A JOURNAL OF POLITICS AND CULTURE IN NIGERIA

Mar 2013 Vol 1 No 1

De-Tribed

NIGERIA IN A CHANGING WORLD

Contributors: Chris Ngwodo, Kasim Sodangi, Leonard Ugbajah, Dike Chukwumerije A publication of the Initiative for the Advancement of Good Leadership

Contents Editorial NIGERIA AND REGIONAL SECURITY 7 Chris Ngwodo THE CLIMATE IS AGAINST US TOO? Kasim Sodangi 10

NIGERIA AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY: Threats and Opportunities 14 Leonard Ugbajah DEFINING NIGERIAS FOREIGN POLICY IN THE 21st CENTURY 19 Dike Chukwumerije Contributors

Editorial What exactly does it mean to be a nationalist? It has become one of those words in our political lexicon that means very little. Most times, when people use it they mean they are not tribalistic. But thats like answering the question, Who are you? with the answer I am not you. Yes, but who are you? Beyond a vague allusion to being above parochial sentiments, what policies and positions flow logically from being nationalist? To me nationalist is a body of ideas - an actual perspective. There is a way in which the idea of being Nigerian will appeal to a generation of people born and bred outside their states of origin, educated in Unity schools, grown up in a sociallymixed Nigeria, not as fluent in mother-tongues but multilingual all the same. This magazine is dedicated to articulating that perspective. It wont be easy because the perception that Nigerian is an indirect identity, accessible only through the primary ethno-tribal identities, is still very strong. But every identity is a story; if it has dedicated storytellers, it will live. This first issue speaks to Nigerias external environment. She lives in world that affects her as a composite entity, even if her own citizens may not see her as one. The threats coming from regional instability, climatic factors and wider global economic trends are very real, real enough to sink the proverbial ship of state. But, often times, it takes grievous external threats to bring national character and identity sharply into focus. As the worlds most populous black nation, Nigeria occupies a symbolic position in the universe of ideas. And the real tragedy would be to realize the value of the state we have only after we have lost it. With this I am happy to introduce you to this maiden edition of De-Tribed: Nigeria in a Changing World. Enjoy. Dike Chukwumerije March 2013

NIGERIA AND REGIONAL SECURITY

There are those who argue that with its myriad of domestic challenges, Nigeria should eschew foreign engagements and focus her resources on fixing the home front. They contend that however competent a physician Nigeria may be to the rest of Africa, she needs to heal herself. The case for putting our own house in order before embarking on any grand internationalist schemes is a compelling one. However, we should not view the call for a robust foreign policy and the need to revitalize our economy as an either/or proposition. This is a false choice. Insularism is an impossible luxury by reason of Nigerias geographical location and the realities of a world in which local trends and global currents intersect at multiple levels.

