Tag: Diplomacy

UN diplomacy: Half peace, better than no peace – By Owei Lakemfa

THE visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to North Korea and the United States yelling against it have diverted world attention this week. It has drawn attention from the immediate needs and steps to save Palestinian lives, especially those of babies and children.

How does Putin visiting his North Korean ally, Kim Jong Un, constitute a threat to world peace? US Defence Spokesperson, Pat Ryder, wailed that the visit has implications for peace in the Korean Peninsula and the war in Ukraine without substantiating such claims.

White House spokesperson, Karine Jean-Pierre, lamented that North Korea supplies weapons to Russia in the war in Ukraine, implying that the visit may lead to more supplies. So what? Don’t the US and its allies supply weapons to Ukraine?

There are tons of analysis that the visit may strengthen the trilateral relations amongst Russia, North Korea and China. So? Does the US not strengthen its own trilateral relations with South Korea and Japan?

Closely followed are the reports of Hezbollah threatening retaliation against Israeli bombings of Lebanese villages. The tit-for-tat attacks by both sides have been on for years. Maybe the only two pieces of news are the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, revealing: “We now have new weapons. But I won’t say what they are…When the decision is made, they will be seen on the front lines.”

The other news was Nasrallah declaring that if war were to break out, Hezbollah would also attack countries like Cyprus which are allegedly aiding the Israeli military.

The attention of the world should focus on the United Nations, UN, which has taken two potentially live-saving actions on the needless deaths in the Middle East. The first is the release of the Report of its Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel.

It concluded that the Hamas attacks against Israel from October 7-8, 2023 had elements of war crimes. These included deliberate attacks on civilians, wilful killing and employment of inhuman or cruel treatment against the victims.

The UN body pointedly confirmed the allegations of on-going Israeli genocide in the Palestine. These had been brought before the International Court of Justice by South Africa on December 29, 2023. Also, the International Criminal Court, ICC, Chief Prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Hamas and Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for war crimes.

Due to direct Israeli military actions, the UN has lost 190 of its staff, 108 journalists are dead, 493 doctors, nurses and other health workers have been murdered and over 13, 800 children sent to untimely graves.

It was therefore not surprising that the UN Report conclusively found that Israel is responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity. It reported that Israel violated international humanitarian and human rights laws, and weaponised the provision of life-sustaining necessities for political gains. These, it reported, include denial of food, water, fuel and electricity to the Palestinian populace as a means of collective punishment.

Israeli soldiers were also found to have carried out sexual and gender-based violence as weapons to dehumanise the Palestinians.

The second major action taken by the UN was by its Security Council which voted 14-0 for ceasefire in Gaza. Tragically, the resolution is not designed to take immediate effect, an action that might save more lives. Rather, it is in three phases. The first are negotiations, freedom for Israeli captives and release of Palestinian prisoners. This is to take place within six weeks. It states that within those weeks: “An immediate, full and complete ceasefire would come into force.” Also, Palestinian civilians would be allowed to return to their homes across Gaza.

Apart from humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians, it is also envisaged that Israel would withdraw its forces from the “populated areas” of Gaza. The issue here is which areas of Gaza, a territory laid desolate, qualifies as “populated”?

It is envisaged that the ceasefire would continue if the negotiations exceed the six-week period.

The second phase calls for a permanent end to hostilities, the release of any remaining captives and the complete withdrawal of Israel from Gaza.

The third phase envisages Gaza’s reconstruction and the return of the remains of any deceased captives that might still be in Gaza.

The resolution rejects any loss of territorial land space, “including any actions that reduce the territory” of Palestine.

China said the draft was “ambiguous” but voted for the resolution in the face of mounting deaths in Gaza. Japan which had voted for the resolution, added: “The catastrophic humanitarian situation is indescribable.”

To Algerian Ambassador Amar Bendjama: “This text is not perfect, but it offers a glimmer of hope to the Palestinians as the alternative is continued killing and suffering.”

Russia, which has a veto, abstained. Its ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, said it did so because the exact terms Israel was supposed to have agreed to, were not explicitly stated. He added that: “The Council should not agree to any agreement that has vague parameters…what specifically has Israel agreed to?”

President Joe Biden who had guaranteed Israel’s acceptance of the peace deal said the resolution was “not just a ceasefire that would inevitably be fragile and temporary” but also one that would provide a “durable end to the war”.

US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, claimed that if Hamas agrees to the resolution, fighting could stop immediately. She said Hamas should realise that the international community is “united behind a deal that will save lives and help Palestinian civilians in Gaza start to rebuild and heal. United behind a deal that will reunite hostages with their families after eight months in captivity.”

Hamas immediately accepted the resolution. Its official, Sami Abu Zuhri, added: “The US administration is facing a real test to carry out its commitments in compelling the occupation to immediately end the war in an implementation of the UN Security Council resolution.”

Although the resolution claimed Israel had accepted it hours after it was passed, Israel carried out deadly attacks across the Gaza. Its Representative to the UN, Reut Shapir Ben-Naftaly, said there would be no end to the war unless Hamas capability to fight is destroyed. Israel’s objectives, she added, are clear: “To bring all our hostages back home and to dismantle Hamas’ capabilities…and ensure that Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future.” Ben-Naftaly added: “As we have echoed several times in this very chamber, once these goals are met, the war will end.”

