Nigeria and South Africa are renewing their bilateral ties for mutual benefits. In this report, IDACHABA SUNNY ELEOJO examines the history of the ties and benefits of such consummation.
What is today referred to as Nigeria/South Africa bilateral relationship started in 1999 during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in what was known as Nigeria/South Africa Bi-National Commission with Jacob Zuma as the president of South Africa.
At the emergence of Nigeria’s Third Republic, the stage was set for a bi-national commission. While celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the relationship held in South Africa and Nigeria concurrently in 2009, eminent personalities, business moguls, corporate organisations from both countries met to evaluate the 10-year-old relationship.
According to Nigeria’s Vice President, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, who represented President Musa Yar Adua, at the event in South Africa, “The bi-national commission is targeted at stimulating good economic relationship.”
Also, speaking at the event, Mbeki who was the President of South African, went down memory lane, stating, “The decision to strengthen ties between Nigeria and South Africa was actually collaborative.
“I think it was a good thing we thought it was important to establish a bi-national commission to ensure that we were able to deal with the entirety of the relation between the two countries so that the relationship would not just be political and diplomatic, but that it should be cultural, economic and about everything, so that you bring the relationship closer to the people and not just the officials.
“My views about the commission are that we actually need to do more and must do more. It should be such that we could say that at the beginning, this was where we were and at the end, this is where we are.”
According to a report in the Special Commemorative Edition of ‘Nigeria and South Africa in Partnership for a Better Africa’, real diplomatic relations between South Africa and Nigeria actually dated back to 1994.
“This is because before the advent of democracy in Nigeria and shortly after the collapse of apartheid in South Africa, the two countries had maintained mutually beneficial, cordial and bilateral relations. For instance, apart from Nigeria’s contribution to the liberation struggle in South Africa, today, she remains one of South Africa’s largest trading partners on the continent.
“The South Africa/Nigeria Bi-national Commission (BNC) established by the two governments in 1999 further boosted the ties. At the BNC, representatives from respective countries meet; investment opportunities in both countries are identified with plans mapped out to explore available opportunities.”
The bi-national commission was established in Abuja on October 4 1999 and co-chaired by former Nigeria’s vice president, Atiku Abubakar and Jacob Zuma as former South African vice president to provide an effective framework for collaborative efforts and maximise the potential for rapid and sustainable developments in both countries and by extension Africa.
Benefits of ties
Shortly after the establishment of the commission, report indicated that between 1999 and 2005, South Africa’s export to Nigeria grew from US$516m to more than US$1.2 billion.
This is because many South African companies like MTN, Multi-Choice and ESKOM were operating in Nigeria.
Reflecting on the gains of the bilateral relations between the two countries, former Chairman, Nigeria/South African Chamber of Commerce, Oba Otudeko, said Nigeria had already emerged, a few years back, as South Africa’s largest trading partner and its largest source of imports on the continent.
“Formal business relations between Nigeria and South Africa may be traced back to May 2000 when the Nigeria South Africa Chamber of Commerce was incorporated with basic focus on facilitating investment opportunities for Nigerian companies and businessmen wishing to invest in South Africa and vice versa,” he noted.
According to the former Director of Corporate Communications/Public Relations Officer, Multi Choice Nigeria, Ade Adefeko, Africans and friends of Africa want to see to what extent Nigeria and South Africa working with other members of the continent’s Big 5 like Egypt, Algeria and Ethiopia can mobilise other African states to achieve sustainable development on the continent.
“The Big 5 are the top five leading economies in Africa. What should be the areas of cooperation and competition since all countries of the world, regardless of areas of mutual cooperation, still seek to defend personal interests?
“The argument is that Africa’s interest should be more important to Nigeria and South Africa than other interests.
“Whichever way anyone sees it, the relationship between the two countries has been beneficial and catalytic for socio-economic development. The two countries are the largest trading partners on the continent. South African businesses like MTN, Stanbic bank, DSTV among others are thriving in Nigeria.
“Beyond their commercial success, these companies have also become good corporate citizens, employing thousands of Nigerians, paying taxes and investing in communities through Corporate Social Responsibility,” he stated.
MTN, in its recent sustainability report, said it has paid N2 trillion in taxes, import duties and other fees since 2002 when it started business in Nigeria.
While South African businesses have been very successful in Nigeria, there is, however, the thinking that South African government has not provided same level of protection and enabling environment for Nigerian businesses to flourish in South Africa.
Nobody in Nigeria can argue against the positive impact of DSTV in content creation and boost to the local entertainment industry by working with local talents and other professionals.
The company created Nigerian millionaires who are dealers and resellers with thousands of technicians who earn their living daily as installers.