By CHRIS NGWODO

Nigeria is a weak state surrounded by even weaker states. Despite her vulnerabilities, she is by far the richest and most militarily powerful state in West Africa, and her economy dwarfs that of the rest of the sub-region put together. In the event of widespread sub-regional instability, she would be nearly every refugees destination of choice. Given her lax border controls, Nigeria would suffer adversely if neighbouring countries, already suffering from varying degrees of instability, were to collapse. In the early 1980s, for instance, the collapse of agrarian communities in the Sahel due to severe drought sparked off an uncontrolled migration
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into Northern Nigeria which coincided with the emergence of Maitatsine, an ultraviolent Islamist anarchist cult founded by a Cameroonian national. Maitatsine launched sporadic revolts against the Nigerian state that lasted from 1980 to 1985. Since 2004, chronic droughts in the Sahel and the consequent disintegration of agrarian communities have once again coincided with an Islamist insurgency in Northern Nigeria, this time, spearheaded by Boko Haram. Noteworthy News Today Mali, tomorrow Nigeria for al-Qaeda This is no coincidence. Nigeria 22 JANUARY, 2013 is vulnerable to security threats RICHARD DOWDEN http://www.punchng.com/opinion/today-maligenerated by the convergence tomorrow-nigeria-for-al-qaeda/ of insurgency, organized crime, sovereignty-deficient states Until recently Mali was famous only for its and sundry non-state actors music and for Timbuktu our nickname for nowhere. Suddenly, the French are invading in the Sahel and the Maghreb. this huge, poor, sparsely populated, landlocked Northeastern Nigeria has African country, much of which is an empty desert historically been prone to crossthe North of the country, the Sahara Desert, border banditry carried out by has been home to Salafist rebels pushed out from Algeria in the late 1990s and targeted armed gangs based in Chad and by militant Islamist movements inspired Niger Republic. Intelligence and funded by Saudi Wahhabi Islamic fundamentalists, preaching jihad against the sources have long since West identified linkages between Boko Suddenly, from being a blank space on the map, the Sahara from Senegal in the west to Haram and other Sahelian and Somalia in the east is beginning to look like Maghrebian extremist groups the springboard for a new Islamist offensive by the al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and including Al Qaeda in the Islamic other Islamist groups. Mali borders seven Maghreb, AQIM. African countries; next-door Niger, an equally We must consider the implications of western military incursions into Africa for the sovereignty of her beleaguered nation-states. America has established bases in Burkina Faso and Niger for reconnaissance drones which it
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fragile state, another five. According to Africa Confidential, a well-respected newsletter, the Islamists are targeting Mauritania next, with its rich fishing grounds and mineral wealth, and then Niger, which has uranium and oil. But the biggest prize would be the destabilisation of Nigeria to the southeast, shortly to take over from South Africa as Africas biggest economy and chief foreign supplier of oil for the United States

says are strictly for surveillance. Drone warfare of the sort America has waged in the Afghan-Pakistan border area could radicalize Muslim communities and create a militant Islamist solidarity between aggrieved societies across the world and local actors in the Sahel thereby escalating instability both within and immediately without our borders. These are complications that we can ill-afford. Nigerias pirate-infested southern coastal waters are now ranked the second most dangerous in the world after Somalias, with possibilities for convergence between oil thieves and pirates in the Niger Delta and drug traffickers in the narco-state of Guinea Bissau. Neighbours like Sao Tome and Noteworthy News Principe and Equatorial Guinea are Nigeria hit by three pirate attacks in eight also at risk from the growing clout days: agency 14 FEBRUARY 2013 of such non-state actors. Extensive JOE BROCK and JONATHAN SAUL maritime cooperation with our (Editing by MICHAEL HOLDEN) http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/14/ coastal neighbours is necessary to us-nigeria-piracy-idUSBRE91D18220130214 curb piracy and oil theft. With weak states surrounding her, Nigeria cannot afford to be insular. Even as she implements muchneeded repairs internally, she also has to engage in strengthening the states around her. The transnational nature of security threats strongly suggests that nation-building is something we should be pursuing at home and in the near-abroad, our defined sphere of influence. In the current realities, it is impossible to fashion a national security strategy that does not take cognizance of the structural vulnerabilities of our neighbours. Therefore, an activist foreign policy is not a wasteful indulgence; it is a strategic necessity.
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(Reuters) - Pirates attacked three vessels off the coast of Nigeria in the space of eight days this month, killing one person, a maritime agency said, in a sign of worsening security off the coast of Africas biggest oil exporter... Piracy off the Nigerian coast and elsewhere in the Gulf of Guinea is on the rise. The coastline, rich in natural resources such as cocoa and metals, is second only to the waters off Somalia for the risk of pirate attacks, which drives up shipping and oil industry costs. There are also growing concerns about the onshore creeks of the Niger Delta, where oil theft and kidnapping is rife...

