Professor Bolaji Akinwande Akinyemi at 80: Revisiting Nigeria’s Foreign Policy Without Grandeur

INTERNATIoNAL BY Bola A. Akinterinwa

Professor Bolaji Akinwande Akinyemi, a Commander of the Federal Republic, attained eighty years of age on Tuesday, 4th January 2022. He was born to Mr. and Mrs. Aje Akinyemi on 4th January 1942 at the Wesley Gate Hospital, Ilesha, Osun State. He was exposed quite early to international life and affairs for two main reasons. First, he was born to an educationist father who was a Principal of the Ilesha Grammar School. The father was an Awoist who had a great commitment to education as an instrument of national and international development.

A second factor which is derived from the first reason is the development of a newspaper reading habit which enabled him to come across an advertisement placed by the Embassy of the United States in 1961. The advert asked for essay entries and then Mr. Bolaji Akinwande Akinyemi of the notable Christ School, Ado Ekiti, applied and was among the successful applicants who were each given a prize of 3-month visit to the United States with all the expenses borne by the US government. Professor Akinyemi visited the US from January to April 1962 and had the opportunity of not only meeting with other international students, but also the opportunity of speaking directly with the US President, John F. Kennedy.

The international students met with President Kennedy who gave his address and bade the students goodbye. But Professor Akinyemi consciously or otherwise said, ‘Mr. President’, and President Kennedy not only heard him but also waited to hear him. As quoted by Crispin Yomi Ogunseye, former Deputy Director of Administration at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos, Professor Akinyemi said: ‘I made a fool of myself, and I said Mr. President! Coming from a culture where you don’t even talk to your parents unless they talk to you, so with the most powerful man in the world, I did not expect him to acknowledge but surprisingly, he stopped and turned to hear what I had to say, but I simply said, nothing sir. So, he just smiled, waved and left.’

This was one of the foundations of the international life to which Professor Akinyemi was introduced at the age of about 20, and which apparently prompted him to seek his university education at the Temple University in 1963-1964 and at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts in 1964-1966. He later moved to the United Kingdom for further educational experience. But what remains critical to his university education is the strong secondary school foundation he had at the Igbobi College, Yaba, from 1955 to 1959 and at the Christ School, Ado Ekiti, in 1960-1962. This explains in part why he is a foreign policy critical thinker.

Bolaji Akinyemi and Foreign Policy

General (Senator) Sanda Ike Nwachukwu, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, gave an overview of what Professor Akinyemi stands for in his foreword to an edited book by Bola A. Akinterinwa, and entitled Nigeria and the World: A Bolaji Akinyemi Revisited (Lagos: NIIA, 2012, 388 pp). He said that the book was ‘a collection of very vibrant, well-informed and insightful academic articles that seek to vindicate the poetic and metaphorical perception of Professor A. Bolaji Akinyemi as a truth spoken before its time.’

More important, General Nwachukwu said the book confirmed the ‘enduring nature of some of Akinyemi’s policies, some of which now seem very prophetic. It is in this vindication of the fact that Professor Akinyemi acted wholly in the national interest, even when considered iconoclastic by some critics, that the book has effectively established the former Foreign Minister as the truth spoken before its time. A very robust example in this regard is the Technical Aid Corps (TAC) that Professor Akinyemi established under a volley of visceral criticisms, but which has now become one of the flagships of Nigeria’s foreign policy.’ Explained differently, Professor Akinyemi thinks and foresees in the national interest. He lives in the future and thinks extraordinarily about making perceived impossibilities possible. General Nwachukwu cannot be more correct, and this can be illustrated by Professor Akinyemi’s active engagements in the conduct and management of international affairs, at three complementary levels: in his capacity as Director General of the NIIA from 1975 to 1983; as Minister of External Affairs from 1985 to 1987; and at the level of his ‘thru MYeyes with Prof. Bolaji Akinwande since about two years now.

At the level of the NIIA, he differentiated between the quest for love and respect for Nigeria. In his eyes, what is needed is not love for Nigeria, but respect, for Nigeria. He made this distinction in his Farewell to Policy (NIIA Lecture Series, No. 35, p.16) and noted: ‘although God knows that, given our behaviour at home and abroad, it will take a miracle for anyone to love Nigerians. Africans are not going to love us. What we should aim for, is respect, not love. Every government in this country has been trying, except that interlude between 1975 and 1979, to earn love from Africans rather than respect. The love we won’t get, the respect we can earn.’

