Time Nigeria sought new friends

France, the UK, China and other world powers were falling over themselves ‘offering’, on a ‘selfless’, ‘humanitarian’ basis, to ‘help’ Nigeria rescue her over 200 school girls abducted by the Boko Haram terrorists and that our country had ‘accepted’ the offer, some of us urged our government to reject that offer. (See my two pieces […]

France, the UK, China and other world powers were falling over themselves ‘offering’, on a ‘selfless’, ‘humanitarian’ basis, to ‘help’ Nigeria rescue her over 200 school girls abducted by the Boko Haram terrorists and that our country had ‘accepted’ the offer, some of us urged our government to reject that offer. (See my two pieces Jonathan, Reject that Offer of ‘Help’ (I and II) in this paper of May 7 and 14).
In the first part of that treatise I told readers that I was so unhappy with the readiness of our government to accept that offer that I toyed with the various following titles to convey my displeasure: ‘’Is the Nigerian Military Incompetent?’’, ‘’Insurgency: From Frying Pan to Naked Fire?’’, ‘’America’s Offer: A Greek Gift’’, ‘’Let the Military Speak Out’’, ‘’Jonathan, Do Not Succumb to Pressure’’, ‘’Have Nigerians Heard of Madame Mhu of Vietnam?’’ ‘’National Assembly, What Say You?’’, ‘’Mr. Idang Alibi: the Man Who Said ‘No’’’, ‘’Idang Alibi: A Lone Voice in the Sea of Yes’’, ‘’I am Unhappy’’, ‘’I am Dismayed’’, ‘’Chibok Girls’ Rescue: What are the Rules of Engagement?’’
We argued that it was not in our best security interest to accept such offer. But in the face of relentless pressure, our government apparently caved in, feeling that it was better to jeopardise our long term national security interest by allowing those people in to help deal with the immediate threat facing us.
With the recent disclosure by the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr James Entwistle, that his country will not sell arms to us to confront the Boko Haram menace on the spurious excuse that our military violate human rights, I feel like beating my chest in self-congratulation that some of us who had serious reservation about the super powers’ meddling in our internal security challenge are vindicated. But this is no issue to claim some personal victory in foresightedness. I do not want to be a prophet of doom whose prophecy comes to pass. As a patriot, I feel more fulfilled when we warn of a doom and the right step is taken to avert the misfortune foretold and not to feel vindicated when the prophecy comes to pass. We were clearly being too short-sighted. We ignored the African wise saying that you do not set your thatched roofed house on fire in order to kill a rat that is tormenting you.
The truth is now out and all those Nigerians who were clamouring for foreign help should realize by now that our suspicion about those people’s motive is correct. The clear truth is that Nigeria has no genuine friends in any foreign power. Our salvation lies squarely in getting our acts together and we can confront any challenge that comes our way. Those foreign powers were not motivated by selfless, humanitarian concern but by a selfish desire to get to know more about this ‘’uppity’’ African country that seems to be a beacon of hope for the Black race and which could compete for influence with them in their desire to perpetually dominate and exploit Africa.
Nigeria is of abiding interest to world leaders. When we took that foolish action of allowing them in I am sure even they could not believe their luck. It is like a fox that has been eyeing a particular poultry farm for so long and then the owner of the farm wakes up one day and invites him to come and help him deal with some troublesome cock.
The USA is an imperialist country that depends largely for its economic wellbeing on the exploitation of weak, vulnerable and foolish countries led by foolish leaders. It is not really interested in helping a promising country to become stronger and if possible pose a threat to its economic exploitation agenda. Where a resource-rich developing country’s leader is becoming too strong such as in Iraq, Libya and Venezuela for the USA to have unfettered access to the rich resources of that country, they try by all means to get rid of such leader who is standing on their way and put in his stead a more pliant successor. Or their plan will be to destroy that country by sowing seeds of confusion and destabilisation. Iraq and Libya will not any more pose any small threat to America’s access to their oil and gas fields.
Nigeria should thank Mr Entwistle for whistling and clearing the mist from our eyes so we can see more clearly. We now know that the reason for not selling arms to us is a very convenient excuse not to help us. If a friend is fighting terrorists and needs to buy guns from you and you say no to him, it means two things. One, you do not want him to defeat those terrorists in spite of your loud claims that you hate terrorists. It means you do not mind if the terrorists dismember the country as their action will help you achieve the goal you have been seeking to accomplish all along. Two, you do not want him to become a strong power as his strength could overshadow you. The USA does not care if Nigeria is dismembered. The better it is as she will cease to compete for influence with the America in the sub-region.
Another significant thing we should learn from Mr Entwistle’s eye-opening truth is that America is buying our oil not necessarily because they like us. It is because it is of high quality and is from a relatively more secure environment where supply is guaranteed. Now that oil is being discovered all over Africa, our policy planners should better wear their thinking caps and look for new markets because America will look somewhere else for their crude oil needs.
I always hear our foreign policy elite talk about our ‘’traditional friends’’- meaning the US, the UK and the rest of the Western Hemisphere. What is that? Are they really friends? The time has come now for us to begin a serious search for new friends.  What more serious minded countries talk about is national interest and not traditional, or unorthodox or whatever kind of friends. Let us be as pragmatic as China’s impactful leader Deng Xiaoping who declared that “It doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white as long as it catches the mouse.” We are a nation trying to raise our head in the sun; it should therefore not matter to us from where we can get genuine help for our development. We should not be trapped in the useless ideology of traditional or new friends. Whoever has what we need, we should approach and leave those who feel threatened, even by our feeble efforts.
With the USA rapidly falling and having problems with its economy and China rising and becoming the number one economy in the world, that country will become even more desperate in fighting perceived or real threats to its economic survival war. It will not be in the USA interest for a nation like Nigeria to compete for market in Africa. Nigeria is the only obstacle for USA total dominance of Africa especially in the strategic Gulf of Guinea region in West Africa. If it were not for Nigeria’s resistance, USA would have established a major military base now in West Africa. Our people and our leaders do not know how much this country is worth. Many countries of the world know just how much and are casting envious eyes on this jewel in the African bush or forest.