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Nigeria and the wider world: ECOWAS, OAU (AU),
COMMONWEALTH, UNOSayli Tongaonkar
INTRODUCTION
• Nigeria is only one among numerous countries that form the world community.
• Nigeria interacts with other countries of the world to their mutual benefit.
• Nigeria occupies important in certain bodies or associations like ECOWAS, OAU, UNO.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)• The Economic Community of West African States is an association of
French and English speaking countries West Africa.
• Their aim is to foster greater economic, political, and social cooperation among them.
• It was founded in Lagos on May 28, 1975.
• Nigeria has lion’s share in establishment of ECOWAS.
• It includes 15 West African countries namely: Nigeria, Benin (Dahomey), Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Bourkina Fasso (Upper Volta), Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guiea, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, and Niger.
• Its headquarters is in Lagos.
ECOWAS’s Aims, programs and action
• Free movement of goods and people,
• The abolition of visas,
• The right to reside anywhere in the community
• The right to work or undertake commercial or industrial activities without residence permits.
• The realization of these aims will not be easy; hence ECOWAS expected to fully function over a fifteen year period.
• In 1977 ECOWAS look a big stride forward by establishing Fund for Cooperation and Development intended to finance projects in members states, particularly less developed ones.
• June/July 1986 ECOWAS summit at Abuja was successful.
• After then ECOWAS seems to be moving confidently.
Problems of ECOWAS
• Abuse of the provisions of the ECOWAS treaty by nationals of some member countries.
• Political instability and socio-economic problems in some members states
• Inequality in size and potential and unequal development among member states, giving rise to suspicion and fear of domination of some member states over others
• Ideological differences
• Language and cultural difference
Problems of ECOWAS
• Conflicting pulls from other international organizations
• Neo-colonialism and foreign ill will and machination
• Failure of some member states to make their share of contributions to the ECOWAS Fund and
• Subversive activities, real or imagined, against member states and the straining of relations arising therefrom.
Nigeria and ECOWAS
• Nigeria is one of the founding fathers of ECOWAS.
• Nigeria made some substantial grants to Togo, Benin and Niger to reduce their dependence on France.
• Nigeria supported a joint ownership basis, factories in Benin, Togo and Ivory Coast.
• Nigeria has given relief to Niger, Chad, Bourkina Fasso, and Mali in their difficult times.
• Nigeria is unanimously re-elected as the Chairman of ECOWAS at its summit meeting in Abuja.
• There were some instance of hard relationship with some other ECOWAS member countries, however Nigeria has always responded and handled them well.
• ECOWAS is Nigeria’s remarkable contribution to West African Countries.
Organization of African Unity
• The Organization of African Unity (OAU) is an association of independent African states formed to promote unity and cooperation among them.
• It was established to defend their sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence, and eradicate all forms of colonialism in Africa.
• It was established on 25th May, 1963.
Events leading to the formation of the OAU
• Congo Crisis: Before the formal establishment of the OAU, there had been the Congo crisis, the festering Algerian war and the continuing problem of colonialism in Africa. It led to two major political groups in the continent. The groups were Casablanca and Monrovia.
• The Casablanca supported Patrice Lumumba to have strong central government. They also supported Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic and strong political union of Africa. They met at Casablanca, Morocco, in January 1961 to form their radical group comprised of Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Algeria, Egypt and Morocco.
• The Monrovia group accepted the idea of cooperating among African states but rejected the idea of immediate political union or the political leadership of any country in Africa. It favored loose federation of independent African states. It consisted of Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Upper Volta, Senegal, Madagascar and Congo (also known as Brazzaville group) and Liberia, Nigeria, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Libya, and Ethiopia. The meeting was held in Monrovia on 8th May 1961.
Spark of Independence led to OAU
• With these developments it appeared that Africa was getting polarized into two opposing camps. Fortunately, African leaders saw that their unity and collective action were necessary for Africa’s survival and progress. After a series of formal and informal contacts among themselves in which discussions were carried out in a spirit of give and take, they came out with an agreement on the major issues.
• Haile Selassie of Ethiopia summoned a conference of independent African states in Addis Ababa in May 1963. On 25th May, 1963 representatives of thirty two African countries signed a common charter which formally established the OAU.
Provisions of the Charter
• To promote the unity and solidarity of the African states.
• To defend their sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence
• To eradicate all forms of colonialism in Africa
• To harmonize and coordinate the general policies of member countries in the following areas: political, diplomatic and economic, educational and cultural, scientific and technical, defense and security.
• To observe and respect the sovereign equality of all member states, their territorial integrity and their inalienable rights to independent existence.
Provisions of the Charter
• To promote and support peaceful settlement of disputes by negotiation, mediation, conciliation or arbitration
• To unreservedly condemn political assassination and subversive activities, in all it forms, by neighboring or any other states.
• To expose unreservedly and devoutly the total emancipation of the African territories which were still dependent.
• To follow a policy of non-alignment with regard to all blocks.
Organs of the OAU
• The Assembly of Heads of State and Government (the supreme organ of the organization, scheduled to meet at least once a year)
• The Council of Ministers (to meet twice a year)
• The General Secretariat (with an Administrative Secretary – General and a number of assistant secretaries – general)
• A Commission of Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration.
