The Federal government has insisted that, for anyone to declare Nigeria a failed state on the basis of its security challenges, is “preposterous.”
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated this in response to a recent declaration by the Council on Foreign Affairs (CFA) in the United States that “Nigeria is at a point of no return with all the signs of a failed nation.”
The Minister stressed that “Nigeria is not, and cannot be a failed state.”
Mohammed said the declaration by the Council does not represent an official US policy.
“This declaration is merely the opinions of two persons – former US Ambassador to Nigeria and a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, John Campbell, and the President Emeritus of World Peace Foundation, Robert Rotberg.
“Declaring any nation a failed state is not done at the whims and caprices of one or two persons, no matter their status.
“Just because Nigeria is facing security challenges, which we have acknowledged and which we are tackling, does not automatically make the country a failed state,’’ he said.
“Yes, the Council on Foreign Relations is a prominent U.S. public policy Think Tank, but its opinion is not that of the U.S.
“Like former U.S Senator Daniel Moynihan said: ”You are entitled to your opinion but not your facts.”
Mohammed reiterated that Nigeria does not meet the criteria for a nation to become a failed state.
He listed the criteria to include inability to provide public service and inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community.
“Yes, the non-state actors may be rampaging in some parts of the country, they have not and cannot overwhelm this government,’’ he vowed.
The minister noted that it is not the first time it is predicted that Nigeria would fail or break up.
“We were even once told that Nigeria would break up in 2015.
“But their doomsday predictions have all failed and will fail again,’’ he said.
The declaration by CFA that Nigeria is a failed state and would eventually collapsed was contained in a research finding recently released through Campbell and Rotberg.
Lending weight to Lai Mohammed’s assertion, the Presidency also shrugged off the tag of a failed state ascribed to Nigeria.
In a direct rebuttal to the article published in the current edition of Foreign Affairs magazine, where Nigeria was painted in the garb of a failed state, the Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity), Mallam Garba Shehu wrote:
“Dear Sir, The latest article on Nigeria in Foreign Affairs titled ‘The Giant of Africa is Failing’ is unfair both to a magazine with such an esteemed pedigree and to its readers.
“Ambassador Campbell has been predicting the collapse of Nigeria for several years. He is of course entitled to his opinions, even where events consistently prove him wrong.
“But facts should not be bent to support distorted opinions.
Let me give you one example.
“The authors write:
“At an April meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Buhari reportedly requested that the headquarters of the U.S. Africa Command be moved from Germany to Nigeria so that it would be closer to the fight against jihadi groups in the country’s north.”
“President Buhari did not request that AFRICOM move to Nigeria. The transcript of the call with Secretary Blinken is available on the State Department’s own website.
It’s not just a question of the invented addition of ‘to Nigeria’ with regard to AFRICOM. It sums up a piece that attempts – subtly but revealingly – to shift facts to suit an argument.
“Nigeria faces multiple challenges, not least of which is the dissemination of fake news and prejudiced opinion.
“This is something we have come to expect from partisan blogs and politically motivated lobbies. It is still a surprise, and a disappointment, to see them joined by Foreign Affairs.”