THE CLIMATE IS AGAINST US TOO? To imagine that the Sahara Desert was once a sea! Even now, the worlds largest groundwater reservoirs lie beneath its sands, twice the size of the Caspian Sea. Certainly, research has shown that Lake Chad is a shrunken sea, still receding to this day.1 It is safe, therefore, to assume that the now arid Northern Nigeria was swampy once, not unlike todays Niger Delta. I remember my father telling me about his childhood, with swamps and crocodiles around the ancient homestead in Katsina. Frankly, all that is hard to imagine now, but looking at the effects of desertification in the last 20 years, my fathers stories seem very plausible.

By KASIM SODANGI

One thing is abundantly clear, though - the desert is upon us. We certainly cannot grow groundnuts like we used to. In 2005, former President Olusegun Obasanjo proposed a Green Wall Initiative, an ambitious plan to stem desertification by planting trees in a line stretching from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east. The plan was adopted by the AU in 2007, and the 11 countries involved signed a convention to implement it in 2010. Major funding for the project was even obtained from the Global Environment Facility in 2011.2 But not much has been heard or seen since.
1 A little new light:selected historical writings of Professor Abdullahi Smith, Volume 1; http://www. boinc.sk/clanky/libyas-great-man-made-river; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Chad 2 http://www.thegef.org/gef/great-green-wall

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Desertification has meant that Fulani herdsmen have had to move further and further South to graze cattle. Clashes with local farmers have been reported from Jibiya in Katsina State to Delta State in the Niger Delta.3 Violent clashes with Fulanis are tangled up with other tribal-religious wars that have been reported in Plateau, Nassarawa, Taraba and Benue States. This conflict has been ongoing for decades and shows no sign of abating any time soon, unless the government decides to take firm action against some of the root causes of this conflict. When will that happen? Your guess is as good as mine. Desertification is only one side of the story, we have seen more rainfall in the last few years than any time in recent memory; and it is very probable that we will see even more. This singular phenomenon can be credited with Nigerias 7% average GDP growth in the last 5 or 6 years. Abundant rain has meant more agriculture and farming to feed the population explosion in Nigeria. This has meant larger consumption in the country, causing agriculture to contribute a whooping 40% to our GDP (by the way oil only contributes about 14%)4. The bad news is that all this growth within the agricultural sector is coming almost entirely from subsistence agriculture, and is, therefore, threatened by the very rains that have been its driving force. Last year we saw rains like never before. Its not an isolated event; this year may be worse, why? NASA reports that the worlds median temperature has been rising steadily in the last twenty years, every year hotter than the previous in living memory. It simply means more ocean water evaporating into sky, and heavier rains bound to fall. We may see the complete inundation of communities around riverbanks. Imagine the images we saw last year; state capitals immersed in water - Makurdi, Lokoja, Yenegoa- densely populated towns from Yola to the Delta ravaged by mammoth
3 http://newsbreaknigeria.com/news/Gov.+Uduaghan+confirms+clashes+between+Fulani+herdsmen, +farmers 4 Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 26 March 2012

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floods. Chances are this may get worse in the coming years. People will have to emigrate. It wont be painless; conflicts over land will only escalate. Land is already at the Noteworthy News Expect More Floods in 2013, NIMET heart of the most violent clashes in Warns Nigeria; well, brace yourself, its 17 FEBRUARY 2013 YEMI AKINSUYI very likely to get worse. There is a ray of light. The leadership The Director General, Nigerian of Lagos State has demonstrated that Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Dr. we need not fold our arms in the Anthony Anuforom has warned that based on prevalent conditions that war against natural forces. The state characterised this years Seasonal Rainfall has taken action - dredging canals, Prediction (SRP), more rainfall, which might eventually lead to more floods reclaiming land and building buffers. should be expected in some parts of the In truth, as positive as these measures country this year. Anuforom identified Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, may seem, it is doubtful if what has Kwara and other neighbouring states as been done can stem the coming tide. top on priority list, adding that there will be lower amount of rainfall especially The situation is fierce. The problems for the Southwest compared to the in Lagos, sometimes, emanate from devastating flood of 2012 outside the state, where Governor Babatunde Fashola has no jurisdiction. Some critical infrastructure to control tributaries that empty into Lagos is needed. But things like these can only happen if the Federal Government steps in. When will that happen? On the whole the risks posed to Nigeria by climate change are clear; particularly the potential to exacerbate existing socio-political tensions. It appears little or nothing has been done to mitigate impending doom! The Dangote Committee, set up after the 2012 floods, is yet to have a plan. The terms of reference of this committee, in relation to what is needed, puts its best efforts as feeble. More has to be done; other fires remote to climatic issues must be doused, or this may provide fresh impetus for the conflagration. Primarily, peace building among communities in Nigeria must
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http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/ expect-more-floods-in-2013-nimetwarns/139740/

