by LaBode Obanor
Nigeria and Niger Republic are neighboring countries with deep cultural and economic ties. However, since coming into power, and even now President Muhammadu Buhari prepares to exit, questions have arisen about the nature of his relationship with Nigeria’s northern neighbor and the implications it has for Nigeria’s security, economy, and sovereignty.
Over the past 8 years, there is clear and convincing evidence that President Buhari prioritized Niger over Nigeria in certain matters to have been seen as a threat to Nigeria’s sovereignty and undermining its territorial integrity. What and why exactly has President Buhari acted as if Nigerians elected him president of Niger?
First, notwithstanding the somewhat alikeness in the countries’ names, the two nations are nonetheless different in more ways than not. Their similitude came about as a result of the Franco-British colonialism. Niger pronounced as Naijur (inhabitant-Nigerien) and Nigeria (inhabitant-Nigerian) purportedly derived their names from the Niger River, the third longest river in Africa, after the Nile and the Congo. The river runs through western Niger and a vast portion of Nigeria. While Niger is geographically larger than Nigeria, according to the Center on Foreign Relations, 80 percent of its land area is covered by the Sahara desert. Its population, at a World Bank-estimated 20.67 million, is perhaps one-tenth the size of Nigeria’s.
The two countries share a long and porous border which has inevitably led to longstanding cultural and economic ties. Apart from Niger’s potential sale of the much-needed uranium for Nigeria’s nuclear power plants, Nigeria exports refined petroleum products to Niger. Additionally, many Nigerians and Nigeriens traverse the border daily for work, trade, and other purposes.
However, if all that there is between these two countries is just trade and culture, then the matter would end there. But this is not the case. For Buhari, it extends beyond the usual diplomatic relations.
In 2019, for example, a controversy erupted because the Buhari administration was accused of diverting military resources to Niger to help them fight their own insurgents, instead of deploying them to Zamfara and other North-western states where banditry and other forms of insecurity were rampant.
On matters that are perceived to be detrimental to Nigeria’s security and strategic interests, especially national security, Buhari refused to engage Nigerien authorities on these pertinent issues. For example, there has been concern about the level of support that the government of Niger has given to militant groups that operate in Nigeria, such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP). Despite evidence of this support, President Buhari has failed to hold Niger accountable, and in some cases, has downplayed the severity of the situation. His failure to act contributed to the continued violence and instability in northern Nigeria.
In 2021, despite Nigeria’s many infrastructural failures, Buhari began building rail lines in Niger Republic claiming that such a massive project in another country would ensure “good neighborliness that would halt the spread of Boko Haram in Nigeria.”
Not military hardware or more boots but rail tracks from Nigeria all through and inside Niger. It is puzzling how rail tracks would help fight terrorists.
In addition, while lecturers and other academic staff were on strike for several months protesting miserable wages and poor funding, and while the country continued to face unprecedented debt and poverty crises, President Buhari approved N1.14 Billion for the purchase of dozens of SUVs vehicles for the government of Niger Republic claiming the vehicles were purchased for security purposes. Again, his administration failed to explain how buying cars for a foreign government could boost the security of Nigeria, or even Niger for that matter a nation that borders Nigeria’s troubled northwest.
Similarly, in 2020, there were reports that Buhari had intervened on behalf of Niger in a border dispute between Niger and Benin, leading some to question why he was not doing more to resolve similar disputes between Nigerian states. President Buhari, (1) continued to boost Niger’s security, economic, and infrastructure capability while undermining that of Nigeria. (2) continued to neglect the interests of Nigerian citizens in favor of Nigerien citizens. One example of this is his decision to extend the West African Gas Pipeline to Niger, despite the fact that Nigeria has been struggling to meet its own energy needs. This decision exposes his disdain and betrayal of Nigerians who elected him to the office he occupies and who hoped he would prioritize their interests above those of other nations.
Another way Buhari eroded and sabotaged Nigeria for the benefit of Niger is through the influence of Nigerien elites on the Nigerian government. There have been accusations that certain individuals in the Nigerien government have been using their wealth and influence to gain access to the highest levels of government in Nigeria. This has resulted in decisions that are perceived to be detrimental to Nigeria’s interests, such as the awarding of lucrative contracts to companies with connections to Nigerien elites.
It is not just unsettling that a president refused to empathize with the plight of the people he swore to serve but even more disturbing is when he actively worked to cripple the guardrails he inherited.
And to add salt to injury, a few weeks ago, during a final Sallah homage to him by residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, the president stated that if Nigerians disturb him in his retirement he would not hesitate to relocate to Niger Republic “I can’t wait to go home to Daura” and “if they make any noise to disturb me in Daura, I will leave for the Niger Republic.” Only a foreigner, an iconoclast, would have such a deep–rooted disdain for a brutish, merciless, and unsympathetic response to his people’s pain and for the country he ostensibly served for 8years.
Now in the run–up to his departure, the indicia shows that Buhari’s connection to Niger Republic is not just a rendezvous over security and diplomatic matters but a much deeper affinity tantamount to betrayal. He has punctured every comforting hope of a better Nigeria when he was first elected in 2015, now leaving a legacy of unmitigated gloom and misery, soaring poverty level, pervasive insecurity, kidnapping, out-of-control foreign debt, episodic power supply, undersupply of petrol and other energy products, spiraling cost of goods and living, and a worthless currency all meshed up in failed promises led Nigerians to wonder on the eve of his secession if they elected a foreign agent as president whose behavior is seen as subversive to Nigeria’s national interest, honor, and glory.
And what does he often do when his country is razed in flames, he jets off to London to clean his teeth as he often does or for other medical appointments.
When the Buhari’s tale is finally told it will be that of a snooping interloper who did not give a thinker’s damn about Nigeria or Nigerians or a hoot whether the country goes up in smoke. This is why many continue to ask, is he a Nigerian or a Nigerien?
Email: JlaBode74@gmail.com
Twitter: @Obanor