The UN’s resolution sidesteps its 1967 Resolution 242 of November 22, 1967, which provides a permanent solution for the Israeli-Palestine crises. Its body language is that half peace is better than no peace. But even this resolution may not be implemented.

June 21, 2024
Business diplomacy and Africa’s development – By Etim Etim

By Etim Etim

From May 16 to 17, over 2,000 of Africa’s business leaders, investors, policy makers and political leaders as well as their counterparts from around the world met in Kigali, Rwanda under the auspices of the Africa CEO Forum 2024 to discuss the continent’s development, opportunities and challenges.

The Africa CEO Forum is the largest international meeting of the African private sector, and is typically two days of conferences, debates, panel discussions and high-level meetings dedicated to highlighting the driving role of the private sector in the development of the continent.

Rwanda is hosting it for the second time since its maiden edition, held in Geneva, 10 years ago. Last year, it was held in Abidjan and next year, it is going to somewhere in North Africa. Nigeria has never hosted it, and that’s surprising. You can think of the Forum as our own equivalent of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which holds in Davos, Switzerland, every January.

The 2024 CEO Forum in Kigali was the biggest since its inception, according to the Chief Executive of the Forum, Amir Ben Yahmed. The theme this year was ‘’At the Table or On the Menu? A Critical Moment to Shape a New Future for Africa.” President Paul Kagame and a few African Heads of States and Governments were there. In attendance were many notable Nigerian businesses and NGOs. Kagame gave a brief opening statement.

The phrase, ‘’At the Table or On the Menu’’ was popularised by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Munich Security Conference last November. Responding to the moderator’s question concerning tensions in the US-China relations, Blinken had said ‘’if you are not at the table at the international systems, you’re going to be on the menu’’. Blinken had also used the same phrase in 2022 to describe relations between the two superpowers.

But he did not invent this coinage. As far back as 1993, this phrase was used in an article in an American Middle East Affairs journal, describing the situation in Lebanon at that time. At a time that our continent seems to be making little progress in the global stage, it was therefore apt that the Africa CEO Forum 2024 adopted this same phrase as its theme. It was also the central point of discussions among panel members on the opening day of the summit.

The panelists were Group CEO of MTN, Ralph Mupita; Regional VP for Africa, IFC, Sergio Pimenta; Access Holdings Chairman, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede; Rwanda Minister of State in charge of Public Investments and Resource Mobilization, Jeanine Munyeshuli, and President of Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, Sidi Ould Tah.

It was a very enriching and profound discussion on the experiences and future of our continent. Aig-Imoukhuede opened his contributions by acknowledging that the theme was quite poignant given that this year marks the 140th anniversary of the Berlin Conference.

‘’At the Berlin Conference, Africa was at the table, but that’s where they had us for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” he said, eliciting applause and laughter. “But Africa has come a long way since then. Today, there are many tables across the world in IMF/World Bank (finance), WHO (health), WTO (Trade), G20 (politics), etc, and it is important to note that Africans are CEOs of some international organisations in these areas,” he added.

In as much as Africans are now at the table, he however wondered whether we are sitting on the right seats or low stools, eliciting another round of laughter and applause. The Access Holdings chairman elucidated further that Africans should create their own tables just like the Asians have done. ‘’Our big population, common markets and youths should give us a table for the future’’ he said. He noted that Africans have made considerable progress in finance, noting that foreign banks that have divested from the continent have been replaced by African banks.

He illustrated: ‘’If an African investor, for example, goes to the Eurobond market, he should be ready to be dictated to by the regulators and the operators in that market; and they necessarily don’t have your interest in mind. But if an African investor goes to an Afrobond market to raise capital, chances are that the market will be sympathetic to Africa’s needs and nuances, but the standards and regulations should not be lower than what you have in the Eurobonds markets.”

He called for partnership between the public and private sectors in the continent and announced that Access Holdings and the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation are launching a Super NGO which will provide funding and talent for transformational government initiatives that deliver much needed value. The Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation and Access Bank Group have pledged $300 million over the next 20 years. Access Bank has committed $200 million and the Aig-Inoukhuede Foundation committed $100 million.

The Africa-led Super NGO will be established in partnership with academics, experts and philanthropists across the globe who are committed to closing the gap between Africa and the rest of the world. The NGO will work with African governments to provide the funding, governance and talent He invited other businesses to join him in promoting the initiatives. The commitments, spread over 20 years, will fund African governments’ initiatives with proven potentials to transform national economic performance.

Said Aig-Imoukhuede: “African leaders cannot sit back and watch the 4th Industrial Revolution transform the rest of the world while leaving Africa falling further behind. We have to create our own ‘table’ by using technology to unlock the power of our youth, giving Africa a greater voice in the world. It’s today’s leaders who will determine whether or not we grab this opportunity.”