To struggle for respect for Nigeria is quite interesting from the perspective of his being the son of a Christian father and he too being a staunch Christian. Christianism preaches love first. If this is so, to what extent is love applicable in political governance and during warfare? Should respect come first or vice versa? God to wives to respect their husbands while husbands are required to love their wives. In this case, respect and love are to go pari passu. But without any whiff of doubt, the quest for survival at any time cannot but subject love to respect in international relations meaning that Professor Akinyemi is right. His many foreign policy initiatives lend credence to this observation.

He introduced the use of dialogue as basis of foreign policy enquiry and formulation in four complementary ways: first, as a technical dialogue, which should not be ordinarily seen as an exchange of messages or interpersonal talks. Professor Ogaba Oche, relying on the explications of the Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin’s and Martin Buber’s theories of dialogue, has it that technical dialogue is genuine and has the goal of achieving an objective understanding. It is not simply a dialogue in which there is an exchange of words or messages to communicate something or to learn something. As Professor Oche put it, Dialogue in its technical sense, ‘is unique because it evolves through a process and particular quality of communication whereby parties achieve a connection. This connection between participants allows for each party to potentially change the other or be changed by the other.’ Put differently, ‘as a technique for policy formulation, dialogue relies on the connection forged between participants and the information exchanged…’

The three others are Ambassadors Forum, academic institutional dialogue series and publication of dialogue series, all of which are manifestations of the technicality of the dialogue. The Ambassadors’ Forum is basically a conversation between an invited extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador accredited to Nigeria, on the one hand, and NIIA’s Research Fellows and invited scholars from universities and invited retired Nigerian ambassadors. The conversations are generally not covered by the media to allow for frank talks. The dialogue allows the invited ambassador to project his country well and the NIIA fellows and other scholars were free to ask questions about the foreign policy attitudinal disposition of his country, especially in terms of how Nigeria’s foreign policy interest might be affected.

Regarding academic institutional dialogues, they involve discussions on commonly identified international questions and generally took place within the framework of signed cooperation agreements. The NIIA had collaboration with the Chatham House in the United Kingdom, Council on Foreign Relations in the United States, for examples. Bilateral and multilateral issues are addressed during such research seminars and exchange of ideas. The outcomes of such conversations were published under the NIIA Dialogue Series. At times, some of the critical questions are alco considered for publication in the Nigerian Forum, which was also introduced by Professor Akinyemi and patterned after that of the Chatham House.

In his capacity as Minister of Foreign Affairs, that is, before his attainment of 80 years of age, he came up with the Consultation Doctrine at the Foreign Policy Conference in 1986, the Concert of Media Power, and the Technical Aid Corps in 1987. He dreamt of greatness for Nigeria for which he is not liked at home and abroad and this is one major reason it has been very difficult for Nigeria to develop. This is also why politico-economic governance of Nigeria has been largely predicated on untruths and dishonesty of purpose. Political governance hates patriotism, dint of hard work, and critical thinking for which Professor Akinyemi is noted for.

Consequently, greatness has not been an issue in Nigeria’s development calculations. But true enough, Professor Akinyemi not only wants to greaten Nigeria in various ramifications, but also wants the greatness fast-tracked through Consultation Doctrine to guide Nigeria’s foreign policy. Any Nigerian support for any African country must be a resultant from prior consultations with the Government of Nigeria. The same is true for his consideration in 1987 of the Black Bomb, that is, for Nigeria to become a nuclear power. The logic that also informed the suggestion of a Concert of Medium Powers which name was later changed to ‘The Lagos Forum’ because of the international controversies it generated, is not different. The big powers saw the Concert of Medium Powers as a threat to them and therefore did what was possible to get Professor Akinyemi removed as Foreign Minister (for details, see Bola A. Akinterinwa, “The Lagos Forum and the Medium Powers Debate,” International Problems, Society, and Politics (The Israeli Institute for the Study of International Affairs, IISIA, University of Tel Aviv, Israel), XXVIII 52 (1-2), Spring 1989, pp. 57-68).