The Africa Magic Channels popularised Nigeria’s Nollywood movie industry across Africa. Nigerian actors such as Rita Dominic, Patience Ozokwor, Geneveve Nnaji, Joke Jacobs, Stephanie Okereke, Kanayo O Kanayo, Olu Jacobs, Osita Iheme, Chinedu Ikedieze (Aki and Paw Paw), Pete Edochie among others have larger than life image.
These movie stars are mobbed by crowd each time they get into countries like Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Namibia. Because of Kanayo, Olu Jacobs and Pete Edochie, a typical Nigeria big man is regarded as an Igwe in these countries.
That is how well DSTV has done in promoting our movie and entertainment industry- a sector that has become our biggest cultural export in the last 20 years.
It is therefore important to note that President Muhammadu Buhari played the role of an African statesman with his recent state visit to South Africa in the heat of the anger at home on the back of the recent xenophobic attacks on a number of Africans including Nigerians in Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Despite Nigerians’ calls for retaliatory actions by our government against South Africans’ interests and push for severance of diplomatic ties, President Buhari showed courage under domestic pressure and braced the odds to personally visit South Africa to honour the invitation of President Cyril Ramaphosa to smoothen a convulsed relationship.
Nigeria and South Africa have a manifest destiny to lead the Africa renaissance. With a bulging youth demographics and the demand by the population for better standard of living, the imperatives to expand opportunities through investment in education, healthcare, free trade, infrastructure and inclusive growth is more urgent than before. The two leading nations must unite to drive the 2063 African Union agenda in one accord.
The new deal
South African government recently announced that it was considering issuing a 10-year visa to Nigerian business operators to boost relationship between both countries.
It’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, Thamsanqa Mseleku, stated this recently in Lagos.
“Yes, Nigerian businesses are operating in South Africa and this issue was raised in 2019 when President Buhari was in South Africa. Today, Access bank has opened a bank in South Africa and is active and Air Peace is flying to South Africa.
“So, the issue is that we must encourage more businesses that want to go to South Africa from Nigeria to do so, particularly in the financial sector,” Mseleku stated.
While speaking on the difficulty encountered by Nigerians to acquire South African visa, he said, “For business people, we are agreeing and we would continue to implement longer term visas for them. We are now looking at actually ensuring they get up to 10 years of visa because we are improving the situation.
“We do agree that there is a challenge with relation turn-around time because of the capacities in our embassies and these are some of the issues discussed.
“There is this notion that we just meet each other, sign agreements and that is how we keep the friendships, but these two presidents are very clear that it is not the kind of relationship they are looking for.
“They are going to supervise, work and have joint reports on implementations because they are serious on getting things actually working.
“So, this time around, I promise you, in two years’ time when we see President Buhari in South Africa, we wouldn’t be saying ‘Was there half implementation or no implementation? I can promise that more of these agreements would have been implemented.”
Ramaphosa’s visit
As a follow up to these, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa recently visited President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, and during the visit a new Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) between Nigeria and South Africa was signed while existing ones were reviewed.
Expert’s view
An international relations expert Olawale Olusola while writing in The Africa Report said specifically of the recent state visit of Ramaphosa to Nigeria that, “It is significant in a number of ways. First, it coincides with the tenth session of the Nigeria-South Africa Bi-National Commission. This was established in 1999 to strengthen bilateral political, economic and trade relations between the two countries. It is therefore an opportunity to assess the progress in investment and trade between the two countries.
“It was also an avenue to rejig the lull in bilateral relations between the two foremost countries in Africa. In spite of the volume of trade between the two countries which stood at $2.9bn in 2020, there are still grey areas.
“These include operational hurdles Nigerian investors face wanting to do business in South Africa. It also includes people-to-people relations. This remains an issue of major concern given xenophobic attacks in South Africa. This also affects both countries’ trade interests as existing businesses in either country could become targets.
“South African companies are well represented in Nigeria but there are few Nigerian companies in South Africa. South Africa imported $2.48bn worth of goods from Nigeria in 2020 (predominantly crude oil) and exported $425m worth to Nigeria.
“Therefore a meeting between Nigeria and South Africa is always a reminder of the cultural and social bonds that both countries have invested in over a long period, but have remained underutilised.
“This visit is therefore important especially in an era of global economic downturn occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic. The two countries need to make efforts to promote bilateral ties given their distressed economies and also lead the way in promoting the African Continental Free Trade Area.
“Both countries have helped foster pan-African ideals by providing effective continental leadership. They have rallied other countries to restore peace and stability in troubled African countries.
“Nigeria and South Africa championed the birth of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the AU and established a joint commission all in a bid to promote Africa’s renaissance.
“Nigeria for instance likes to project itself as the giant of Africa. It also likes to emphasise its leadership role within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
“For its part, South Africa projects itself as a regional powerhouse in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The interconnected nature of the global economy, the political and economic challenges on the continent and the need for African unity dictate that Nigeria and South Africa collaborate.
“In doing so, they must not be seen as imperialists but as partners with other African governments,” he noted.
