abuja.
Since inception of diplomatic relation, more than 15 joint documents, including agreement on air communication in 1967, agreements on economic and scientific and technical cooperation of 1968, on cultural and scientific co-operation of 1970 have been signed. The trade agreement of 1987 and agreement on co-operation against narcotic substances in 1999 have also been concluded.
On account of new version post Soviet era co-operation with Russia, the then Nigeria President, Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo paid a state visit to Russia from the 5th to 7th of March 2001. At the meeting in Moscow, the declaration on the principles of friendly relationship and partnership between Russia and Nigeria, along with some other documents were signed from the result of fruitful bilateral negotiation and engagement. As President Dmitry Medvedev arrives in Abuja on the epoch-making visit, there is a sense of expectation in which Nigeria/Russia relation, "reaches a completely new level of strategic partnership and co-operation" as the Russia's ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Alexander Polyakov told Daily Trust.
According to the Russian envoy, the Abuja summit of the two leaders will generate a fruitful co-operations between the two sides. He said that agreements would be concluded by both sides in areas of transfer of imprisoned persons, investment promotion and protection, agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, MOU on cooperation of the space agencies of the two countries, agreement on the cooperation of the ministries of justice of the two countries and a landmark agreement between the Russian Gas giant Gazprom and NNPC on joint venture cooperation.
However, while it is desirable that the two countries elevate their bilateral relation to functional cooperation in key and strategic sectors, Nigeria and even Russia should take account of the asymmetries in capacities and ensure that such lacuna is not converted into a dependency, the such that have bedivelled the trajectory of Nigeria relation with advanced countries of the West. Even Nigeria can learn from Russia how to keep your head above water, when you are down and then swim back to relevance and reckoning.
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