Reverse Discrimination & Poor Trade Policies

During the grand days of Nigerian vigilantism and flexing of its emergent power as a major player in the world crude oil market the Obasanjo regime nationalized BP  in part because of britains decision to allow BP to sell crude to South Africa.

In 1997 after Britain cited security reasons for banning Nigerian flights into Britain the government of abacha/Abubakar retaliated by banning British flights into Nigeria as well.

There have been several other incidents of muscle flexing by Nigeria to warn the world that it would not be manhandled and that it had equally debilitating sanctions of its own to obtain fair trade with its international partners.

Besides the radical move of seizing BP in 1979, Nigeria has seen its power and respect erode due to self inflicted wounds and a rudderless trade and foreign policy.

Secondly, Due to religious inclinations of its new leaders Nigeria has pursued inconsistent and confusing trade policies placing itself at a severe disadvantage.

In 2016, the  National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) announced it received a circular from the Government of Saudi Arabia prohibiting the importation of kola nuts, popularly called “goro”, into the Kingdom during  hajj.

The commission said the Saudi government threatened in the circular to punish any pilgrim who smuggles Kola nut, in accordance with the laws of the Kingdom.

 “By this, all Nigerian intending pilgrims are advised to adhere strictly to the Saudi rules and regulations on prohibited items,” NAHCON said.

The government of Saudi Arabia had its own reasons for targeting and banning Nigerian goro which more or less is like the candy or favorite nut of northern Muslims what is equally sad is the silence of the Nigerian government of a trade ban and criminalization of Nigeria's trade mark goro that is brought out with much fanfare and shared by Nigerians at festivities with other condiments.

The silence in part could only happen in an nonplussed administration or from years of being asleep to cultural relegation of everything Nigeria or because Nigeria is automatically subsumed under the religious leadership and dictates of Saudi and therefore cannot take reciprocal action against Saudi to avoid sending the wrong message to the legion of Nigerians Muslims going on pilgrimage to Mecca most of whom are aided in one way or the other by the government discreetly despite pronouncement of a government divestment from sponsoring and funding pilgrimages.

Circa forward from the 2016 ban on goro to the 200 tonnes of dates sent from Saudi Arabia as a Ramadan gift to Muslim refugees in the IDP camps, the resultant diversion of these gifts to the market and the official apology of Nigeria to Saudi for such an embarrassment.

There is obviously some disconnect between the publicly repeated policy of boosting Nigerian agriculture and the approval to allow Saudi donate and ship in their national goro now a superior goro over our true goro.

Who is keeping score and what informed the acceptance of this gift. Obviously the memo about counter trade and reactionary sanctions for such a slight never reached the desk of Buhari nor the memo and order for the minister of external affairs to visit Saudi Arabia and make a strong case to not ban our goro or risk a travel ban and other sanctions for such a slap in the face. 

The gift was probably approved and routed directly to the Sultan of sokoto without much direct government involvement which created the lax security controls that allowed these gifts to be confusingly diverted from one religious leader to the other instead of the refugees commission resulting in the to be expected sale on the open market.

Several other questions abound as to why oil rich Saudi is sending Nigeria dates instead of a fortune in hard currency to help Nigeria deal with the fallout from a war and resultant Refugees crises due to its citizenry trying to model the government in Saudi Arabia and adopting the religion originated or headquartered in Saudi Arabia.

Why are western donors and institutions the highest humanitarian donors of aid to Nigeria while tight fisted Saudi is giving us dates and imposing draconian restrictions on Nigerian Muslims who rever Mecca and impoverish themselves to go to Saudi Arabia but cannot be allowed to enjoy their goro.

It is no surprise that these dates ended up on the market as they have no doubt fast become a luxury good enjoyed by the elite  with a price premium way above a sack of goro and desperate and hungry Nigerians and refugees would rather sell their gift than use it after a fast to earn extra money, it's just a small tiny date and just like a goro not equal by any measure to a meal.

In the end the gift has turned into a cash cow for the refugees who acted in their self interest and the Nigeria government needs to wake to discriminatory trade policies aimed against the country and while some Nigerian officials tongue in cheek are apologizing Saudi Arabia if the are so miffed should do away with useless gifts and give us the real gifts of hard currency, debt forgiveness, reduce the glut it is creating in the oil markets and allow Nigerians chew their goro in peace.

By Terhemba Osuji