BusinessDay 16 Apr 2018

BUSINESS DAY
Opinion
NEWS YOU CAN TRUST I MONDAY 16 APRIL 2018
CHOGM 2018: Nigeria, Commonwealth and the London summit
C002D5556
This week, from
today Monday
16 to Friday 20
April, the 25th
biennial summit
of the Commonwealth,
the Commonwealth Heads
of Government Meeting
(CHOGM), will take place
in London. It is the first
time the event is held in
the UK since 1997. As a
proud Londoner, with a
longstanding relationship
with the Commonwealth,
I cannot but comment on
thehistoric event, even
more so because of the
importance of this week’s
summitandthe role that
Nigeria should play in it.
But before we get into all
that, let’s remind ourselves
of Nigeria’srelationship
with the Commonwealth.
Nigeria joined the
Commonwealth at independence
in 1960. For
most part, since that time,
we have been an enthusiastic
member of the organisation.
We produced
its third Secretary-General,
since the office was
established in 1965, in the
person of the globally respected
elder statesman,
Chief Emeka Anyaoku,
who led the organisation
for ten years, from 1990
to 2000. On any visit to
the Commonwealth Secretariat,
I never cease to
admire Chief Anyaoku’s
larger than life portrait in
his traditional Nigerian
attire. He was an iconic
and highly successful secretary
general!
I attended my first
CHOGM in Abuja in December
2003. I had been
asked by the Commonwealth
Business Council
to be the rapporteur for
the Business Forum during
the summit. With both
the Hilton and Sheraton
hotels cordoned off to
accommodate the guests,
including the Queen and
her entourage, and with
several colourful social
and cultural activities,
it was a very memorable
event for many of the foreign
visitors.
Of course, Nigeria will
always pull out all the
stops to organise spectacular
events to impress
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
OLU FASAN
Dr Fasan, a London-based lawyer and
political economist, is a Visiting Fellow at
the London School of Economics. email:
o.fasan@lse.ac.uk,
He tweets @olu_fasan
Anyaoku
foreigners. Sadly, it lacks
the ability and/or the willingness
to organise its
own affairs. For instance,
despite its enthusiasm for
the Commonwealth, Nigeria
falls far short of meeting
its goals. Of the three
Commonwealth goals –
development, democracy
and peace – Nigeria is
certainly nowhere near
attaining at least two, development
and peace, not
with widespread poverty,
inequality, political tension
and insecurity in the
country.
However, its internal
deficiencies notwithstanding,
Nigeria has always
been an active member
of the Commonwealth.
The only exception was
during the Abacha dictatorship
when, following
the execution of Ken
Saro-Wiwa, Nigeria was
ejected from the organisation
in 1995. This was
particularly embarrassing
because, at that time, a
Nigerian, Chief Anyaoku,
was secretary-general of
the Commonwealth. Abacha
turned a deaf ear to
Anyaoku’s entreaties, rejected
Mandela’s pleas,
and killed Saro-Wiwa.
Nigeria crossed the Rubicon,
its behaviour was
beyond the pale, and had
to be sent out of the Commonwealth.
But no member wants
to be ostracised from the
Commonwealth for too
long. Every member suspended
from the organisation
always applied to
be readmitted when the
time became auspicious,
as Nigeria did in 1999 after
returning to democracy,
and as The Gambia and
Zimbabwe are currently
doing after Yahya Jammeh
and Robert Mugabe were
replaced by more civilised
leaders.
So, why is the Commonwealth
that important?
Well, I would say there
are two main reasons. The
first is its functional value.
The Commonwealth, a
club of mostly former British
colonies, is the only
plurilateral organisation
in the world whose membership
spans the globe.
Its 53 member-countries
spread across Africa, Asia,
the Caribbean, the Americas,
Europe and the Pacific.
It is also the only
monwealth Charter,
agreed on 14 December
2012, sets out 16 core
principles to which all
members are committed.
These range from democracy,
human rights and
peace and security to rule
of law, good governance,
gender equality as well as
health, education, food
and shelter. Of course, as
Nigeria shows, not every
Commonwealth member
adheres to all these
principles, or fully to any.
