"Nigeria is India's largest trading partner in Africa,
with $16.67 billion in direct bilateral trade in the year 2012-13"
A violent clash on October 30 in a Goa village resulted
in the murder of Obodo Simeon Uzoma, and injury to six people, all of them
Nigerians. The next day, around 200 Nigerians protested by blocking a national
highway and clashing with Goa police and locals; 53 of them were arrested, most
subsequently released. In the month since then, the Goa police have detained
nine suspects.
Reactions in Nigeria have been predictably sharp: ranging from
extensive media coverage to a unanimous adoption of a motion in the country's
House of Representatives condemning the incident as "racist", asking
its Committees of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora for an
"investigation", and directing the Nigerian government to seek
compensation from India. Last Monday, Nigeria's acting foreign minister
received the deceased's family and assured them of support.
Thus, the Goa incident has triggered an avalanche of reactions straddling
multiple domains: law and order, diplomacy, people-to-people ties and media.
Unless contained, this rare incident has the potential to disrupt a successful
bilateral partnership which has benefited both countries and their peoples.
An objective look at current India-Nigerian ties brings out some surprises -
and breaks some shibboleths. Today, Nigeria is our largest trading partner in
Africa with $16.67 billion in direct bilateral trade in 2012-13. And India is
in fact Nigeria's largest trading partner. During past five years, bilateral
trade has doubled, and Indian exports tripled. Nigeria has emerged as India's
second largest supplier of crude oil outside the Gulf. Nigeria has also become
a large market for our cereals, vehicles, machinery and pharmaceuticals.
Despite a surge in Indian exports, Nigeria enjoys an annual bilateral trade
surplus of nearly $11 billion. Over 100 Indian companies have footprints in
Nigeria, with cumulative investments of over $10 billion, creating capacity and
jobs - priorities for Nigeria.
As the pyrotechnics after the Goa incident demonstrated, any narrative on
Indo-Nigerian people-to-people contacts needs to be cautious. These two are
among world's most populous countries and hard data is difficult to come by.
Though Indians have lived in Nigeria for over a century, their number is
nowhere near a million - a figure recently put out by a Nigerian diplomat.
According to the best Indian estimates, they number only around 35,000. In
fact, the corresponding official Nigerian figure is roughly half of even this
number. The inflated number is intended to suit the argument. The number of Nigerians
living in India is also uncertain, due to many Nigerians overstaying illegally
on expired or faked visas. However, here the figure of 50,000 cited by the
Nigerian High Commission appears believable. Nearly 37,000 Indian visas were
issued to Nigerians in 2012. Although nearly half of these were for medical
tourism, business and education have also spurred visits to India.
This rapid growth in Indo-Nigerian ties is despite infrequent high-level
political and business contacts and the global economic headwinds. It shows
that this synergy is based on intrinsic bilateral synergies, as the two
countries increasingly leverage their similarities and complementarities. There
is also considerable potential for further growth in such areas as
hydrocarbons, agriculture, health-care, vocational training, education, and IT.
All this evidence as to the robustness of Indo-Nigerian ties and their
potential puts the Goa incident in correct perspective. However, we still need
to prioritise people-to-people contacts as continuous strain on them can
engender prejudices and negativism. To this end, both sides should avoid
playing to their respective galleries. While transgressions of local laws
should be dealt with firmly, this should be done without profiling or stereotyping.
Any intemperate talk of reciprocity and retaliation must be abjured, as it goes
against the traditional bilateral cordiality. It would be counterproductive to
convert a win-win relationship into a zero sum game.
While most Nigerians in India are here legally, there are still conspicuous
exceptions. It is futile to pretend to have, as some Nigerian diplomats have
done recently, the sole ownership of truth and virtue. Instead of a posture of
injured innocence and living in denial, they should accept that some of the
Nigerians may have violated Indian laws.
They do have an image problem - and
not only in India. A few months ago, the Nigerian Foreign Minister stated that
over 9,500 Nigerians were in foreign prisons. The Sun, a Nigerian daily,
commented: "Most of them were reportedly arrested and convicted for
offences such as drug trafficking, credit card fraud and infractions of
immigration laws." The director-general of NDLEA, the Nigerian
anti-narcotics agency, recently put the number of Nigerians convicted abroad of
drug related crimes at "over 6,000." Recent British data stated that
Nigerians account for five per cent of all foreign prisoners. Closer home, last
year the Indian capital witnessed a case of Nigerian killing Nigerian and their
nationals being unruly in the Nigerian High Commission's premises.
These hard facts should put the Goa incident in the proper context. Instead of
engaging in either a blame game or bland diplomatic statements, the two
authorities should collaborate to curb such stray incidents. The investigation
into the Goa crime should be taken to its logical conclusion soon. Also, the
two governments should speed up the signing of enabling bilateral agreements on
extradition, the transfer of convicted persons and on mutual legal assistance.
The Nigerian initiative this week to send a negotiating team to India for this
purpose is, therefore, welcome. Meanwhile, the Goa incident should also prompt
India to put in place a regime for regular vetting of all foreigners in a
non-discriminatory, dignified and transparent manner. Media and opinion-makers,
too, must resist the temptation to publish incendiary material; allegations
need to be verified before publication. The spread of the English language and
of the internet in both countries can enable scurrilous coverage to instantly
ricochet to the other end, feeding a vicious cycle.
Above everything, all stakeholders should appreciate that even as
people-to-people ties are an important component of overall Indo-Nigerian
relations, the latter are far more important and must not become a hostage to
the former. There is an imperative need for concerted joint action to insulate
the win-win paradigm of Indo-Nigerian ties from stray consular cases, which are
bound to occur as our two friendly countries and their peoples engage more
extensively.
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
Pix of the contributor: Mahesh Sachdev recently retired as Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria
