Nigeria, oil and Washington

Something very interesting is evolving in the world of oil politics. This is more so as it relates to the relationships between Abuja and Washington. It does not take much to realise that the previous relationship between Nigeria and the United States of America was essentially lubricated by that greasy fluid – oil. At the moment, this landscape is changing fast. In those days, although the USA possesses oil reserves of its own, as a strategic measure she preferred to import. In the process her foreign policy calculations were hallmarked by a certain kind of pandering to oil producing nations like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and, of course, our own Nigeria. At the height of this particular scenario, Henry Kissinger and Jimmy Carter had cause to remark that American foreign policy was being modulated by some oil producing countries.

While the seemingly roseate situation lasted, there was a heady feeling on the part of Nigeria’s foreign policy elite. Way back in 1981, for instance, even the mild-mannered President Shehu Shagari went as far as to declare in the United Nations that Nigeria would not hesitate to wield the oil weapon against the supporters of South Africa. And Washington was certainly one of them.

Even then, it is instructive here to look beyond the Shehu Shagari administration. In the earlier era of the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, Nigeria attempted to use oil as a variable for re-defining her relationship with extra-African powers. Despite the intimate ties which bind Nigeria to Britain, the Obasanjo administration decided to nationalise the assets of British Petroleum. For once, the perfidious Albion was caught off-guard. Much more pertinent to note, especially in the context of this discourse, is that even in her interactions with a super-power like Washington, Nigeria wielded oil as leverage. Harvard-trained Bassey Ate contends, for instance, that largely because of oil revenues, Nigeria made vigorous bids to the United States as regards African issues from a position of relative economic independence in the bilateral sphere. Ate went on to highlight specifics by contending that under Gowon, there was an unyielding resistance to the Nixon administration; Murtala Mohammed’s historic challenge to President Ford over Angola, and Obasanjo’s progressive partnership with Jimmy Carter in the liquidation of Ian Smith’s settler colonialism in Zimbabwe.   

Even in much more recent times, especially under the Abacha regime, the oil variable was largely responsible for the cautious way in which the junta was handled. No less a person than Ken Saro-Wiwa Jnr. bore eloquent testimony to this situation. According to him, when it came to the wielding of oil-related sanctions against the Abacha regime, buck-passing was the name of the game between London and Washington.

At the moment, however, the reality of a power-status hinged on oil is over for Nigeria. It is also useful to note that even at the height of this dizzy influence, all the signs were there that ours was a transient and peripheral glow of power. Way back in 1981, I said as much in an article where I argued that the oil weapon is a double-edged feature. This was more so in a country like Nigeria where petroleum constituted almost 90 percent of exports. In other words, in a market where buyers and sellers are locked in a context of mutual needs, threats by one to the other often prove to be hollow.

Equally important is the fact that it is even a misnomer to describe Nigeria as an oil producing country. She is not. This is because that oil is being produced for Nigeria by Shell and the rest of that crowd. This is probably why someone has tersely and laconically remarked that the Nigerian state is a mere shell, while SHELL is indeed the Nigerian state!

The tragedy that is implicit in much of the immediate foregoing can be observed on our streets today. There are long queues at our fuel stations and, to boot, jerry-cans are now a common sight. These are nothing but mere symbols of a country which has been laid low by a misguided, myopic and irresponsible leadership as far as oil policy is concerned.

Meanwhile, what has essentially prompted this piece is that a coffin of sorts is currently being prepared in the US Senate for Nigeria and other oil producing countries. A bi-partisan group of US senators has just introduced a bill which seeks to lift a 40-year-long ban on US crude exports.

Much more relevant for Nigeria is the rationale for this move as offered by a Republican Senator Barrasso from Wyoming. According to him, “American exports of crude oil will undermine the influence of oil-rich countries that don’t share our values or our interests.”

Is anyone in Abuja listening? No. This is partly because of the ongoing and meaningless intra-elitist wrangling in our own National Assembly.

Kayode Soremekun