be accelerated. Then a right thinking government will need to have a new vision. Nigeria, as it is, in terms of geography and structure, may not survive the challenges of the future easily. The big question remains if the government of Nigeria can do anything at all to tackle all this?

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NIGERIA AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY: Threats and Opportunities

By LEONARD UGBAJAH

The political economy of globalisation poses various kinds of challenges to the nations of the earth. Recent developments - the collapse of financial systems, the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, the emerging currency war, the shift of manufacturing from West to East, deadlock in the WTO negotiations, improved technology for the extraction of shale gas - are reshaping the global political economy. This ever-changing scenario presents both threats and opportunities, and nations that have remained relevant over time are those with the foresight to anticipate change. This article will highlight two critical threats to Nigeria, arising from this flux.

Uncertainties in the Global Energy Market The seriousness of this threat is underpinned by Nigerias unenviable status as a mono-product economy. Crude oil and natural gas exports still account for 80% of government revenue and about 95% of foreign exchange earnings. What then becomes of our nation when our export markets shut their doors on us as a
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result of their energy sufficiency? Already, there are reports that the US, which buys 38% of Nigerian crude oil (2012 figures), may stop buying Nigerian oil by 2014. With the anticipated fall in US demand for crude, suppliers are looking to the EU and Asian markets. Would Nigeria be able to compete in these markets? Not only do the longer travel distances to these markets from Nigeria increase the price of our crude relative to those from nearer sources, advances in technology allowing easier utilization of heavier grades of crude oil have further eroded the attractiveness of Nigerian crude, traditionally prized for its lightness. Furthermore, the energy policies of most developed countries encourage massive investment in renewable energy research as an alternative to hydrocarbons and fossil fuels, pointing to a longterm fall in demand for crude. In the short and medium terms, the increasing utilization of shale gas, as well as the discovery of crude oil and gas deposits in more African countries, will definitely affect how much Nigerian crude
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Discovery in US, India, other places threatens Nigeria MONDAY, 11 MARCH 2013 ALEXANDER CHIEJINA http://www.businessdayonline.com/ NG/index.php/analysis/features/52771discovery-in-us-india-other-placesthreatens-nigeria Nigerias continued dominance in oil production in Africa may soon be history following current oil deposit discoveries in other African countries. There are numerous discoveries in sub-Saharan Africa in the last five years, with the majority coming from East African countries like Tanzania, Uganda and Mozambique. By extension, Nigerias revenue profile is likely to suffer the same fate too. The competition has become stiffer with the discovery of shale oil (light tight oil) that is rapidly emerging as a significant and relatively low-cost new unconventional resource in the US, with domestic energy boom leading to sharp cut in demand for Nigerias crude oil With oil accounting for around 80 percent of government revenue and 95 percent of foreign exchange reserves, Nigeria looks vulnerable to any negative shifts in oil and gas prices and demand. The US accounted for 35 percent of oil exports from Nigeria in 2011. But it imported around 40 percent less last year, taking purchases from Nigeria to their lowest in over 20 years, according to EIA data. This drop in demand has already resulted in Nigerian barrels selling for around 40 cents, lower than its official selling price, and left dozens of cargoes unsold and rolled over to future months, according to research by Africas Ecobank.Analysts have previously warned that Nigeria would eventually have to look to different markets to compensate for a fall in exports to the US, and have predicted its sales could shift toward Asia