Activities of the OAU and Nigeria’s Role
• The OAU has since its beginning recorded notable achievements.
• It intervened and helped to normalize relations in the disputes between Algeria and Morocco, Somalia and Ethiopia, Uganda and Tnazania, Senegal and Guinea, Niger and Dahomey (now Benin).
• It mediated successfully in the disputes between Guinea and Ghana, Chad and Sudan, in 1966,
• When Tanzania faced a mutiny in 1964, the OAU provided the troops that replaced British troops in keeping the crisis under control.
• Nigeria sent in troops which helped to keep the peace until the crisis was over and a new Tanzanian army trained.
Activities of the OAU and Nigeria’s Role
• Though OAU could not prevent or end civil wars in African states, it has rendered considerable relief to refugees and other war victims.
• Nigeria has played a commendable role particularly in relation to refugees from Chad and South Africa.
• The OAU has all along championed the cause of liberation movements in the continent.
• Nigeria provided Angola most dynamic and impressive lead in their goal of achieving independence.
• The OAU has helped to promote inter-cultural contacts among African countries. Nigeria has played a vital role in hosting some of the events like the second All-African Games in Lagos (1973) and the Second World Festival of African Art and Culture (FESTAC, 1977) in Lagos.
Activities of the OAU and Nigeria’s Role
• Economic activities of OAU: OAU established the African Development Bank (ADB) in 1964 with its initial capital $300 million, which has now increased to $960 million.
• It started with 22 sponsors that has increased to forty six now.
• Another important activity OAU has initiated is the establishment of ECOWAS through Nigeria’s initiative and leadership.
Failures and drawbacks of the OAU
• OAU couldn’t prevent or end the civil wars in the African Continent.
• OAU was unable to immediately reverse Ian Smith’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe).
• OAU couldn’t effectively progress the economic status of African countries.
• The unhealthy influence of neo-colonialism continues to thrive.
• The unity of the continent seems to be elusive with conflicts and disputes among African states themselves seem unending.
• Poor economical conditions affect the position of OAU. E.g. Malawi, Gabon, Ivory Coast and Malagasy which have received South Africa’s financial aid, disagree with OAU stand on sanctions against South Africa.
Failures and drawbacks of the OAU
• The western countries led by the United States, Britain, and France exercise enormous influence on OAU decisions in spite of Nigeria’s resentment and defiance particularly during the Murtala / Obasanjo regime.
• Many member countries have failed to make their financial contributions to the OAU fund.
• The political instability of some member countries within Africa affects the efficiency of OAU altogether.
• The Charter fails to comply certain issues like enforcing decisions and applying sanctions.
• The provision in the Charter that rules out intervention in the internal affairs of member states is as shortsighted as it is stultifying.
What is next?
• OAU has realized the weaknesses and is working towards resolving it.
• In 1979 OAU has held a conference in Monrovia to set up a committee to draft a Declaration of Human Rights as a part of the OAU Charter.
• The committee was to also work on establishment of Pan-African Defense Force.
• The OAU will also do well to recognize the fundamental role of economic self-reliance and cooperation within the continent if Africa is to achieve advancement in the years ahead.
THE COMMONWEALTH
• The Commonwealth is an association of independent sovereign states that were formerly dependent territories of the former British Empire. At the head of this association was Britain.
Origin and Membership
• The origin of Commonwealth may trace back to separation of thirteen American colonies from Britain in 1783.
• A new British Empire emerged after that.
• From this point of time the colonial acquisitions were treated differently by Britain under the principle of “timely concessions”.
• The members of this Commonwealth included the British Isles, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, India, Malaya (Malaysia), Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Hong Kong, territories in Black and Southern Africa, and in the Carribean.
LANDMARKS in the evolution of the Commonwealth• The origins is trace to the separation of thirteen American colonies from
Britain.
• The two events that constitute important landmarks in the history of the commonwealth are status of self-governing territories (1926) and the statute that conferred full sovereignty on the Dominions, with the option of their remaining in the Commonwealth (1931).
• Under the first event the free states were no longer subordinate to Britain. This was the beginning of modern Commonwealth.
• The second event, after independence, allowed countries to choose to be a member of Commonwealth or not. E.g. Nigeria chose to be a member of Commonwealth after its independence in 1960 while Burma refused to be its member after its independence in 1948.
Notable changes in Commonwealth
• The Balfour Declaration (1926) contained the idea of “a common allegiance to the Crown.” That has now been changed to a mere recognition of the British Crown as Head of the Commonwealth. This is to accommodate the wishes of the republican members of the association, who have their won nationals as their Heads of State and who wish to remove any relic of foreign domination from their post-colonial status. Ina addition to that change, the former name “British Commonwealth of Nations” has been just changed to “Commonwealth”.
• Now what binds members together is not the ruling British Crown but a free feeling of comradeship, and genuine desire to have a common forum where old friends and colleagues can discuss freely and frankly their common problems with a view to finding solutions to them.
