AKINYEMI: A QUINTESSENTIAL DIPLOMAT AT 80

Olusegun Adeniyi pays tribute to Bolaji Akinyemi, former minister of external affairs

After spending eight years as Director General of the Nigerian Institute for International Affairs (NIIA) in 1983, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi delivered a short but profound valedictory speech, ‘A Farewell to Policy’. In it, he highlighted some of the choices Nigeria made on the diplomatic front during what has often been glibly described as the golden era in our foreign affairs. He also made prescriptions on what should guide our future engagements. But despite the assumption that he was leaving the arena at a relatively young age of 41 that year, Akinyemi has, at different times since then, played critical roles both for his country and the African continent. As he therefore clocks 80 today, I cannot but pay tribute to a respected scholar and statesman who has served Nigeria with intellect and integrity.

Although I did not get to meet Akinyemi until I became a reporter in the nineties, he was one of the people who influenced my choice of course when entering university. In the eighties, Akinyemi was one of the biggest names in diplomacy not only within the country but across the continent. At that time, some of us were naïve enough to believe that studying International Relations at Ife was an automatic route to the world of diplomacy. But notwithstanding the career path I eventually chose, Akinyemi remains a role model not only for me but also for majority of members of my generation. It is indeed remarkable that he has had a successful professional career and public life untainted by any scandal. That is essentially because he remains true to himself and the ideals that count.

A product of Temple University in Philadelphia, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Massachusetts (both in the United States) and Trinity College, Oxford, England, Akinyemi obtained his doctorate degree in 1969. A scholar who has operated within the intellectual space practically all his life, Akinyemi was at various times a visiting professor at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland and the Diplomacy Training Programme, University of Nairobi, Kenya. He was also a Regents Lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles. When his tour of duty ended at the NIIA in 1983, Akinyemi returned to the University of Lagos as a professor of political science. In 1984, he was a Visiting Fellow, St John’s College, Cambridge, England. In 1985, Akinyemi was appointed Foreign Affairs Minister by General Ibrahim Babangida.

Akinyemi spent his time in office working for the projection of Nigeria’s soft power, especially within the African continent. Most notably, he initiated the Technical Aid Corps (TAC), a programme by which the best of Nigerian professionals is selected and posted to do volunteer work across African countries for two years. It was designed to “promote the country’s image and status as a major contributor to Third World and particularly African development.” Through the programme, Nigeria has since 1987 deployed professionals in different fields of human endeavour to The Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Rwanda and other countries in Africa and the Caribbean. Available reports indicate that 32 countries have benefitted from this programme in which more than 10,000 Nigerians professionals have participated. A man of ideas, Akinyemi also came up with the concept of the ‘Concert of Medium Powers’ although like his ‘Black Bomb’ projection, it did not fly.

Unfortunately, Akinyemi has in recent years had to lament the declining relevance of Nigeria, especially within the continent based on the choices we make. When, for instance, the South African candidate, Mrs Nkosazama Dlamini-Zuma defeated Jean Pean, the candidate backed by ECOWAS/Nigeria for the presidency of the African Union in July 2012, Akinyemi considered the victory unacceptable. “This is not the first time South Africa had challenged Nigerian and ECOWAS policies in Africa. She did in Cote D’Ivoire where she backed Lauren Gbagbo against Alistre Quatarra who was supported by ECOWAS as the winner of the election,” Akinyemi wrote. Dalmini-Zuma’s victory, he further argued, marked a defeat for the grand consensus that had up onto that time governed African international institutions that the biggest contributors to the budget would never contest for the top posts in those institutions. “It was in loyalty to that consensus that Nigeria, against pressure from several African states refused to allow Ambassador Peter Onu who had acted as Secretary General to contest for the substantive post in 1984,” argued Akinyemi who urged Nigeria to “reevaluate its aid policy towards any Africa country (especially ECOWAS) countries which voted against its position in this election.”

Akinyemi is a prominent voice in the advocacy for restructuring the country. But his is different from those who argue for cannibalising Nigeria along some ethnic lines. He is for a Nigeria that works for all its citizens. But of more concern to Akinyemi is the loss of a moral compass by new generation of Nigerian leaders. “There are no more values to hold on to”, said Akinyemi who recently disclosed that some parents not only encourage their children to cheat to beat the system but also aid and abet them in their nefarious activities. “No one believes anymore in the concept of society. Nigerians have created their own God in their own image. In my youth, to be accused of theft or any other criminal offence was tantamount to being banished from the society while to be convicted was tantamount to suicide. However, today, no one asks for the source of wealth. People in jail, accused of murder run for, and win elections,” he said.

It is remarkable that even at 80, Akinyemi remains relevant both at home (where he hosts a weekly foreign policy clinic, ‘Through My Eyes’ on YouTube) and abroad. In his post-public office career that has spanned three decades, Akinyemi has represented Nigeria on many international bodies, including the United Nations Group of Experts. In November 2011, Akinyemi led the commonwealth electoral expert and observer team for the Gambian general election. He was also the vice chairman of the Presidential Electoral Reform Committee, under the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. During the pro-democracy struggle in the nineties, Akinyemi fled the country when his life was threatened by the late General Sani Abacha and became a prominent member of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) in exile. Like many others, he only returned to the country after the death of General Sani Abacha.

As Akinyemi joins the elite club of the octogenarian today, I wish him happy birthday, many more years of active service to the country and in good health.