As Buhari stormed the territory of our enemy

The obvious gap in what the masses and the government think fascinates me. I take note each time this gap is demonstrated in our public space. One of such was how President Muhammadu Buhari and his entourage stormed Turkey last October. The trip must have surprised some Nigerians.

The size and component of the entourage say something though. That the President undertakes the journey with some members of his family says more. No one goes into enemy territory with vulnerable members of his family. For at the time the trip happened, Turkey was Nigeria’s enemy as far as the informed masses were concerned. This isn’t unconnected with what has been in the media in the last one year regarding guns said to have been illegally brought to Nigeria from Turkey.

me, the President’s trip to Turkey, once again, shatters a myth. Of course, there were layers of issues that rightly made any Nigerian to conclude that Nigeria and Turkey weren’t the best of friends. I followed most of them, and I had had to explain some in conversations. One was the circumstances which led to the change in name in Nigeria of the Nigerian-Turkish International Colleges to Nigerian-Tulip International Colleges. Also, I had taken a look at both internal and external activities of Turkey on this page on several occasions in recent past, so Nigeria’s latest trip to that country was automatically of interest to me. But more importantly, the trip also proves, as I’ve already stated, the obvious gap between the perception of the masses and that of government in international relations.

It was an angle I had equally pointed out at the time Buhari travelled to Iran in 2015. We have Shiites in Nigeria and part of the belief among some Nigerians is that Iran supplies Shiites with weapons to overthrow our government. I had stated at one point that if Iran gave weapons to Shiites in Nigeria, the President would know about it, and he wouldn’t have visited Iran at the time he did. Some readers accused me of being a PR person for Shiites at the time, which wasn’t the case. Now, Turkey is another example and it’s instructive that at a time some Nigerians have the notion that Turkey is an enemy of Nigeria, Buhari storms Ankara following an invitation from the Turkish president.

Often, I take note that some Nigerians discuss public issues as though government officials don’t know a few facts that the masses aren’t aware of. Of course, a few things happened in the last one year to erect in the mind of Nigerians notions of an unfriendly Turkey. A military coup happened in that nation mid-2016 and its government reached out to other nations for the purpose of punishing Turks it judged to be responsible, or linked to those judged to be responsible. Ankara is still staring the US in the face over its request for the extradition from the US, of Muhammed Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish preacher, former imam, writer, and political figure that Ankara accuses of sponsoring the coup. Ankara reached out to Abuja too. It wanted our government to close schools and hospitals which proprietors were linked to Gullen. These institutions are heavily patronised by Nigerians. Also, they provide jobs for our citizens. That was the first thought on my mind at the time Turkey made its request. The Turkish owners of these institutions lobbied, using media platforms to explain why Abuja shouldn’t agree with Ankara. They succeeded and the outcome was the change of name of the affected institutions.

 I had expected Ankara to react. Later, when some Nigerian athletes were denied visas to participate in a sport tournament in Turkey, I thought that was one reaction. At the same time, successive seizures of guns at our port by the Nigerian Customs Service were reported; four times in a year, and all the guns had papers linking them to Turkey. That couldn’t have conveyed any other message to Nigerians other than how official Turkey had become the enemy of their nation. But Nigerian government officials must have had their own information, different from what the masses had, and so Buhari ended up travelling to Turkey.

His entourage also indicated what he had in mind to discuss out there. Officials connected with internal security were many. There was the National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Babagana Munguno; Minister of Defence, Brig. Gen. Mansur Dan Ali (retd.); the acting Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, Amb. Arab Yadam; Minister of Interior, Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau;  as well as the Customs boss, Col. Hameed Ali (retd.). I noted also how President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took much longer time shaking Ali’s hand and talking with him when the delegation landed in Ankara. Obviously, correspondence with Ankara over regular seizure of guns originating from Turkey, which Nigeria’s Customs boss championed, came to Erdoğan’s attention. It will be recalled that earlier on September. 21, 2017, at a briefing in Lagos, Ali had said that a syndicate based in Turkey had been discovered to be behind illegal arms imports into Nigeria.

But two issues took the Nigerian leader to Turkey that time. One was his official visit to that nation. The other was the D-8 Summit. Every Nigerian understands an official visit, the D-8 Summit is what needs some unravelling. At the time Buhari travelled I tried to recall the last time the D-8 Group gathered to engage in diplomatic manoeuvres. This is one reason issues related to the Summit are my main perspective on Buhari’s four-day visit to Turkey. Turkey is central to the D-8; other members include Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria and Pakistan.  Whoever looks at the membership, realises the security and economic relevance of these nations would wonder what the D-8 has to offer Nigeria. I take out Bangladesh whose condition isn’t particularly different from Nigeria’s; take out Egypt whose security and economic well-being is largely propped up by aid from the US, and one wonders what is left.  On this continent, Egypt is behind us in most relevant economic indices, as well as population. Well, Pakistan has some military hardware that Nigeria can use, and has been using. Iran falls into the same category, with assistance in civil matters from time to time. Malaysia and Indonesia have some of their companies here; aside from this, I don’t know of other relevance to Nigeria.

But the D-8 offers a platform for friendship, and it’s good to make friends which facilitates international cooperation. Such a platform also serves other useful purposes at larger world settings such as the UN. In any case, presence, symbolically presenting an image, as well as the camaraderie at the D-8 Summit provides opportunity for Buhari to cement ties across a broad range of areas of cooperation with leaders of member countries.

Moreover, the 2017 Summit has the theme, “Expanding Opportunities through Cooperation”, with focus on agriculture, trade, transport, energy and increased private sector participation among member-countries. The Summit, which marked the 20th anniversary of the D-8 sought to improve the developing countries’ positions in the world economy. As for the ‘Istanbul Declaration’ that follows the Summit, it expresses the wish to work for “sectoral cooperation for deeper private sector involvement in all activities in order to attain 20 percent of total intra-D-8 trade.” With its combined GDP of $3.7 trillion, the group wants to establish D-8 Technology Transfer and Exchange Network and D-8 Petrochemical Association for the facilitation of transfer of technology and enhanced cooperation in the petrochemical sector. There shall also be established a “D-8 Project Support Fund” in order to sustain various projects, while it underlines progress “in civil aviation, and the development of all modes of transportation in order to connect all member states.”

These are good objectives, but as usual, my concern is the readiness of Nigeria to appropriately channel whatever the D-8 offers into our area of needs. We have many needs, including our railway sector that has yet to contribute to the economy as we envisage. I took note that not long ago, the President asked the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, to come up with ideas on how to move the sector forward. Although the minister wasn’t in Turkey, one can only hope that he and other ministers concerned get to know of the D-8’s plan and appropriately position Nigeria to make the most of it.