Noteworthy News

can fetch in the international market. At the last count, Ghana, Niger, Chad and Uganda had all joined the league of oil producing nations. The fact that Nigeria still depends almost solely on crude oil exports for government revenue is one of the greatest failures of successive Nigerian governments. We have ambitious policy documents and targets for economic diversification, but have consistently lacked the political will to act. If there is a serious slump in global demand for crude oil and natural gas in the near future, or if the price of Nigerian crude suffers a sharp drop, the country would certainly be in trouble. There is need for Nigeria to begin preparing for this eventuality, as everything points towards it happening at some point. Uncertainties over the EU-ECOWAS Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) - industrialisation and regional integration at stake. Our founding fathers were well aware of the value of closer economic and political ties among African nations. This is the reason behind the OAU (now AU), ECOWAS and other regional economic communities. The proliferation of regional blocs across the globe attests to the rightness of their vision, and the viability of this approach to economic development. Following the revised ECOWAS Treaty, therefore, the West African States firmly adopted the goal of regional integration. This process is supposed to begin with a Free Trade Agreement, progress to a Customs Union, and culminate in a Monetary Union. This is the vision for the ECOWAS Common Market. It is a vision that is now seriously threatened by ongoing negotiations between the EU and ECOWAS countries on an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). Some of the specific threats posed by the EPA include:
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Dismantling the gains of regional integration The EPA negotiations were set to end by 31st December 2007, with the new trade arrangement coming into effect from the 1st of January 2008. Following the many controversies about the substance of the proposed agreement, ECOWAS was not able to conclude negotiations as scheduled. Noteworthy News Open your market cautiously under This scenario put some countries, like EPA, Cape Verdean Minister warns Ghana and Cote dIvoire, in precarious ECOWAS MARCH 25, 2013 situations. These two countries were BASSEY UDO faced with the possibility of losing their http://premiumtimesng.com/ business/126883-open-your-marketmarket access to the EU for cocoa and cautiously-under-epa-cape-verdeanother produce, which formed the main minister-warns-ecowas.html stay of their national economies. The In spite of increasing pressure from EU exploited this apprehension and the European Union, EU, Cape Verdes Minister of External Relations, Jorge offered them an Interim EPAwhich they Borges, has warned the Economic both initialled and signed with grave Community of West African States, ECOWAS, of dire consequences if implications for regional integration. they concede and allow 80-per cent of This move had the effect of breaking the regions markets and economy to be opened up under a new Economic regional solidarity and putting the Partnership Agreement, EPA, being West African States under pressure negotiated by the two regions for a free trade area between them. to hastily conclude an agreement, or The EU has been insisting that West risk a fragmented regional market. A Africa opens its market by 80 per cent over 15 years period, against its fragmented regional market has dire commitment to offer 70 per cent over economic consequences, particularly 25 years under the proposed economic pact... for Nigeria. Apart from having to to the minister, the region ran compete with products from the EU in According the risk of having its market taken over by European goods if they concede to the regional market, products imported the suggested opening of its market by into the regional market from the EU the EU... He reiterated West Africas position eventually find their way into Nigeria, that the impending agreement should through the numerous smuggling promote the regions socio-economic development agenda and not to kill its routes, with grave implications for market and economy... local industries. Creating a skewed system of economic dependency The EPA is designed in such a way that the West African countries
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would have no chance at real industrialisation. How can they, when they are expected to open their economies to duty free imports from the EU? This translates in real terms into continuing economic dependence; a situation where these countries remain perpetual suppliers of raw materials to the EU and other major economies, and perpetual importers of finished goods. And what do they get in return for this lop-sided economic relationship? A non-binding pledge on the part of the EU to maintain development aid to the region, in effect trading industralization for a continued dependence on charity! Conclusion These two factors- uncertainties over the global energy market and uncertainties over the EU-ECOWAS EPA- are two external economic threats facing Nigeria today which I consider to be quite significant. However, they also indicate the options open to us as a nation to steer our economic destiny in the right direction. First, we need to diversify our economy by using our oil resources, while they last, to invest in massive infrastructural, and human resource, development; and in other schemes that would simulate local productivity. Secondly, we need to bear in mind that we have a vast market within the ECOWAS region and must be proactive in protecting our interests in the region. We need a regional economic engagement strategy that will counter the influence of the EU in West Africa. This is also true for the influence of other countries, like China. In truth, the economic survival of the region cannot be separated from our own political stability, economic prosperity and internal security.

