As President Bola Tinubu visits South Africa

“The two countries-South Africa and Nigeria – are very important in our continent and when the two countries work together, which we are, and we do things together, it benefits all.” – President Cyril Ramaphosa

Given the shared history between Nigeria and South Africa, as well as the immense opportunities for cooperation and collaboration between these countries, there is a tinge of irony in the fact that the relationship between the two, forged on the back of the illustrious role played by Nigeria in supporting Blacks in their fight against the apartheid regime in South Africa, has not thrived as much as one would have expected. This irony is especially pronounced with the sense of brotherhood and hope that was ignited with the ‘thank-you’ visit by Nelson Mandela to Nigeria in 1990, a few months after his release from incarceration in prison for 27 years, having been put on trial in 1962 following his visit to Nigeria to seek support for the armed struggle against the apartheid forces. That hope will be rekindled with the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the two countries in February 1994, two months before the first democratic election in South Africa, which ushered in Nelson Mandela as president of the country.

But the history between Nigeria and South Africa predates those two occurrences, as the ties can be traced back to the immediate post-independence period for Nigeria, which saw Nigeria immediately taking a frontline position in the drive for decolonisation in other parts of Africa and an end to apartheid in South Africa. According to Nagar and Patterson’s recollection, “During the 1960s and 1970s, Nigeria took a leading role in supporting Black liberation movements in Southern Africa, including the African National Congress (ANC). The country’s leaders also played a pivotal role in the establishment of the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid in 1963 and, for decades, chaired the committee, which oversaw the implementation of international sanctions against the apartheid regime, including sports and cultural boycotts; the provision of assistance to the victims of apartheid; and the campaign to publicise apartheid’s inhumanity and seek the release of political prisoners. Nigeria further championed the anti-apartheid cause at the Commonwealth, taking a leading role on economic sanctions and sports boycotts. After the 1976 Soweto uprising in South Africa, Nigerian students contributed financially towards the education of Black South Africans; the Nigerian High Commission in Botswana issued hundreds of Nigerian passports to South Africans who had fled the country; and Nigerian civil servants contributed portions of their salaries to the South African Relief Fund, which supported the anti-apartheid movement and was popularly known as the “Mandela Tax.” In addition, hundreds of South Africans studied in Nigeria—many of whom went on to occupy key positions in government, the private sector, and academia in post-apartheid South Africa”.

Reports have it that Nigeria spent an estimated $17 billion in support of the liberation movements in Southern Africa, while a reported $10 million donation was made to President Nelson Mandela when he visited Nigeria in 1990 as a campaign contribution to the ANC.

Unfortunately, only a few years after the election and the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between Nigeria and South Africa, the relationship was rocked by the principled stand of President Nelson Mandela for South Africa against the anti-democratic actions of General Sani Abacha as leader of Nigeria, who rebuffed pleas from President Nelson Mandela and other world leaders, going ahead to execute the environmental and human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Ogoni activists in November 1995. In addition to that was the incarceration of political prisoners, which included MKO Abiola, winner of the June 12, 1993, presidential elections, and General Olusegun Obasanjo, who, as co-leader of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group on South Africa, had visited Mandela in jail in 1986—becoming the first Black non-South African to be granted this privilege.

It wasn’t until 1999 that the reset button on the relationship between the two countries was pressed with the election of Olusegun Obasanjo and Thabo Mbeki as Presidents of Nigeria and South Africa, respectively. There was an obvious rapport between the two leaders, made easier by their life experiences, with Mbeki having once lived in Nigeria and Obasanjo having forged a long-standing relationship with the new leaders of South Africa from his first period in office as Nigeria’s Head of State. The collaboration between the two leaders, which was described by President Obasanjo as “the burden of turning around the fortunes of our continent,” covered peacebuilding efforts in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Côte d’Ivoire. That collaboration, in part, led to the transformation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) into the African Union (AU) and the creation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), as well as the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). Even though the bromance between the two leaders experienced a glitch between 2005 and 2006, the level of understanding that characterised that period was unprecedented. According to President Olusegun Obasanjo, “There was a perfect understanding between Nigeria and South Africa when I was president of Nigeria and President Mbeki was in charge. South Africa will not show interest in any position Nigeria wants, and Nigeria will not show interest in any position South Africa wants. Both of us have [our] way[s] of lobbying other African countries to support us for any position.”

Beyond the activities on the continent and other fronts, one of the most significant accomplishments of that era was the setting up of the Bi-National Commission (BNC) in 1999 between Nigeria and South Africa. Originally jointly chaired by the Deputy President of South Africa and the Vice President of Nigeria, in March 2016, during the state visit by South Africa, the BNC was elevated to a presidential level. The BNC has recorded significant achievements, including the Bilateral Trade Agreement, the Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investment Agreements, and the Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement. There are currently thirty-four agreements and memoranda of understanding between the two countries that cover a wide range of fields, including economic, technical, scientific, social, and tourism, amongst others. A number of high-level visits between the two countries have been exchanged, including the visit to Nigeria by President Ramaphosa to attend President Tinubu’s inauguration ceremony held in 2023 and, in turn, President Tinubu’s attendance of the inauguration of President Ramaphosa in June 2024.

