ThisDay Alumni Association Annual Dinner: Tinubuplomacy of 4-Ds
to the foreseeable global disorderliness in 2024.
We already submitted in this column the appropriateness of talking about PBAT’s diplomacy rather than doctrine, and 6-Ds, rather than 4-D’s in the conduct and management of Nigeria’s foreign policy. It is a truism that foreign policy is considered an extension of domestic policy. In other words, foreign policy does not exist independently of the domestic environmental conditionings. The domestic policy considerations impact on external behaviours and vice versa. The domestic guiding ‘Ds’ cannot but be considered along with the 4-Ds already thrown to the public for further reflection.
Indeed, the 4-Ds – Development, Democracy, Demography, and Diaspora – are not, as presented, strategic objectives per se. While development and democracy can be rightly explained as objectives, demography and diaspora cannot be so considered. They are at best tactical in design. Government is only seeking to take advantage of Nigeria’s big population and Nigeria’s very vibrant and resourceful Diaspora to help achieve Nigeria’s international objectives. The Nigerians in Diaspora are seen as a wheel of progress, as a tool of national growth and development.
As explained by Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar, the purpose of the adoption of democracy as a guiding principle of foreign policy is to stop the general perception of our environment as a region of coups d’état and present Nigeria as a proactive democracy. And true enough, there is no disputing the fact that PBAT has been proactively engaged in the struggle for true federalism in Nigeria (vide my edited book, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Struggle for True Federalism, Ibadan: Vantage Publishers, 2000). There is nothing wrong in seeking to be seen as a pro-democracy country but democracy cannot and should not be the primary focus of foreign policy the way respect for international law is considered as a foreign policy objective in the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.
In the same vein, the Foreign Minister sees Nigeria’s demography as big enough to qualify the country to play big roles in international affairs in the same way other big countries do. In his calculations, Nigeria is expected to be the third most populous country in the world after India and China in 2050. As the biggest population in Africa, the biggest economy in Africa, and as the country with the biggest arable land in Africa, etc., there is no way Nigeria’s quest for membership of the G-20 would not be driven by the factor of development and democracy. But both democracy and development are nothing more than objectives while demography and Diaspora are the means of attaining the objectives at the foreign policy level.
At the domestic level of policy formulation, there are also the principles of Determination, Discipline, and Diversification. Determination is about government’s policy direction, while discipline is in the area of individual attitudinal disposition of the citizens to nation-building. Diversification is about the expansion of the economy. Thus Nigerians should be talking about more than 4-Ds. The attainment of the objectives of the 4-Ds at the foreign policy level is largely contingent on determination or political will, on self-discipline and national discipline of the operators. Diversification, in order to move away from mono-cultural economy is also a desideratum.
All these considerations clearly point to the fact that what has been called the doctrine of the 4-Ds does not cover many aspects of the issue. The domestic and external factors considered together, we should be talking about Tinubuplomacy of the 7-Ds. At the domestic level are determination: to ensure good governance and promotion of patriotism; Discipline at all levels of political governance; and Diversification, not only of the economy, but also of the policy attitude to various global questions. The 4-Ds as espoused by Foreign Minister Tuggar can stand upright like the Rock of Gibraltar.
The TAA and Tinubuplomacy of 6-Ds
The TAA should be much interested in the use of the external environment and foreign policy as a potent instrument for national security and nation-building. As explained by Professor J.M. Amoda, Dean of School of Diplomacy and International SecurityStudies,IgbinedionUniversity,Okada,‘citizendiplomacy is one of the several tools for advancing a nation’s security and diplomatic interest in the context of the transformation of Government into The Establishment.’
More important, when Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe wanted to have a ‘contextualising contribution to the practice of Foreign Minister Diplomacy,’ he opted for Citizen Diplomacy the objectives of which are to bridge the gap between government and its citizens; government and the private sector; political parties and the governments of the day; the military and politicians; academia and the government technocrats; heads of universities and heads of select secondary school –in the evolution of an Establishment Regime and Meritocracy in the Nigerian polity.’ In essence, Professor Amoda has it that ‘it pays to keep in constant focus that state diplomacy can be used to develop the efficacy of citizen diplomacy and vice versa.’ In this regard, if state diplomacy can enhance citizen diplomacy and vice versa, who are the citizen diplomats to impact on state diplomacy? Naturally, the TAA are some of the citizen diplomats and should not found wanting in this area.