By Ibrahim Mohammed
The Director, Centre for China Studies (CCS), Mr. Charles Onunaiju has called on Nigeria’s leader, President Muhammadu Buhari to continue with the ‘neighbourhood diplomacy’ which he started during the first term of his administration.
Onunaiju, who was speaking against the backdrop of Buhari’s new cabinet whose portfolios were announced on Wednesday, noted that ‘‘to be very honest Buhari started very well by focusing on what I called neighbourhood diplomacy, especially in addressing the issues of security which was a big challenge at the time he came into office,’’ on My 29, 2015.
According to him, Buhari’s visit to Chad, Cameroun and Niger shortly after he came into office was highly thoughtful, adding that ‘‘these are critical countries that are very important to Nigeria’s long term security, especial in addressing the Boko Haram insurgency in the country’s north-east region.
‘‘I think that initial efforts at engaging countries sharing borders with Nigeria paid-off. The joint military campaign against the insurgency lead to a significant reduction in the activities of the group,’’ he also pointed out that ‘‘the joint military operations are all outcomes of that important and crucial face of his (Buhari) neighbourhood diplomacy.
‘‘Although, I do not know how sustained the dialogue, engagements with the neighbours have been, the resurgence of Boko Haram activities which has led to Nigerians fleeing into those countries as refugees in my view could be the consequences of lack of sustainability. Because, diplomacy is not a one-off thing, it is not necessarily at the highest level, the highest level is at the point of kick-off to set the stage for several engagements at lower levels.
‘‘I do not know how much of those early engagements at the highest levels were replicated at several other levels. The process of high level engagement has to be driven and Nigeria lacks the tools to follow up.
‘‘It is not the glee, glamour and razzmatazz of those very visible engagements that turns the situation around. It is the practical engagements at several other levels that gives it the substance it deserves,’’ Mr. Charles Onunaiju
The CCS based in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, is an independent research think-tank that focuses on China’s rise and important engagements with the African continent. It was opened on March 24, 2015 by former Chinese envoy to the West African country over 200 million people according to the United Nations estimate, Ambassador Gu Xiaojie.
