by Edward Israel-Ayide

Summarily, nothing new is being brought to the table, the United States has gotten what it wanted; give Obama’s administration an opportunity to score a massive PR hat-trick by benefiting from photo-ops and launder his image regarding his nearly non-existent African relations. Luckily, they get to do it with the poster child of the largest democracy in Africa, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, who one can hardly say has gotten anything of note in return.

Nothing gets us Nigerians in a frenzy than when the world takes notice of our exploits. From music collaborations between our favourite Nigerian artistes and Western music stars, to cameos, features, and appearances of actors with the littlest trace of Nigerian heritage in big budget movies and TV series, we love when the world accepts that in this black earthen pot is an abundance of white pap.

Not to take anything away from us, we are perhaps the most industrious, enterprising, brilliant, tenacious and passionate people in the world. Everywhere we go, we ensure that we leave our mark behind so that those who come after may note that a Nigerian was here. Our past and present is replete with tales of Nigerians who have broken through the glass ceiling and made a name for themselves on the global stage; in music, business, journalism, movies, or the arts, our sons and daughters can stand shoulder to shoulder with the world’s best.

It was this reality that made me smile when I read excited tweets, comments and blog posts about how our President Muhammadu Buhari was being given the royal treatment by the United States government and its President, Barrack Obama. Haters might say “what’s the big deal?” but to them I will say; there are few Nigerian, nay African, leaders who the Americans have treated with the same sense of respect and high diplomatic courtesy as they have extended to Buhari.

Not to say that other Nigerian and African leaders have not sought, and in some cases fought for this attention and respect, but what makes that of Buhari extra-special is that he didn’t even have to seek the audience. All he had to do was win an election and maintain his image as an ascetic, no-frills anti-corruption crusader. His image is that of a pragmatic man who campaigned with promises of change, and someone the West should consider as a worthy ally in their quest to foster deeper economic and diplomatic ties with Nigeria as a window to the rest of Africa. Everything looked good. Red carpet treatment, lodge the president and his entourage at the prestigious Blair House that has played host to some of the most stellar of world leaders, fly the Nigerian flag at the Blair House, the works!

But why?

Why has the United States who has largely through the Obama administration remained comatose in its dealings with Africa, and most especially Nigeria, been aroused, and now pushing a narrative of “we love you, we respect you, and we want to help”? I’m not one given to conspiracy theories, but there are questions that beg answers when one looks at the relations between both countries in recent times.

Can one say that the diplomatic PDA (public display of affection) the US is showing to Nigeria is simply out of altruistic reasons? Granted that we are greatly in need of military assistance in combating Boko Haram and economic partnerships that will help to revive our struggling economy, but has America shown throughout its history that in dealing with under-developed and developed economies, it offers aid and support without seeking to undermine some of the beneficiary’s political integrity and national pride?

Under the GEJ administration, Nigeria consistently asked the US and the West for weapons to wage war against Boko Haram, a terrorist organization that the US interestingly had labelled a foreign terrorist organization in 2013, all to no avail. Hiding conveniently behind the Leahy Law, which prohibits the US from providing military assistance to countries guilty of human rights abuses, the US consistently sent us on our way empty-handed each time with “We are with you, this too shall pass, trust in the Lord in your times of adversity” type of messages. Now with Buhari’s visit to the White House, nothing much has changed in this relationship, the United States still maintains that it will do everything in its power to help Nigeria defeat Boko Haram, but failed to put its money where its mouth is. Meaning, thanks to the Leahy Law, there will be no weapons courtesy of the Americans to fight Boko Haram. Why then you ask did we travel all the way to hear a no?

But this is not the major reason behind this piece; the bone of contention I have is the neo-colonialist tendencies of the Americans in dealings with Nigeria. Prior to the April 28 elections, I read like most Nigerians of the visit to the United States Secretary of State John Kerry to Nigeria. His purpose was to come and “warn” Nigeria that it better hold free, fair and credible elections, else it would be treated like a pariah among its sister-nations, and most especially by the US. Not a bad position to have when your economy is over twenty times that of Nigeria. But what turned my stomach was the way both presidential candidates went cap in hand to listen to this “admonition of a loving father” at the hands of the US Envoy. I asked, why are these guys listening to someone come tell us how to run our local affairs? And if you must entertain such comments, why don’t you thank him, but reiterate that Nigeria is a sovereign country, very much capable of handling its local affairs? All I heard in response was cricket sounds, so when the elections were eventually held and results announced, I waited with bated breath to see what new goodies the US would be offering us since we were now BFFs. I was excited when Obama invited Buhari to the White House to come and “pay homage” and present our needs as a nation; I was confident that finally we would get weapons and military assistance to put an end to the murderous scourge that is Boko Haram among other things. And though so many were of the opinion that such a goody would come in exchange for us changing our laws and policies on homosexuality, I pushed such talk aside as mere balderdash.

Days later, the United States visit is over, and we have again been brought down to earth by the United States refusal to say in any concrete details what it would do to help Nigeria crush Boko Haram, or rebuild its crumbling economy. No concrete ROI for a trip that had in the entourage our shiny new president, state governors, political cronies and top-level Nigerian business men. As the Associated Press noted, Buhari and co “depart with little practical military assistance in his battle against the Islamist militants who have turned the northeast of his country into a bloody war zone,” As you will see in this article by the New York Times, the invitation of Buhari to the Oval office by Obama is nothing more than a “honour” considering that “no other African head of state had been invited to the Oval Office by Mr. Obama so soon after being elected”.

Beyond this great privilege that has been bestowed on us by our American BFFs however, nothing noteworthy can be said to have come from this trip. The US is helping Nigeria get a $2.1bn loan to rebuild a North-East that is being ravaged by Boko Haram, but will not provide arms to stop Boko Haram once and for all. Also we should be glad that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will continue its fight against Polio in Nigeria, interesting when you consider that Nigeria is as of now celebrating a year since the last reported case of Polio, a feat that was achieved largely due to the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Apart from this, there is the usual, “encourage American businesses to invest more in Nigeria” and other Foreign Direct Investment mumbo-jumbo that comes with these foreign trips.

Summarily, nothing new is being brought to the table, the United States has gotten what it wanted; give Obama’s administration an opportunity to score a massive PR hat-trick by benefiting from photo-ops and launder his image regarding his nearly non-existent African relations. Luckily, they get to do it with the poster child of the largest democracy in Africa, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, who one can hardly say has gotten anything of note in return. But not to lose hope, at least we got an opportunity to get our governors and President into the Oval Office and take pictures to excite us for the time being. Tomorrow we can hope.

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Edward Israel-Ayide, the Director, Business Development of BBG Media Group of Companies is a graduate of International Relations and Diplomacy

 Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.