Nigeria and the Commonwealth
• Since its membership in Commonwealth Nigeria has played a vital role in it.
• Nigeria has strongly condemned South Africa for her racial policies. This resulted in South Africa’s withdrawal from Commonwealth in 1961.
• In 1966 Nigeria exhibited a first major foreign affairs initiative by hosting the Commonwealth Conference to be held outside London.
• Nigeria played an important role with Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth being a Nigerian.
• Nigeria also served on an important Commonwealth mission – The Eminent Persons Group – which was formed to persuade Pretoria to make salutary changes in its apartheid policy.
Achievements
• The Commonwealth has some positive values for its members and non-members. In economic sphere it serves useful purposes. E.g. funds like Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation.
• Commonwealth conferences provide extremely useful forums for effective diplomacy as well as special avenues for exerting pressures upon Britain.
• There are also educational and cultural services of the Commonwealth. E.gCommonwealth scholarships, Commonwealth games.
• The Commonwealth Office and the Commonwealth Secretariat in London provide veritable clearing houses for issues and transactions among Commonwealth members.
Failures and Drawbacks
• There is no real progress on the issue of dismantling apartheid in South Africa and Namibia.
• Britain, the leader of the Commonwealth community, opposes sanctions and other necessary measures designed to bring down the apartheid regime.
• The Eminent Persons Group also turned out to be a failure.
Conclusion
• It is suggested that Britain should be expelled from Commonwealth or some countries are thinking of quitting from Commonwealth, nothing of that sort has happened yet.
• Commonwealth provides a good platform for member countries to discuss frankly.
UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION (UNO)
• The United Nations Organization (UNO) is an organization of the sovereign nations of the world aimed at preserving world peace and security and promoting world civilization.
• It was formally launched in April , 1945 at a Conference of fifty-one nations in San Francisco, U.S.A.
• The Charter of the organization was finally ratified on 24th October, 1945.
• 24th October is celebrated as the United Nations Day.
• Organization has more than 150 countries as its member. Nigeria became member of UNO shortly after her independence.
Aims and Objectives of UNO.
• To prevent war and maintain international peace and security by taking appropriate and effective collective measure;
• To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples;
• To achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural and humanitarian character;
• To promote and encourage, also through international cooperation, respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinctions as to race, gender, language, or religion;
• To be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.
ORGANS OF UNOTo achieve its aims and objectives, the UNO established a number of organs-
• A Security Council of five permanent members – the United States, Great Britain, The Soviet Union, France, and China – and ten non-permanent members. The non-permanent members are elected for two years each by the General Assembly. The Security Council meets as and when needed. The General Assembly meets annually.
• An International Court of Justice.
• The Secretariat, consisting of a Secretary-General and an international staff. The Secretariat is the administrative bureau of the entire association. The Secretariat are permanently in session.
All the above organs, except the International Court of Justice at the Hague, Holland, are based in New York. The International Court of Justice is based at Hague, Holland.
In addition to these organs there important arms that help to facilitate the work of the Organization. They are ECOWAS, ILO, UNESCO, FAO, UNICEF, IBRD, IMF.
ACHIEVEMENTS OF UNO
Political
• The UNO has handled good number of major political problems of international dimension. E.g. UN intervened in the war between India and Pakistan in 1948.
• The civil war in the newly independent Congo in 1960was brought under control by the UN which sent peace-keeping troops there. Nigeria participated actively in peace keeping activity from 1960 to 1963.
• The UN also intervened effectively in the 1967 Suez crisis.
• The UN also has involved in keeping peace in Lebanon. Nigeria has served in Peace keeping activity during 1979-1983.
• The UN through debates helped many African, Asian, and Caribbean states independence.
• It has always raised voice against apartheid.
• It recognized SWAPO – South West African Peoples Organization as legitimate representative of Namibia.
ACHIEVEMENTS contd……….
Social
• In social sphere UN has offered assistance in famine and disease victims in various parts of the world. Eg. Prolonged famine in Ethiopia.
• WHO an agency of UNO has provided vaccines for inoculation against small pox, cholera, yellow fever and other diseases in various parts of the world.
• The FAO studies world food problems and offers advice and help.
• The UN’s International Refugee Organization feeds, clothes, and rehabilitates refugees and war victims.
• IN the field of education the UNO has the UNESCO promoted education, teaching, and exchange of cultural and scientific knowledge among the nations of the world.
Economic
• Through the IBRD, IMF and World Bank, the UN has promoted international cooperation in the economic sphere.
FAILURES AND DRAWBACK
• The UN has made little progress in the promotion of peace trough the reduction of armaments or nuclear disarmament.
• The UN has failed to stand as one due to disunity in the Security Council. In General Assembly there are three major blocs: The Western countries led by the United States, the Eastern countries led by the Soviet Union, and the third world countries led by India.
• The UN has failed in border and internal conflicts of some member countries because those concerned have refused to give it the necessary cooperation.
Source:
Eluwa, G.I., Ukagwu, M.O., Nwachukwu, J.U.N. & Nwaubani, A.C.N. (2013). A history of Nigeria, Africana First publishers plc.