The Africa CEO Forum and similar platforms provide ample opportunity for African businesses in general and Nigeria’s companies in particular to deploy the art of business diplomacy to their advantage and to the benefit of the continent. Just as Kigali event was kicking off, Roosevelt Ogbonna, Access Bank’s CEO was speaking at Cannes International Film Festival on the importance of Nigeria’s film industry and the roles of banks in funding the creativity industry.

Business diplomacy, according to specialists in that area, is the capacity to build and maintain strong relationships with several domestic and international stakeholders to shape and influence the environment and eventually create a favourable business environment and exploit new opportunities.

It is an important business tool in today’s globalised markets, and its goal is to create and manage efficient networks of information that allow the company to influence the policy environments in their favour and predict future issues.

This is why key African businesses and their partners have been the major sponsors of the CEO Forum, with the 2024 edition backed mainly by the MTN Group; IFC; Access Holdings; The Coronation Group and the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation.

May 19, 2024
A world where Nigeria’s diplomacy is a void – By Owei Lakemfa

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu on March 13, 2024, directed the reopening of Nigeria’s land and air borders with the Republic of Niger. He also ordered the lifting of all sanctions, including commercial, financial and service transactions, like electricity.

He equally approved the lifting of financial and economic sanctions against the Republic of Guinea. These steps should open better opportunities for Nigeria which accounts for 70 per cent of the trade in the West African Region. But, unfortunately, Nigeria has no ambassador in either country that can drive the process. In fact, we have no single ambassador in the entire Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, a body over which President Tinubu presides.

President Tinubu engaged in a somewhat controversial state visit to Qatar from March 2-3, 2024. That was partly because the Qatari had initially turned down the holding of a business and investment forum on the margins of his visit, and also, for the number and composition of his 38-Member Delegation.

The visit was pulled-off and there were cooperation agreements in the fields of education, employment regulation, establishment of a joint business council and in the field of youths and sports.

The Nigerian Delegation returned to the country, leaving no ambassador to drive the follow-up process. This was because back on September 2, 2023, that is six months before, Nigeria had recalled all its ambassadors in the world except for those in the United Nations Missions in New York and Geneva. It means Nigeria cannot reap fully from the dozen foreign trips of President Tinubu in the nine months he has been in power.

Yes, there are charge d‘affaires. But which country takes a stand-in ambassador, serious enough, for business transactions realising he is standing in gap? A charge d‘affaires is like a regent waiting for the appointment and coronation of the actual king.

In my experience outside Nigeria, charge d‘affairs, at state functions, are arranged after ambassadors. They are outranked by ambassadors. So, a country without ambassadors cannot engage in serious diplomacy. My worry is that things are not about to change quickly because the process of having ambassadors in place can be quite slow.

There are those who may argue that in the internet age, countries do not really need physical ambassadors to sit in embassies. This they call E-Diplomacy, Cyber Diplomacy or Twitter Diplomacy –Diplomacy in 40 Characters.

This is, essentially, the use of technology and digital platforms like Facebook and Twitter (X) to run diplomacy, shape or influence foreign relations and, engage global audiences. The most famous or infamous user of Twitter Diplomacy is former President Donald Trump.

In its ‘Social media use by Donald Trump’ report, Wikipedia said: “Over nearly twelve years, Trump tweeted around 57,000 times, including about 8,000 times during the 2016 election campaign and over 25,000 times during his presidency. The White House said the tweets should be considered official statements. When Twitter banned Trump from the platform in January 2021 during the final days of his tenure, his handle @realDonaldTrump had over 88.9 million followers.”

Despite such power and, claims of some Presidents, to be their own foreign ministers and diplomats, the presence of ambassadors on ground is essential as it is a reflection of how you value a country. So, no matter how the power of E-Diplomacy is stretched, a country without ambassadors is like a void on the diplomatic stage.

The sack of all our ambassadors by each new administration without immediate replacement, as was done by the Buhari and Tinubu administrations, is unwise.

In our present case, the process of picking ambassadors is still on. After this, the nominees are to be screened by the Senate which presumably would have had the security report on each nominee. It is after clearance the nominees will undergo some induction course.

Then, the receiving country would decide whether to receive the new ambassador. This is usually a formality, but in some cases, countries reject ambassadors posted to them.

For instance, in April 1984, the United States, US, rejected the nomination of Nicaraguan lawyer and Deputy Foreign Minister, Nora Astorga, as ambassador. She had played a prominent role in the revolution which toppled pro-American President Anastasio Somoza. However, Nicaragua ensured Ms Astorga was a prominent face in the US by appointing her Nicaraguan Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.

Thirty eight years later, Nicaragua had some form of pay-back. In 2022, Ambassador Hugo Rodriguez who was confirmed by the US Senate as Ambassador to Nicaragua, was refused entry. This, according to Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo, was due to his “interfering” attitude.

To be accepted by the receiving country does not mean the ambassador starts work immediately because he still has to present his Letter of Credence to the President of the host country. During the Buhari administration, it was not unusual for ambassadors to wait for months before being invited to present their letters.

So, as it is, Nigeria may not have ambassadors in any part of the world in the next six months. This would mean that under the Tinubu administration, we may not have ambassadors for at least one quarter of its four-year tenure.

