President Muhammadu Buhari’s three day trip to India was a very eventful one. The President whose profile as a Statesman is rising correspondingly with Nigeria’s reputation in the international community was in high spirits all through the trip and impressed the audience he met notably Nigerians in India and of course, his Indian hosts.
Some critics went to town immediately the trip was announced to ask, Why India, what is happening there? The thinking of these people is that Nigeria has not much to gain from India and that it is better that President Buhari stay at home and figure out how to tackle the myriad of issues that face his government.
While it is true that several challenges face the Buhari government and he needs to come to grips with them, it should be stated that no country is an Island and it is through international diplomacy and interaction that leaders like Buhari would get ideas and even help to solve some of their domestic problems. Second, the trip to India was not a jamboree or sightseeing. The trip was the gathering of leaders of African States and their Indian friends in the Summit of the 3rd India- Africa forum founded by Indian leaders to enable them rub minds and exchange ideas on different aspect of their relations with Africa and the challenges and future of that relationship. The forum was initiated in 2008 by then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi, the Indian capital, while Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was the host of the second summit.
On a bilateral level, President Buhari is the second Nigeria leader to visit India, after the epoch- making visit by then President Shehu Shagari during the administration of late Indian Prime minister, Indira Gandhi. The stage for visits between Nigerian and Indian leaders was set in 1962 when that great Indian nationalist and Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru visited Nigeria and became friends with the then Nigerian Prime Minister, late Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.
India is a very important country though it is still largely a third world country with a difference. India despite its huge population of over 1.2 million people and the developmental and social problems it faces, remains an emerging economic power, a leader in science and technology and a country that is able to manage in a respectable manner the problems manifested by countries with large population and scarce resources. Nigeria can learn a thing or two about resource management and how to fight poverty that afflicts millions of people. Perhaps, not many people know that the Indian government is able to provide subsidized food for about 600 million of its poorest citizens monthly, to save the latter from starvation!
Now, back to the India- Africa summit. India has had a long relationship with Africa courtesy of British colonialism. This dates back to the early 18th century when the British used cheap and available Indian labor to open up some of its colonies in Southern Africa, East Africa and the Indian Ocean nation of Mauritius. There were also significant Indian population who played prominent roles in the colonial and post- colonial economies of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Indians came into Nigeria as traders, teachers, business people and small scale manufacturers during the era of British rule in Nigeria and since then, the relationship and opportunities available to them and their Nigerian hosts have grown tremendously.
As President Buhari and his team must have observed during their stay in the country, there is a large population of Nigerians, mostly young people who are pursuing professional and higher education in the country. India has recently emerged as a leading nation in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), space science and exploration, human medicine and pharmaceuticals as well as the development of mass transportation expertise like railways. Trade relations between India and Africa is about $70 billion this year, while India has more than $30 billion investment across the continent in a variety of sectors.
India is also an agricultural power. It is able to feed its huge population and export food notably rice to other countries, African States and Nigeria inclusive. It is also a world leader in textile production and technology, automobiles, steel production and computer software. In the area of education and knowledge, there was a time that Indian teachers were common sight in many of our educational institutions, including up to tertiary level. This writer benefitted from instruction by Indian teachers in science and Mathematics while in Secondary School. This situation was the same in many African countries. Similarly, in the area of Defense and Security, quite a number of Nigerian military officers, both under colonial rule and in independent Nigeria were educated at military institutions in India while that country often times through mutual agreement have sent military advisers and trainers to Nigeria.
Thus it can be said that India and Africa have come a long way as the latter, courtesy of colonial rule played an early role in the development process in Africa. Therefore it is indeed desirable and necessary that India and her associates in Africa meet occasionally to rub minds on their place in the modern world which has become more closely- knit by technology and scientific progressand for the two sides to exchange notes on the challenges and opportunities for their development in contemporary times.
The India- Africa forum is worthy of being sustained and strengthened. President Buhari and those African leaders who were in Delhi were quite in order as India is no stranger to Africa. Also in view of the advances and progress it has made in many areas of human endeavor, India has a lot that African States can learn, borrow or copy to improve their countries.
One area where the sights and sounds of India, would recommend itself to discerning and committed leaders like President Buhari, is responsible leadership. In spite of its teething problems and shortcomings, India through the ages has been lucky to have patriotic leaders and national elite committed to progress. The Indian government at every epoch held as an article of faith the need to develop India in such a way that the people would still be masters of their destiny. Indian nationalism runs down the minds of all Indians their social status notwithstanding and this has ensured that the Indian elite never forgot that the responsibility of the State is to create opportunities and happiness for the majority of its people.
Though a technologically advancing nation, Indian technology is one that can be recommended for use by poor African countries that seek to improve the lot of their people. In the area of small scale industries, agriculture and textiles, India- Africa relations can be harnessed to lift more people in Africa out of poverty, degradation and hopelessness.
African countries who attend the forum with India can ask for Indian experts and specialists in fields where they are lacking bearing in mind that such specialists would be less costly but more productive than their counterparts from the West who for the past 60 years of post- colonial Africa- Western relations could not make much impact on Africa’s development.
Finally, given all the above, the India- Africa forum in the thinking of leaders like Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari, will enhance and impact on South- South cooperation which in addition to growing relations between African countries and China, holds the key to the eventual development and emancipation of African states.
Louis Okoroma, a Public Affairs Analyst wrote from Abuja. He is on [email protected]