President Bola Tinubu last week joined his counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, for the 11th Nigeria-South Africa Bi-National Commission, BNC, in Cape Town, South Africa, in an effort to address the often troubled relationship between the two African giants.
With Africa as the perennial centrepiece of Nigeria's foreign policy, we have always played the Big Brother role. However, the negative attitudes of many of our continental siblings, particularly South Africans to Nigerian migrants in their country, have forced many Nigerians to wonder aloud if the sacrifices have been worth it.
Nigeria was at the forefront of the fight against Apartheid in South Africa, and for the decolonisation of Southern African between the 1960s and 1990s. In recognition of this, Nigeria was the first foreign country that Dr Nelson Mandela and his then wife, Winnie Madikizela Mandela, visited. When Mandela emerged as President of South Africa in 1994, he also led the continental effort towards the end of Nigeria's military rule and resolution of the political impasse occasioned by the June 12 election annulment.
When General Olusegun Obasanjo, a prominent continental player, was released from prison and later became Nigeria's President in 1999, he and Mandela worked together to give Africa a more respectable image in the global community. Apart from promoting the New Partnership for Africa's Development, NEPAD, Nigeria and South Africa formed their Bi-National Commission in 1999. Relations between the two countries waxed strong until Mandela and Obasanjo left office.
That cooperation led to the influx of many South African multinational companies to Nigeria where they immediately hit the proverbial goldmine leveraging our large population. These included MTN, Multichoice, Shoprite and many others. Nigerians also flocked to South Africa in search of opportunities. Then, things rapidly deteriorated between the two countries at citizen level.
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South Africans, often in cahoots with the law enforcement agencies, mounted a series of acerbic, xenophobic attacks against Nigerian migrants. They accused them of taking their jobs and engaging in criminal enterprises. It got so bad at several junctures that Nigeria had to do emergency evacuations of their nationals from South Africa.
In revanche, Nigerian mobs often invaded, ransacked and looted South African businesses in Nigeria. South African businesses frequently accused the Federal Government of inhospitable attitudes and harsh applications of the laws against them.
That the early warning protocols to ward off direct violent confrontations between citizens of both countries are still being finalised after 25 years shows how unserious they have been in addressing citizen-level crises. This must change. Tinubu and Ramaphosa must resume from where Mandela and Obasanjo stopped in promoting ties and leading the effort to harness Africa's potentials.
We must foster healthy competition, while at the same time working together for the common good of all Africans.