Beyond this, is the challenge of politicians who see ambassadorial postings as post-election war booty to be shared. Under Buhari, they took 60 per cent of the ambassadorial positions leaving 40 per cent to be filled by career ambassadors.

In my December 18, 2023 column titled: ‘Tinubu, appoint diplomats, not politicians to run our Missions.’ I had appealed to the President to reverse this unhealthy culture. I had argued that it is better for the country to appoint career ambassadors because they are people who spend their entire career in the Foreign Ministry and therefore understand the basics of diplomacy. This is in contrast to political nominees who, in the world of diplomacy, are essentially birds of passage.

I had received encouraging nods and thought that this culture would be reversed. But now, the feelers I am getting of a push for 65 per cent of the ambassadorial positions going to non-career diplomats, is not encouraging. I hope for the sake of our country, this will be reversed.

One more suggestion. We need to return to the General Murtala Mohammed era when the populace took part in foreign affairs through mass bodies like those of students and genuine civil society organisations.

It was that momentum that defined our principled recognition of the MPLA in Angola, FRELIMO in Mozambique, the African National Congress, ANC, and the Pan African Congress, PAC, in South Africa. It was that mass participation that led to workers contributing part of their monthly salaries into an anti-Apartheid fund for the total liberation of the African continent.

March 15, 2024
Aladja/Ogbe Ijoh: Oborevwori building peace through diplomacy – By Fred Edoreh

By Fred Edoreh

The recent disturbances between Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh communities in Delta State may have come as an acid test for the young administration of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori.

For decades, the people had intermittently taken up arms against themselves over land ownership. There had peace accords in 2018 and 2022, by which they were expected to adopt civilised and peaceful approach in the pursuit of their claims. Disappointingly, they, once again, abandoned peace and took to violent clash just a few weeks into the inception of the new administration.

Incidentally, Oborevwori was ahead, having noted in his inauguration speech that “while Delta State has been relatively peaceful in the last eight years, recent security breaches in the Warri area (which includes Aladja and Ogbe Ijoh) are troubling,” and that his administration, with the aid of security agencies, “will take decisive steps to ensure that the situation does not degenerate.”

Being a grassroots man with deep knowledge of the street, he also knew that the alleviation of the socio-economic condition of the people is sine qua non to sustainable peace as, with more opportunities for employment and enterprise, mischief makers and warmongers would find less hands to recruit.

Accordingly, he indicated in same inauguration speech that Warri, the commercial nerve centre of the state, will be given special attention under his administration.

“The process has already commenced with the establishment of Warri, Uvwie and Environs Development Agency (WUEDA). Before the ongoing Storm Water Project will be completed, government will commence efforts at giving Warri and its environs a total facelift,” he assured.

Rather than support the government and position their communities for the prospects of renewed socio-economic development in Warri area, they chose to take up arms against themselves.

As the Chief Security Officer of the state, Oborevwori responded by not just swiftly deploying security forces to go in and instill order, warning that the Government would visit troublemakers with the full wrath of the law, but also assuring that government will revisit the White Paper on the bone of contention.

Not stopping at that, indications are that he has personally moved in with quiet diplomatic engagements towards achieving collective understanding.

In his support, traditional rulers of both Ijaw and Urhobo nations have also taken responsibility to engage themselves towards the same goal.

Coordinated by the Ovie of Uvwie, Oborevwori’s second homeland after Okpe, HRM, Abe I, Chairman of Urhobo Traditional Rulers Council, it was so beautiful seeing the high-powered delegation of Ijaw Traditional Rulers Forum led by HRM Elder (Capt) Joseph Timiyan, the Ebenanaowwi of Ogulagha Kingdom, go over last Saturday, to put heads together with their Urhobo counterparts, with HRM Major General Felix Mujakperuo, Orhue I, the Orodje of Okpe and Chairman of the Delta State Council of Traditional Rulers, playing host to the royal gathering in his palace.

It is worthy of mention that in the meeting were
HRM Solomon Okukeren III, Ovie of Arhavwarien Kingdom and Vice Chairman, Urhobo Traditional Rulers Council; HRM King Obukohwo Monday Whiskey JP, Udurhie I, Ovie of Idjerhe Kingdom; HRM F. F. Tabai, Pere of Tuomo; HRM Barr Shedrack Erebulu, Pere of Kabowei; HRM Dr. Wilson Ojakovo, Ovie of Ughelli; HRM Noble Eshemitan, Ovie of Oghara; HRM Oghenevwogaga Ebelle, Ovie of Agbarha Otor; HRM Couple Oromoni, Pere of Ogbe-ijoh; HRM Bosu Dio, Ebenanaowwi of Iduwini; HRM Johnbull Polokowei, Pere of Ogbolobiri Mein; HRM Sunday Odogu Okpurhe, Uduaka I, Ovie of Mosogar, amongst others.

The gathering practically speaks to Oborevwori’s assurance on the inclusiveness and partnership with our royal fathers and call for their continued support and wise guidance in the governance of the state.

Accordingly, as the representatives of the ancestors and bearers of the destiny of their respective people, they converged to save their children of Aladja and Ogbe Ijoh from mutual destruction. With such eminent assemblage, there remaineth no more sacrifice.