However, the principles
are benchmarks against
which the behaviour of
Indeed, can the trade minister, Okechukwu
Enelamah, freely engage in
such bilateral trade talks when President
Buhari can easily overrule him
(a la AfCFTA!)? What’s more, would
Nigeria embrace a more economic
Commonwealth with greater push for
a commitment to free trade? Or would
it be one the refuseniks? The latter, of
course, is more likely, which reflects
the regressive state of policy-making in
Nigeria.
such organisation with
membership encompassing
developed, developing,
small and vulnerable
states. These global
reach and diversity enable
the Commonwealth to
leverage support for its
members and their citizens
through institutional
development, capacity
building, technical cooperation
and professional
development.
Then, there is the normative
value. The Com-
every member-country
can be measured, and
therefore serve as a powerful
source of normative
pressure.
For instance, all eyes
will be on Nigeria next
year as it holds its general
elections. It will be
expected to conduct
the elections in an environment
“where there
is confidence, transparency
and accountability
in the electoral process,
and where voters are free
to exercise an informed
choice between alternative
candidates for office”.
Following the success of
the 2015 elections, Nigeria
would be expected to
strengthen its democracy
and enhance the credibility
of its electoral process
by conducting free, fair
and peaceful elections.
Commonwealth election
observers would, of
course, be on the ground
to see if Nigeria passes the
electoral test. It is a test
that Nigeria must not fail!
So, the Commonwealth
is a relevant organisation
that provides valuable
public good. But it
is now facing pressure
to do more, to become
somewhat an economic
bloc! Which brings me
to why this week’s London
summit is important.
The summit,which comes
just a year before Britain
leaves the EU (Brexit), will
have a significant impact
on the future of the Commonwealth.
It is not surprising
that the theme of
the CHOGM 2018 is “Towards
a common future”.
Simply put, the Commonwealth
will be different
post-Brexit. This is because
the UK is very keen
to secure trade deals with
as many Commonwealth
countries as possible, with
Nigeria among its priority
countries. In fact, British
officials had hoped that
trade talks would form a
key part of the CHOGM
agenda, but other Commonwealth
members resisted
turning the summit
into a trade round. But the
issue will still dominate
discussions on the margins
of the summit. As one
British minister said, “We
are hoping that through
the bilateral discussion
that will take place there
would be huge opportunities
to advance trade talks”.
Sadly, Nigeria is unlikely
to engage constructively
in such talks, given its
reflex defensive attitude
to trade issues. Indeed,
can the trade minister,
Okechukwu Enelamah,
freely engage in such bilateral
trade talks when
President Buhari can
easily overrule him (a la
AfCFTA!)? What’s more,
would Nigeria embrace a
more economic Commonwealth
with greater push
for a commitment to free
trade? Or would it be one
the refuseniks? The latter,
of course, is more likely,
which reflects the regressive
state of policy-making
in Nigeria.
Nevertheless, trade and
investment issues, if not
actual trade talks, will still
dominate the CHOGM
agenda, particularly its
Business Forum, from
16 to 18 April, where the
discussion will focus on,
among others, advancing
intra-Commonwealth
trade and strengthening
the “Commonwealth advantage”.
In 2015, the Commonwealth
Secretariat invited
me to join a panel of experts
to review its flagship
trade publication, “The
Commonwealth in the
Unfolding Global Trade
Landscape”. The study
showed that there is a
“Commonwealth Advantage”,
which helps to increase
trade by 20%, and
reduce the cost of doing
business by up to 19%,
between Commonwealth
countries than between
them and non-Commonwealth
countries. These
findings will shape discussions
at the Commonwealth
Business Forum.
But the CHOGM will
not all be about business
talks. One subject that
might also be broached
is the next head of the
Commonwealth after
the Queen. Of course,
the Queen is universally
adored, so much so that,
according to media reports,
some Commonwealth
high commissioners
want to nominate her
for the Nobel Peace Prize.
But after her, who next?
Obviously, the Queen’s
successor to lead the
organisation should be
Prince Charles when he
becomes king, but the role
is not hereditary, and, in
principle, nothing should
be taken for granted!
Yet, for me, the present
informal arrangement
whereby the symbolic
head of the Commonwealth
is the British
monarch, who is also
head of state of 16 Commonwealth
countries,
while the chief executive
of the organisation, i.e.
the secretary-general,
is rotated among other
Commonwealth members,
currently held by
Patricia Scotland from
Dominica, seems to work
perfectly well. Surely,
when the time to take
that decision comes,
Nigeria should support
Prince Charles for the
role!
So, this week’s CHOGM
is an interesting one for
the Commonwealth and
all its well-wishers. I look
forward to it, and hope
Nigeria takes active part
in deciding the organisation’s
“common future”,
including on economic
cooperation.
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