Because Professor Akinyemi also suggested that access to some strategic institutions, and particularly to the diplomatic service and intelligence agencies, should be limited to the first-class brains as it is the case in the great power countries, the Foreign Service Officers unnecessarily became his enemy. Even before Professor Akinyemi advocated the policy, the Foreign Ministry used to accommodate only the very bright people. Why there should be hostility to the factor of special merit is very thought-provoking. Today, the Foreign Ministry is a dumping ground for wounded graduates, cross-posted civil servants with experiences that only bastardized the art of diplomacy and undermined the national interest. Professor Akinyemi’s establishment of the Technical Aid Corps in 1987 has remained a major source of foreign policy inspiration, and instrument of making Nigeria great.

As regards his ‘thru MYeyes with Prof. Bolaji Akinwande programme, it is a ‘Cutting Edge Commentary on International events’, initially held virtually every Thursday at 7 p.m. but later changed to 8 pm Nigerian time for reasons of technical force majeure. The audience is limited to invited top foreign policy experts. The discussion focuses on major international developments in the previous one week and lasts for one hour. What is noteworthy is that the programme is not a direct, but indirect, dialogue between Professor Akinyemi and the participants. The programme underscores public enlightenment and the perspectives of Professor Akinyemi. The participants can chat and when questions of public interest are raised, the moderator, Akin Akinyemi, requests an explanation from Professor Akinyemi.

Foreign Policy Without Grandeur

Professor Bolaji Akinyemi is a priori a hard foreign policy thinker who believes in the attainment of greatness for Nigeria, regardless of whether there are the domestic material resources. In his thinking, the most important requirement for development and greatness is human resource. He strongly believes that foreign policy can be a good instrument of acquiring such greatness. He thinks of greatness in the mania of Charles de Gaulle’s ‘grandeur de la France.’ Most unfortunately, however, Nigerian leaders, and particularly the foreign policy makers, hardly think of Nigerian greatness in their strategic calculations. Emphasis is limited to self-preservation in terms of protection of political and territorial sovereignty and safety.

Looking at Nigeria providing leadership for Africa, or the world is considered an exaggeration, whereas Professor Akinyemi strongly believes in the contrary.

Therefore, he is always not in the good books of the powerful countries of the world. Now that he is 80 years old and the energy to do and undo cannot but begin to wane, Nigeria’s foreign policy may continue to lack the pursuit of greatness for Nigeria in a long time to come. Foreign policy agitation for greatness of the Nigerian people may be no more in the foreseeable future. This is the unfortunate concern raised with the attainment of Professor Akinyemi’s 80 years of age.

True, Nigeria’s foreign policy generally lacks the quest for grandeur (greatness) in international relations for various reasons. First is the wrong belief in self-contentment which is very myopic in strategic calculations. In 1966, for example, there were about 100,000 people in Fernando Po, Equatorial Guinea. More than 75% of the population were Nigerians of whom the majority were of the Igbo ethnic stock. By that time virtually most of the Nigerians were working in the plantations and were also mistreated then and thereafter.

It is on record that ‘Captain’ and ‘Ambassador’ Festus Porbeni recommended the annexation of Fernando Po at a point in time, but the Government of Nigeria kicked against it. Professor Akinjide Osuntokun’s works on the Equatorial Guinea speak volumes on this matter. But one point recently and rightly made by Ambassador Porbeni that is quite interesting about diplomatic smartness is his observation that ‘the military uses force to get what it wants, while the diplomat uses tact to get what he wants.’ Ambassador Porbeni explained his experience thus: ‘when I go to the Ministry of Defence, I will say I am Captain Porbeni. When I go to the Ministry of External Affairs, I am Ambassador Porbeni. I play the two roles, and I am the first and only Nigerian to be appointed an ambassador while in service. Normally, you retire before you are appointed an ambassador.’ (Vide his interview with Henry Akubuiro, “Admiral Festus Porbeni: How I Convinced Babangida to secure Mandela’s Release. The Sun, 19th June 2021, sunnewsonline.com).

As at the time Captain Porbeni was appointed ambassador, he was the first to be so appointed from the Public Service. With the appointment of the first three Service Chiefs under President Muhammadu Buhari as ambassadors, Captain Porbeni is no longer the only military officer to be so appointed. However, Captain Porbeni’s good suggestion reflected and still reflects the myopia in Nigeria’s foreign policy making. The policy shortsightedness was first revealed when the apartheid South Africa government attempted to establish a military base in Equatorial Guinea, but which Nigeria successfully resisted. The Chinese are also said to be currently seeking a military base along the Equatorial Guinean coast. Fernando Po is not Nigerian, and the rule of sovereignty necessarily prevents any Nigerian interference or intervention. If Porbeni had been listened to, the current threats to Nigeria by the Chinese military base in Equatorial Guinea would have been completely different.