In their communique, they made it clear that Urhobo and Ijaw nations “do not have personal problems and are not at war with each other.” That should be a clear message to the leaders of Aladja and Ogbe Ijoh.

While allaying fears about a mischievious ultimatum declared by a faceless group as fake and of no consequence, they also resolved that the Ukoko Re-Ivie Urhobo should engage the Urhobo Progressive Union on a said provocative publication that tended to escalate divisive sentiments.

It is expected too that, notwithstanding their recent solidarity visit to Ogbe Ijoh, the Ijaw National Council led by the respected Prof Benjamin Okaba will also stand on restraint.

On the revisit of the Government White Paper, it is gladdening that the royal fathers, being the custodians of the history, culture, bilateral and multilateral relations of both Urhobo and Ijaw nations, are engaged in the mediation and arbitration and, expectedly, their united views would inform the process.

The onus, however, is ultimately on the leaders of Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh, to either continue to burn their communities in the cauldron of unending mutual killings and destruction of hard earned properties, thus jointly consigning their people to perpetual poverty, or choose to co-exist in mutual peace and tolerance in order to enjoy the manifestation of a new Warri.

As Governor Oborevwori rightly pointed out to them, “no amount of land is worth dying for because when you fight and kill yourselves the land will still remain.”

Indeed, they need not be reminded that where there is no peace and social stability, there never will be development, prosperity and progress, except for the leaders who merchandise in violence and build personal profit from the blood of their people: those who provide guns, not education, and bullets, not jobs.

Fred Edoreh is Senior Special Assistant (Media) to the Governor of Delta State

August 18, 2023
The United States recurring memory loss in diplomacy – By Owei Lakemfa

Four archenemies of the United States, US, met variously in its Latin American ‘backyard’ this week. It was the five-day Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s to Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba. No, the quartet did not make themselves enemies of the US, it was the latter which at various times had dictated to those countries, that designated them as such.

All four are under the unilateral sanctions of the US which punishes any country that dares befriend them. So only the independent-minded and strong countries maintain trade relations with them.

The US also punishes the quartet if they dare trade among themselves. In 2020 the US ordered the seizure of four Iranian vessels with 1.1 million barrels of fuel bound for Venezuela. The US said the ships must be seized because they violated the unilateral sanctions it had imposed on both countries. It was a show of might over right.

So, the defiant visit this week by the Iranian President and the various sanction-bursting agreements the four countries signed, is a declaration that they are not ready to abide by the dictates of the US.

Raisi was defiant throughout his tour. At the start of his June 12 visit he said the four countries have “a common enemy…common interests and we have common enemies”. He added in reference to the US and its allies: “They do not want the two countries, Iran and Venezuela, to be independent”.

To these declarations, Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro responded: “We are on the right side of history and together we will be invincible.” Both sides signed agreements on various fields, including oil, defence, technology, energy, maritime and medicine.

Raisi on Wednesday told Nicaraguans: “There is a great geographical distance between Nicaragua and Iran and the Latin American region, but our hearts are very close and our goals are also very close (we) share a common history of struggle, of resistance, of revolutions, of combat against a common enemy.”

In Nicaragua, both countries signed agreements, including one on a bi-national commission before the Iranian President flew to Cuba, the country that gave the world unforgettable international radical leaders of the 20th Century like Ernesto Che Guevera and Fidel Castro.

A common thread between Venzuela and Iran with its ends flapping in the US is the case of Alex Saab, a Venezuela Ambassador currently on trial in Miami, USA.

First, Saab, is a moral burden on the US. During the COVID-19 pandemic when virtually all countries in the world, including the US, needed aid, Saab was on a mission to Iran to buy urgently needed food and medicines for Venezuelans. On June 12, 2020, his plane touched down in Cape Verde to refuel. He was abducted by the authorities on the instigation of the USA for the ‘crime’ of trying to buy food for his starving compatriots when the almighty US had ordered that no country carries out any transaction with Iran.

The ECOWAS West African Court, was ashamed of the role of Cape Verde in not only detaining an ambassador with diplomatic immunity but one on an urgent humanitarian mission. It ordered its member country not just to effect the immediate release of Ambassador Saab, but also pay him a $200,000 compensation. But Cape Verde betrayed the African brotherhood and the spirit of its biological son, Amilcar Cabral, who fought for the brotherhood of humanity before being murdered by Portuguese security agents. Under US pressure, Cape Verde handed over the ambassador to the US which flew him to Miami for a controversial trial.

Now, the US is part of the human race that accepts and enjoys diplomatic immunity. In its “Diplomatic and Consular Immunity: Guidance for Law Enforcement and Judicial Authorities”, the Department of State, in accepting diplomatic immunity as sacrosanct, wrote that: “International law, to which the United States is firmly committed, requires that law enforcement authorities of the United States extend certain privileges and immunities to members of foreign diplomatic missions and consular posts.” Its reference is to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

So the Ambassador Saab case was ordinarily a straight forward one: all he needed was to tell the American court that he is an ambassador which under the American constitution and obligations, grants him immunity from prosecution in any US court.