Having had the 10th session of the BNC in Abuja from November 29 to December 1, 2021, the 11th session will be held in Cape Town on December 3, 2024, during the working visit by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to South Africa. Co-chaired by the two Presidents, the BNC is preceded by the Senior Officials Meeting held on 28 to 29 November 2024 and the Ministerial Meeting on 2 December 2024.

This session of the Bi-National Commission (BNC) is being held at an interesting time for both countries and the world, especially with the election of Donald Trump as the President of the United States of America, who has already signalled an intention to wield the big stick of a 100% tariff in the direction of BRICS, of which South Africa is a member, if they move away from the US dollar as the world’s main reserve currency. “We require a commitment from these countries that they will neither create a new BRICS currency nor back any other currency to replace the mighty U.S. dollar, or they will face 100 percent tariffs and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. economy,” President-elect Trump says.

That is a reminder to two of the largest economies in Africa that the world economic order is set to take a swing away from what it once was, requiring new alliances to be forged or existing ones with prospects to be strengthened. Bilateral trade between the two countries has inched up over the years, with exports from Nigeria increasing from $1.72B in 2017 to $2.25B in 2022 at an annualised rate of 5.46 percent, with crude oil being the major export, while exports from South Africa to Nigeria have increased at an annualised rate of 2.22 percent, from $447M in 2017 to $521M in 2022. For the first half of 2024, Nigeria has exported goods estimated at N1.48 trillion to South Africa with imports estimated at N252.9 billion.

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But then, just as the two countries collaborated in strengthening the institutional governance architecture through the creation of the AU, NEPAD, and the APRM, Nigeria and South Africa should not only be working hard to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries but should cascade into renewed commitment and efforts to achieving the mandate of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to eliminate trade barriers and boost intra-Africa trade, bringing into life the world’s largest free trade area with 55 countries and 8 Regional Economic Communities (RECs).

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has maintained that the free movement of people is a cornerstone of regional integration and of the Bank’s work in advancing the African Union’s (AU) vision to create the world’s largest single market in Africa—the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)—arguing that greater mobility of Africans across the continent will facilitate the creation of larger, more attractive markets—elevating intra-African trade to more consequential levels. To help promote that, AfDB has set up the Africa Visa Openness Index, which measures the extent of openness of African countries to visitors from other African countries by analysing each country’s visa requirements to show which African countries most facilitate travel to their territory. It is concerning that countries like Nigeria and South Africa, which should take the lead in this direction, are still lagging. While Nigeria has experienced an upward move, ranked sixth among the 54 countries in the 2024 Index, South Africa is ranked twenty-ninth. It is evidence, in the words of Ambassador Minata Samate Cessouma, Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs, and Social Development, African Union Commission, that “there remains a long way to go, and much room for progress on visa openness to translate into deeper and more progressive commitments on facilitating the movement of businesspersons and service providers across Africa’s borders.”.

Over and above trade, of greater concern is the rather tetchy relationship between Nigerians and South Africans, which largely revolves around the ill-treatment of Nigerians resident in South Africa. Too often the attendant tension has boiled over, leading to xenophobic attacks resulting in loss of lives and attacks on businesses. One ugly manifestation of that was the recent online harassment of Chidinma Adetshina, leading to her withdrawal from the Miss South Africa beauty contest. We hope that her emergence as the first runner-up in the Miss Universe 2024 competition and Miss Universe Africa and Oceania will lead to the sheathing of swords and cessation of hostilities among online combatants, reminding us that we are all Africans, irrespective of which part of the continent we reside in, and that we are better off as one.

President Tinubu’s visit to South Africa is symbolic, coming 30 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations. Also, it is now 15 years since the Bi-National Commission (BNC) was set up. The BNC, we are told, is expected to further deepen the existing political relations between South Africa and Nigeria and celebrate thirty years of unbroken diplomatic relations between the two countries while providing an opportunity to explore new possible areas of economic, trade, and investment cooperation. A visa-on-arrival policy between both countries will send a positive signal. It must be restated that it is time to move beyond the signing of memoranda of understanding and agreements to move as leaders on the continent to collaboratively drive the integration of the peoples of Africa, starting with the promotion of the vision to ease cross-border travel, boost trade, investment, and regional integration across Africa. Synergy rather than rivalry will better serve both countries and the African continent.

Simbo Olorunfemi is a specialist on Nigeria’s foreign policy and managing editor of Africa Enterprise, while Ade Adefeko is director of corporate and regulatory affairs at Olam Agri, chairman of the Industrial Group, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), and honorary consul of Botswana in Lagos.