Second, several Foreign Ministers laid foundations for the grandeur of Nigeria but never made any concrete effort to build on them. It was only Professor Akinyemi that courageously attempted to do so. Most unfortunately, the Government and people of Nigeria could not see the beauty of Professor Akinyemi’s quest for Nigeria’s greatness. And true enough, the manifestations of the policy foundation of greatness dates to 1963 when Dr. Jaja Wachukwu, then Minister of External Affairs, not only formulated the policy of no compromise with apartheid South Africa but also formulated an exception to the principle of non-intervention as espoused in Article 2(7) of the United Nations Charter. This was when the Togolese president, Mr. Sylvanus Olympio, was assassinated.

In the same vein, Dr. Okoi Arikpo, Commissioner for External Affairs under General Yakubu Gowon, told the world that, under no circumstance would Africa be accepted to be used only as a source of raw materials for the development of Europe. It should be recalled here that the making of the European Economic Community (EEC) following the March 1957 Rome Treaty largely capitalized on resources from Africa. Recall also that Nigeria applied to be an associate member of the EEC in the early 1960s and that Dr. Pius Okigbo was deeply involved in the negotiations. When the agreement on the associate membership was to be signed in Lagos, all the EEC members signed except for France. Since the operating rule of the EEC was unanimity of purpose, the signing of the agreement by others became null and void as France refused to sign it. Nigeria was irked by the act to the extent that when discussions resumed between the African, Caribbean, and the Pacific Countries, on the one hand, and the EEC, on the other, in the 1970s, Dr. Okoi Arikpo agreed with the idea of economic cooperation but not in the sense of Africa being allowed to be exploited by Europe to the detriment of Africa’s own development.

As good as this reactive foreign policy may be, it does not have any objective of greatness for Nigeria beyond simply laying a pillar for it. No concrete action was taken to translate the threat of not allowing EEC’s exploitation of African raw materials for the development of Europe. The truth as at today is that the alleged exploitation of African resources has not stopped and currently knows no bound. In fact, Nigeria is no longer visibly seen as the defender of black and African interests. Nigerians are mistreated here and there. The impact of the 1977 Black Arts and festival held in Lagos does not mean much as at today. Galloping institutional corruption, recidivist terrorism aimed at dismantling the territorial unity of Nigeria, if not Islamisation and Fulanisation of Nigeria, have become the preferential order of the day. And without braggadocio, Nigeria’s foreign policy has become excessively reactive without any agenda for foreign policy grandeur. This concern should be the point for discussion for Professor Akinyemi at 80. These issues would not have arisen if there has been an agenda for national greatness and the various foreign policy adopted so far would have been more meaningful.

And true enough, Professor Ibrahim Gambari’s foreign policy concentricism, Ambassador Oluyemi Adeniji’s constructive and beneficial concentricism, and Chief Ojo Maduekwe’s citizen diplomacy are undoubtedly good foundational manifestations for Nigeria’s greatness. However, the policies are only operational in design focus. They are not consciously articulated to achieve foreign policy greatness, or military leadership and respectable national identity for Nigeria as wanted by Professor Akinyemi who wants Nigeria to have a Black Bomb and become a nuclear power. He wants Nigeria to play an active part in the conduct and management of global affairs by particularly advocating the employment of the brightest brains into strategic national institutions. He introduced the Technical Aid Corps to reflect that Nigeria is truly a giant and a great power in the making. He insisted on prior consultation with Nigeria when Muammar Gaddafi of Libya aggressed the United States and expected Nigeria’s support. This was an expression of quest for greatness. Why should Gaddafi propose to be the President of the United States of Africa and Nigeria should provide the Defence Minister? On a serious note, Nigeria should be great in international relations. The idea of the Concert of Medium Powers should be revisited and reconceptualized. So should the Consultation Doctrine. We agree with Professor Akinyemi that Nigeria should first be respected before being loved internationally. Respect without love is better than loving without respect. Happy 80th birthday anniversary Professor.