After long delays, including denying Saab medical treatment for his post-cancer treatment, family and consular visits, he had his day in court. That he had been an ambassador of Venezuela since 2018 could not be controverted but the US Government said it does not recognise the Venezuelan Government headed by President Nicolas Maduro which had appointed Saab an ambassador. For the US, the Maduro government does not exist!

This submission of the Biden administration exposes the American government as either being utterly dishonest or suffering from dementia.

Given the age of the US establishment and its increasing inability to come to terms with the unfolding global reality, it is certain that it is suffering from recurring diplomatic memory loss. Let me demonstrate this with facts of interactions between the Biden and Maduro governments in 2022 alone.

In March 2022, President Joe Biden despatched a top level US diplomatic delegation to Caracas which held meetings with the Maduro government. The White House Delegation composed Juan Gonzalez, the National Security Council Director for the Western Hemisphere, Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy on hostage affairs and Ambassador James Story, the US Ambassador to Colombia who oversees the American Venezuelan Affairs Unit.

In June 2022, President Biden again sent a special delegation which included Roger Carstens and Ambassador James Story to meet with the Maduro government. President Maduro confirmed the presence of the US delegation and directed it to meet National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez. Maduro had said the meeting was to “give continuity to the bilateral agenda between the government of the United States and the government of Venezuela”.

Then on Saturday, November 26, 2022, President Biden eased some of the oil sanctions against the Maduro government. Under it, the US Treasury authorised Chevron oil to resume ‘limited’ oil production in Venezuela under the supervision of the Maduro administration.

These are facts. But the Biden government could not seem to recall these events and the US court concurred. It ruled that: “At the time he was arrested, Saab Moran truly was no diplomat at all.”

Venezuelan Congress head, Jorge Rodriguez, said of the ruling: “If the United States, or in this case, this judge, takes that decision, which is an atrocity, no diplomat in the world will be safe from now on.”

But who cares; at least not the American establishment that is striving so hard to stand the world on its head.

June 18, 2023
TNG Deal Breakers: NAICOM and merits of regulatory diplomacy

By Ifeanyi Ugwuadu

The National Insurance Commission is the federal government’s regulatory agency for Nigeria’s insurance activities. One of its most important functions is to act as an adviser to the government on insurance matters. This function is advisory and persuasive in practice and does not in any way preclude the advised from seeking counsel from other sources. The regulatory diplomacy it embarked on more than 10 years ago when it started engagement with stakeholders to embrace its Market Development and Restructuring Initiative is good but has not yielded the desired results.

The right equation should have been to start from the known to the unknown. Uncharted paths are usually tricky to tread. The known here is what works and can easily be tapped.

In order to understand the MDRI concept developed by NAICOM, it is important to note that the regulator is saddled with the function of developing the insurance industry with the one per cent levy accruing to it from the revenues of underwriters including levies and fees charged to other players and insurers. Within the constraints of a Nigerian governmental body and systemic hurdles, the regulator had struggled to perform its role and as we usually would say, “they’re trying their best.” The development initiatives focus on driving compliance with compulsory insurance legislated by the Nigerian State. There are numerous such that even the average Nigerian are unaware of their existence and benefit.

Yet the ultimate beneficiaries are the Nigerian people, mostly uninsured and hard-working day-to-day population who are daily exposed to accidents. These laws compel the haves to compensate those who have not through insurance.

Justifying its development mandate, NAICOM claims it has, “collaborated with development partners to promote index-based agricultural insurance; licensed new insurance entities to increase the number of insurance operators and availability of insurance products in Nigeria; Facilitated financial inclusion by increasing the number of providers for the excluded and/or low-income segment and carried out learning sessions on micro-insurance and takaful.” In addition, it listed as part of its achievements the “Authorization of bancassurance to expand the distribution channels for insurance in collaboration with the CBN and commencement of “interface with some State Governments on compliance with compulsory insurances”. In all, the regulator specified 32 activities for the 5 goals it set for itself to be accomplished during the 4-year plan period ending in 2023. Great planning but it is still a work in progress and not an achievement as per verifiable outcomes.

Compulsory Insurance

Nonetheless, let us situate the compulsory insurance on the market development function of the Commission. The moribund Vision 2020 document fashioned by the Obasanjo administration identified 12 but factored only 6 for its revenue blueprint for the insurance market. The document forecasted a treasure chest of N6trillion by 2020 from the following lines of business;

▪ Motor insurance

▪ Cargo

▪ Public buildings

▪ Buildings under construction

▪ Health insurance

▪ Group life insurance

Unknown to school administrators, school buses meant to convey children to school must have comprehensive motor cover in addition to a general accident cover purchased by the school on behalf of the pupils. The Inland Waterways legislation named the Cabotage Act also makes compulsory all inland transportation inclusive of crafts, tugs, boats, vessels, cargoes and passengers. These legislations are meant to deepen insurance penetration in the country which today is less than 1%.

