Pursuing Nigeria’s 4-D foreign policy doctrine in 2023 (2)

Development as a pillar of foreign policy is a tool for attracting and driving investment into Nigerian infrastructure, and development generally, through the right partnerships and collaborations. Essentially, this pillar focus on partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders (local, international, government, private sector), to achieve the overall goal of sustainable socio-economic development.

Development also seeks to use diplomacy to achieve double digit growth for Nigeria by combining Agriculture, Infrastructure and Industrialisation. Attracting foreign investment in agriculture would help to close the gap between metro and rural areas and a bifurcation that contributes to Nigeria’s poor showing on the poverty index.

At the 18th G20 summit held in New Delhi in September with an evolving agenda under India’s presidency of shifting the global dialogue towards a human-centric development approach that aligns with the concerns of the Global South, the President pursued Nigerian foreign policy goal of development at the sideline with the Nigeria-India Presidential Roundtable and Conference as Nigeria and India share similarities as the largest democracies in their respective continents.

In a nutshell, President Tinubu assured prospective investors of Nigeria’s potential and his government’s commitment to facilitating investments, this resulted to $14 billion total significant investment pledged by Indian investors. On the sidelines of the Saudi-Africa Summit in Riyadh, the Government of Saudi Arabia pledged to invest in the revamp of Nigeria’s refineries, as well as provide financial support to sustain the government’s foreign exchange reforms. At the 78th UNGA the President addressed major African issues while calling for equal partnerships with the global West. Adding that unfair treatment and outright foreign exploitation have also stunted the continent’s progress.

He asked foreign countries to abide by the summit’s theme of “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 agenda and its sustainable development goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and the sustainability for all”, for a mutually beneficial relationship with Africa and finally, at Berlin with the German chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Compact with Africa (CwA) conference alongside the fourth G20 investment summit, President Tinubu at the sidelines, driving for foreign direct investment in Nigeria engaged on ways to boost investments in areas such as energy, trade, infrastructure and new technologies, among others.

Climate Change falls within the Development ambit of the 4-Ds and with one of the earliest and most comprehensive energy transition plans in the developing world, Nigeria perhaps needs to amplify it climate campaign and control its narratives on the global stage. At the 28th edition of Conference of Parties (COP28) Summit on Climate Change in United Arab Emirate, the President joined a panel on African Green Industrialisation organised by the Cop28 Presidency telling global leaders that risk management is vital for Africa’s full and swift transition to cleaner energy. The President also met the President of UAE to concretise engagements between the two countries. This is aside from the bilateral talks held with several states and multilateral partners.

As the world will rely on Africa for smart talent and skilled labour workforce to fuel the fourth Industrial Revolution hence the urgent need to maximise Nigeria’s human resource through strategic foreign policy because over 60% of Africa’s population is under the age of 25. Demography as a pillar of the 4Ds is aimed at gaining maximum dividends from Nigeria’s huge population as an asset and a resource. Our demographic dependency ratio must be such that we can afford ourselves. For this, we must take advantage of our youth bulge to expand the Nigerian market to generate income and growth for the present and for the future.

Leapfrogging the process through an integrated digital education scheme nationwide as a national youth policy should be the focus, where the government will intend to use technology to skip certain stages and fast-track development and provide sustainable jobs for citizens. The objective of Demography as a pillar is to harness Nigeria’s youthful population through diplomacy, positioning it as an economic asset and a global player. With a population of 213 million, projected to reach 377 million by 2050, and a majority under 30, Nigeria can drive economic growth, industrialisation and job creation while seeking greater global representation.

Another dimension of Demography within the 4-D context is the African Continental Free Trade Area, bringing together 1.2bn people with a combined GDP of $3.4tn into a single market. It should be noted that only 17% of Africa’s exports stay within the continent, compared with 69% for Europe, and 59% for Asia. It is expected that removing tariffs through the AFCFTA would increase the value of intra-African trade by as much as $70 billion.

For the last pillars, Diaspora, Nigeria must come to terms with the reality that we are exporters of labour, and then work to create policies and conditions that guarantee that we derive benefits from this labour export, that accord with our national interests given the trends of exodus of skilled young Nigerians abroad. Also, the 4-D Diplomacy emphasises harnessing Nigeria’s diaspora communities to positively impact foreign governments and improve the country’s international image. This involves learning from other nations’ successes, engaging diaspora communities, enhancing consular services, and leveraging skilled citizens for knowledge transfer and investment in Nigeria.

In summary, the Tinubu 4D foreign policy doctrine and strategy is a visionary paradigm that signal a departure from Nigeria traditional foreign policy posture from the history of our Afro-centric foreign policy to a more robust value-driven foreign relations. Underpinning this new doctrine is the conviction that Nigeria’s foreign policy must align with its national interests in gaining the full dividends of our foreign affairs given Nigeria’s huge natural and human resources. For the 4D to be successful, the current administration must fix domestic challenges, firstly, by reducing conflicts and silencing the guns within the states and within neighbouring states in West Africa, Sahel and the entire Gulf of Guinea to enhance peace and security for stable economy which will attract investors and increase FDI.

More transparent fiscal policies for fair commercial activities and integrated infrastructure and finally for the 4D’s progress, at home, the government must prioritise the investment on human capital development at least for leverage for bargaining the dividends for the exodus of young skilled Nigerians as well as boost the confident of the Nigerian diaspora community by tactfully pursuing the objectives of the 2021 National Diaspora Policy through constructive engagement for sustainable national development.
Concluded.
•Njoku is research fellow, Nigerian Institute of International
Affairs.