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DEFINING NIGERIAS FOREIGN POLICY IN THE 21st CENTURY

There was a time when nations, confronted with the challenges of economic growth, had the option of shipping people off to new lands to ease population pressures; colonizing others to open up new markets for their products; and closing borders to protect indigenous industries. But, now, yesterdays pillagers have become todays first world. So, there are immigration laws; and surplus labor from Africa cannot simply sail across the Mediterranean to the new lands of Europe. No, they will not be hailed as brave explorers or By DIKE CHUKWUMERIJE pioneers; in this age, they would be labeled, illegal immigrants. And, yes, you cant just reach across and grab the resources of your neighbor, but the global trade regime encourages free trade between the free and the unfree, the equal and the unequal. It is in this world of loaded rules and weighted dies, that we seek our future. First, we have to engage intelligently with the world economic system, with clear ideas of what we want to gain from it. True, we
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need Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), but not every kind is healthy. We want the kind that also facilitates human capacity development and technology transfer. We cannot leave our borders completely open to trade; we need concessions so our local industries can grow too. And this matter of illegal immigration - is there not another side to the coin? If its right to purse the liberalization of capital flows; then why is it wrong to argue the same for labor? Just asking - because, right now, liberal immigration laws would be just as helpful to us as, maybe even more so than, development aid. Second, we need to lay the ghost of neo-imperialism to rest at some point. Anglophone. Francophone. Lusophone. All African countries, standing side by side, but looking forward, northwards, towards former colonial masters; so that the threads linking individual African countries to their former colonizers are more vibrant than those linking those countries to themselves. Divided and Ruled. These walls separating Nigeria from Benin, Benin from Togo, Togo from Ghana, have to come down; starting with increased trade and tourism, streamlined customs policies, convergence in a common currency, convergence in a common culture. Movies and music have already crossed these borders. Politics needs to follow, gingerly. Third, we werent the ones who warmed the planet up, and we may need to pollute it a little more to get our economies off the ground. We cant simply leave all that coal in the earth, when our businesses are hungry for power. So, let those with the technology, who in times past ripped the holes in the ozone that threaten us all now, compensate for our minor misdeeds. But there are those climatic factors that should worry us a bit more than the declining numbers of humpback whales. (Charity, afterall, begins at home.) Like the advancing Sahara, the shrinking Lake Chad, the Atlantic knocking on the door of Lagos. (If all that somehow ties into the shrinking polar caps, fine, but we cant simply sit back and let
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others dictate the agenda.) We shouldnt have to depend on courts in other countries to bend International Oil Companies to their responsibilities to the environment in the Niger Delta either. Fourth, this new war on Terror, forming a fresh front just north of our borders; will the Sahara, and the regions just north and south of it, be the new Middle East? There are already American gunboats in the Bight of Benin, French soldiers in Timbuktu, Australian spooks swarming all across the region. Libyas armories are emptying into the desert, a desert alive with budding extremists. Add to this mix the drug trade running through; human trafficking networks; Bakassi; and escalating levels of piracy along the coast. I say we start by building a wall- border control, especially with the countries to the North, like Amina did long ago. Regional integration means no visas; it doesnt mean no checks. It would also create jobs internally. Then, lets go after the weapons trade; trace it all the way back to its source in European back offices and banks, make that an international