Interestingly, all these laws fall within the implementation purview of various agencies of the federal government and in some instances, duplicated by States. The regulator is pursuing a deliberate policy to have the States adopt and domesticate these within their own laws but with little success. A definite market development initiative which can anchor the partnerships NAICOM seeks to the constitutional deference to concurrence listing may be helpful. In such cases, NAICOM should clearly explain to the States how premiums accruing to it through compulsory insurance can impact on the State government functions. For instance, if a State enforces building insurance, how would the particular State’s fire service get the 1% under the existing revenue system?

Public Good Benefits of compulsory insurances

Insurance protection is for the public good of society. The laws were enacted to shield individuals, groups and corporate entities from undue exposure to bodily and financial loss in the event that the usual vagaries of living happen. Thus, to formulate appropriate messages to the public, the campaign thrust by NAICOM and the industry players should focus on the public good and benefits of compulsory insurance legislation. These messages should tie in with the expected behavioural changes and buy-in that would aid voluntary compliance. For instance, any skilled worker on a construction site should be informed about the insurance protection that the law imposed on the builder and owner for the good of society. There are several fatal cases of building collapse where there was no reported insurance compensation for the injured or victims’ relations.

The public building and buildings (2-storey and above) under construction are two laws enacted under the Insurance Act 2003 to compel owners of completed buildings and the ones being constructed to own the liability arising from any accidental harm to people that move in and out of the buildings. While the regulator and the industry awareness programs focus more on uptake and premium arising from compliance, less attention is paid to beneficiaries and benefits. No doubt, premiums are needed and the critical mass has to be built up to accommodate those claims that may eventually come, but investments in awareness campaigns should be more embracing to educate those people of interest. An awareness thrust targeting groups and associations are cost-effective and result efficiently.

Partnerships and industry strategic goal

Nearly 20 years since Insurance Act 2003 was enacted, the regulator and insurance companies had engaged with relevant government agencies to seek collaboration for the uptake of some key compulsory insurances but achieved little or no success. Many insurance companies do not have the resources to invest in long-term micro-insurance programs while partnerships with digital platforms is just beginning to take cognizance of the underserved segment of the population.

Certainly, compulsory insurance is only enforceable when the government that enacted the law shows interest in its compliance. The primary duty of the regulatory body should be to seek practical ways of enforcing compliance. Fortunately, a Minister of Communications and Digital Economy had been in place for about 4 years and this should have facilitated the design of a framework that would integrate with other APIs in both public and private sector domains to mine data and execute compliance.

Inter-regulatory partnership and inter-agency/State collaboration as being pursued by NAICOM are important and necessary but mass insurance should be micromanaged if large-scale success is to be achieved. In this regard, the regulator’s messages has always targeted public partnerships leaving out private collaboration to insurers. It’s about time to drill down and get to the people who will be the beneficiaries. In addition, the insurance Commission can formulate a baseline strategy that cuts across individual companies’ business protectionism and helps companies to share intelligence on how best to engage the various publics on insurance.

Cross legislative adoption

The Federal Fire Services, responsible to the Minister of Interior, is the highest corporate beneficiary of public buildings insurance. All 36 States also have fire service departments. But since 2003 when the law was enacted, it has not adopted it as legislation and thereafter begin to issue fire safety guidelines to include compliance with occupiers’ liability insurance. For the insurance market, the compulsory insurances are business and if the premium content is slow and investments in market growth is capital intensive, it is considered not profitable to the balance sheet, at least in the short term. However, for the fire service, the legislation helps to equip it in the discharge of the duties of maintaining and promoting safety and firefighting capabilities for the public good. The Act of parliament which established it may be reviewed for additional functions and empower it to certify buildings with strong penalties. The same applies to compulsory insurance for buildings under construction. Federal and State building agencies charged with the role of approving and maintaining standards in the building market may adopt this in their codes and enforce compliance at the appropriate approval stage.

Motor insurance remains the most popular and already the Federal Road Safety Commission has part legislation that compels it to enforce compliance with motor insurance. In addition, the revenue side of motor licensing at both Federal and State licensing offices demands motor insurance as a prerequisite for the issue and renewal of motor licenses. Integration, adoption and technology hold the key to successful enforcement.

A collaborative effort by both PENCOM and NAICOM has not brought as much compliance to group life insurance, made compulsory under the pension Act, as it has for pensions. But this can change for good if the insurance regulator plugs properly the same subtle enforcement deployed by the pension regulator.

Voluntary Compliance

Most people resist any expense that does not have the immediate benefit and most insurance policies do not have such promises. Insurance promises a certain future that may or may not happen. The idea of having to pay a premium which has one-year validity after which you start to pay again is not exciting to many individuals. So, the winning strategy is to make insurance uptake convenient, accessible and solution-driven. The simple fact that all compulsory insurances are regulated and standard rates apply, it should be a spur for an industry team to tinker with product design, technology and delivery for the mass market. A consortium for the market may be set up. If the effort is accountable and well structured, it may attract seed capital from World Bank agencies for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

November 1, 2022
Playing Lionel Messi with diplomacy, By Owei Lakemfa

By Owei Lakemfa

Lionel Messi, diagnosed at 11 with a growth hormone disorder, GHD which stunted his growth, fought against all odds to become one of the best footballers that has ever set foot on the earth. His quick dribbles, uncanny ability to sell dummies, building himself into a goal-scoring machine and playing sweet, seemingly effortless football, is the stuff of good diplomacy.

