Nigeria’s big-power partners in tackling insurgency

The Memorandum on Interaction and Cooperation forms the basis for regular dialogue between both sides on many other aspects besides security issues.  The agreement, which involves cooperation between the national security councils of both countries, was signed by the Russian Security Council Secretary, Mr Nikolay Patrushev and Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Alhaji Sambo Dasuki. The […]

The Memorandum on Interaction and Cooperation forms the basis for regular dialogue between both sides on many other aspects besides security issues.  The agreement, which involves cooperation between the national security councils of both countries, was signed by the Russian Security Council Secretary, Mr Nikolay Patrushev and Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Alhaji Sambo Dasuki. The development is significant coming just days after Nigeria stopped a terrorism training programme with the United States, causing diplomatic ripples in relations between the two countries. The Federal Government had expressed frustration with the U.S., which it said had been hampering, rather than supporting, its fight against insurgency.
Nigeria’s envoy to the U.S., Prof. Adebowale Adefuye, accused the U.S. last month of refusing to sell military hardware to Nigeria to help subdue the insurgency in the North East region.
The U.S. has refuted the claims and said, on its part, that it had given Nigeria all the necessary support that U.S. laws permit, and in turn repeated long-standing accusation that Nigerian security forces are known to be involved in gross human rights abuses. U.S. laws prohibit the selling of certain categories of arms to countries with poor rights records.  “Over the past six months, the United States has started sharing intelligence with Nigeria, began training a new army battalion and held numerous high-level discussions with Nigerian authorities on additional measures to best address the Boko Haram threat,” Department of State spokeswoman Jen Psaki, said in response to a question about Adefuye’s remarks.  
The diplomatic exchanges came to a head last week when the American embassy in Nigeria said the Federal Government had asked the U.S. to discontinue training of the army on counterinsurgency, which was at an advanced stage. The first two phases of the training for a battalion were done between April and August, and the third was due last month.
For a trading partner as important as the U.S., the government’s action is peremptory and rash.  Its reaction to what is basically a U.S. legal issue amounts to throwing out the baby with the bathwater.  The training the U.S. was providing could be foundation for strengthening ties and confidence in the ability of Nigerian security forces to eschew abuses.
The agreement with Russia should have been done a long time ago, and with many other partners, since the government began its campaign against the insurgents.  
It is worrisome that this diplomatic spat with the U.S., which is at variance with the upbeat mood of increased cooperation inspired in part by the U.S.-Africa Summit in Washington DC in August, could degenerate to a host of many of many other challenges. The U.S. suspended the purchase of Nigeria’s crude in July, a decision that helped plunge the country into one of its most severe financial crises in recent times.  
Rather that feel frustrated by U.S.’s non-cooperation in its fight against terrorism, the federal government should address some of the concerns raised. For instance, it can start by initiating a programme to re-orientate the military and the police on human rights, on which they have a dismal record.   
Russia-Nigeria security cooperation should not be a substitute for, but complementary to, any agreement with the U.S. and possibly other countries. It would be a miscalculation to believe that Russia of today is like the old Soviet Union, when during the Cold War with the West, other countries’ relationship with one must be to the exclusion of the other.
Nigeria has a history of cordial but complicated relations with the U.S. While Nigeria has long-held suspicions over America’s desire to dictate its domestic affairs, especially in areas like gay rights, the U.S. holds reservations over human rights and governance issues in Nigeria.
But both countries should not allow these suspicions and reservations, or their current disputes in security assistance, to get in the way of their political and business relationship.