issue too. I dont think we can afford to be pacifist in a region this volatile; we need a strong military, well equipped and professional. The seas are pretty rough in these parts. Fifth, the shifting face of the global energy market is sending a devastating tsunami our way. But there are opportunities in the mid-term. Europes desire to be free of Russian gas, looking across to the rich deposits scattered all over West Africa; China and the rest of Asia hunting for cheap oil, and new markets. So, lets complete that gas pipeline to Europe, across the Sahara, cut into that Russian market. If the Chinese want our oil and access to our markets, lets drive a harder bargain; theres a huge infrastructural deficit that could take us decades to fill, otherwise. But above all, we need to get ahead of the curve. Its all well and good assimilating the latest communication technologies, but what we really need are the latest in clean energy technologies- sun, wind, geo-thermal, whatever. The race to the Internet is over; the race to the next sustainable energy source is still on. That one we can - and must - win.
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CONTRIBUTORS Chris Ngwodo is a gifted public speaker and consultant. He is also the author of Revolution By Other Means: The Challenge of Nigerias Emerging Generation. A regular guest analyst on radio and TV, his writings address politics, development, conflict and security issues. He is a frequent op-ed contributor to newspapers, periodicals and various online fora, and runs a motivational workshop for different organizations, titled, Learning, Labor and Leadership. He has been active in several civic organizations, particularly in Abuja and Jos. He blogs at chrisngwodo.blogspot.com. More of his work is also available at http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/profile/ Chris-Ngwodo.html. Kasim Sodangi is an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigerian Law School and the Lagos Business School.His experience spans legal practice, research, regulatory compliance, and communication, with particular expertise in managing franchise operations in Nigeria and West Africa.He began his career with Law Allianz, a firm specializing in Intellectual Property and regulatory compliance. He has also worked as Head, Strategic Alliance, for SuperBrands UK (Nigeria Project Office), in which role he inducted 50 of West Africas top businesses in a program to project Nigerias Brand and Organizational assets.He is a professional project management practitioner and a trained negotiator. He has also conducted extensive research in the areas of security particularly on terrorism, violence and the effect of small arms in Nigeria. Leonard Ugbajah is the Principal Partner at the law firm, Basilea Juris Associates in Abuja. He is the Founder of the Centre for Advocacy on Trade Policy and Economic Reforms (CATPER), as well as a founding board member of the West African Institute for Trade and Development (WAITAD). He has served in different

committees and delegations on trade policy and regional integration processes as a representative of the interest of non-state actors, both at the national and regional (ECOWAS) levels. His career cuts across legal practice, consultancy and policy advocacy. You can find other articles written by him at: http://www.nigerianmuse.com/20100601104953zg/sections/ general-articles/issues-in-nigerias-trade-and-industrial-policylikely-agenda-for-the-new-minister-of-commerce/ http://www.acp-eu-trade.org/library/files/UkaohaUgbajah_EN_1107_NANTS_EPA%20=%20Reasons%20Why%20 Nigeria%20is.pdf Dike Chukwumerije is a law graduate from the University of Abuja, with a masters degree in Law and Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He is a trustee of the Initiative for the Advancement of Good Leadership, a non-governmental organization committed to positively affecting popular culture in Nigeria, particularly as it relates to socio-political values. He is the convener of The Forum, a platform for debate and the exchange of ideas by public-minded Nigerians. He is also an author of several books, including The Revolution Has No Tribe: Contemporary Poetry on African History, Culture and Society and One Nigeria: The Birth and Evolution of an Idea. He blogs regularly at dikechukwumerije.blogspot.com.