There are endless debates whether he is the best player alive; or is Christiano Ronaldo better? The same type of debates when I was young about Edson Arantes do Nascimento, famously known as Pele and the Mozambican-born Portuguese player, Eusebio da Silva Ferrera. Like Messi and Ronaldo, America and China are playing some good football on the international scene. They are converting their economic, trade, political and military rivalries into diplomatic dribbles which is confusing countries like Canada led by a naïve government that cannot read a simple game.

This Wednesday August 11, 2011 when PSG unveiled Messi and his Number 30 shirt, China scored a diplomatic goal against Canada by sentencing Canadian businessman, Michael Spavor to 11 years imprisonment for spying. The Dandong Intermediate People’s Court in North-East China found Spavor guilty of: “espionage and illegally providing state secrets” to foreigners.

A day earlier, the Liaoning High People’s Court in China had upheld the death sentence of another Canadian, Robert Schellenberg for planning to send 225kg of methamphetamine to Australia. Schellenberg was originally sentenced to 15 years in prison in November 2018 and when he appealed, it was raised to the death sentence. A third Canadian, Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat may be sentenced within the next few weeks.

This diplomatic game which Canada terms “hostage diplomacy’ is like a Division Three club in North America playing Barcelona, Bayern Munich, PSG or Manchester United and complaining of being outplayed.

The spat between Canada and China is due to the former unwisely dabbling in the diplomatic games between the latter and the United States on two issues. The first is an allegation by America that China’s giant telecommunication company, Huawei between 2012–2013 stole parts of the American T-Mobile smartphone testing robot Tappy technology from its Bellevue headquarters in Washington. The second is that after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the international Iran Nuclear Deal and imposed sanctions on that country, Huawei had the nerves to continue doing business with Iran thereby violating American sanction laws. The laws America accused Huawei of breaking include its National Emergencies Act (NEA) of 1976, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 and the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act, ILSA of 1996, later renamed the Iran Sanctions Act, ISA. These are local American laws but which that country insist must have universal applicability. A third point America has raised is that Huawei is likely to spy for the Chinese government.

On December 1, 2018, Meng Wanzhou, mother of four, who is Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer, Deputy Chair of its board and daughter of its founder, Ren Zhengfei, was detained on arrival at the Canadian Vancouver International Airport.

Canada said she was being held on a provisional American extradition request for fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud in order to circumvent American sanctions against Iran. In addition, America said Meng will be charged with the alleged Huawei trade secret theft , a charge which carries ten years imprisonment.

What Canada did in seizing Meng and seeking to extradite her to America is a situation late Afro Beat King Fela Anikulapo-Kuti will describe as a rat biting the tail of a sleeping cat. China, a top player in diplomatic games simply responded nine days later by detaining Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig.

The cases of the two Canadians progress in relative proportion with the trial of Meng. They are political trials. So claims of the Canadian judicial system being transparent and even-handed in contrast with that of China, are laughable. In the first place, the arrest of Meng was a political move taken at the behest of America. This is also the logical line of her defence team which submitted that: “her case should be tossed away because her arrest was an abuse of process; the fraud charge she is facing in the United States is for a crime that doesn’t exist in Canada; and the U.S. government’s extradition request represents an abuse of power”

More than 100 former Canadian diplomats had on September 20, 2020 asked the government to negotiate a swap of Meng for Canadians. The Green Party of Canada has also asked the government to set Meng free as: “Canada cannot continue to be used as a pawn in a trade dispute between the United States and China.” It also asked the : “Canadian government to stand up to the U.S. administration and demand that it drops the criminal charges.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared enraged about Wednesday’s imprisonment of Michael Spavor, claiming that the sentencing is “unacceptable and unjust”, and that the trial “did not satisfy even the minimum standards required by international law.” He said: “For Mr. Spavor, as well as for Michael Kovrig who has also been arbitrarily detained, our top priority remains securing their immediate release,” “We will continue working around the clock to bring them home as soon as possible.”

But the Canadian justice system that has held Meng is no less unjust and opaque. If Canada plays the dirty game for its neighbour by holding a Chinese national hostage, it should know it will also be muddied. So Trudeau is just joggling diplomatic balls; he knows why the men are being held and what to do if his government wants them back home.

Canada is like a man that allows his head to be used for breaking coconut; not only would he at best, have severe headache, but would also not be well enough to participate in eating the coconut. I love Canada, but its uncritical involvement in American-China diplomatic games, is, excuse my saying so, plain stupid.

But Canada has staked so much in the Meng case and its judiciary will be held to ridicule if it were to set Meng free. So the best option is for America to withdraw the extradition request. With that, Spavor and Kovrig will return home. But if by any act of omission or commission, Meng is extradited for the political trial awaiting her in New York, not only are the Canadians likely to remain in Chinese prison, but there may be more hostage taking around the world.

If like America, every country says its local laws must have universal applicability, there will be anarchy. There is therefore the need for countries to stand up against the United States and its unilateral sanctions which threaten world peace.

August 14, 2021