For decades, Britain’s foreign policy was centred around the concept of gunboat diplomacy. This Niger crisis gives President Tinubu to follow suit and launch a similar helicopter gunship diplomacy plan

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Nigeria has a very weak foreign policy as her Ecowas neighbours defy Abuja at will and with impunity. Across Mali, Guinea, Chad, Burkina Faso and now Niger Republic, military juntas have seized power in defiance of Nigeria. The penalty for defying Nigeria has to be so severe nobody dares try it

[2] Unless we want Western nations coming into our backyard to tell us how to live, Nigeria needs to get her act together fast. For starters, Ecowas has a population of about 425m. Nigeria should be the sole gateway to this huge market

[3] I sometimes wonder if Nigeria has any foreign policy at all because if she did, it would include immediate regional intervention in any African country where there is a military coup. Nobody would be able to fault West Africans sorting out their own problems as we did in Liberia and Sierra Leone

[4] Do you also know that 16 of Africa’s 55 countries are landlocked? For me, it is a crime against humanity for a nation to be landlocked and Nigeria’s foreign policy should include eliminating this scourge across Africa

[5] Only a dishonest person will argue that it is acceptable for 16 of the world’s 44 landlocked countries to be in Africa. Maybe we should start by getting Ethiopia and Djibouti to negotiate a merger. Djibouti is not sustainable as a nation state and at the moment, it serves as Ethiopia’s Apapa anyway

[6] In West Africa, I see Nigeria merging with Benin Republic, Niger Republic and Cameroon to form the Federal Republic of Songhai. Just imagine what a giant would achieve. I covet Niger Republic’s Sahara Desert landmass, which I want to turn into the world’s largest solar park. Their uranium deposits would also come in handy

[7] For now, we need to go back to the drawing board and rethink our foreign policy objectives. I would urge President Tinubu to study the provisions of the Monroe Doctrine in detail

[8] One of the reasons why I hate the secession argument with every muscle in my body is because it is myopic. Those who advocate the balkanisation of Nigeria fail to realise that small nations like Niger Republic get dictated to

[9] In Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin Republic, Togo, Guinea, Niger Republic, etc, the governments do what Nigeria tells them to do. I would hate to live in such a country where I am at the mercy of my large neighbour

[10] This Niger crisis could be Tinubu’s defining moment. He should use it to change Nigeria’s foreign policy irrevocably. Imagine coming up with a Tinubu Doctrine that keeps the likes of the US and France out of African politics forever