In this insightful interview, Adetunji Omotola, a legal advocate and African thought leader, delves into the evolution and importance of the diplomatic relations between Nigeria and South Africa since the end of apartheid. He emphasizes significant milestones that have shaped this relationship while also addressing various challenges that have emerged over the years. In this conversation with Akindele Olunloyo, Omotola thoroughly examines the diplomatic path these two countries have travelled together over time.
These questions cover various aspects of Nigeria-South Africa relations since 1994, including diplomatic, economic, cultural, and political dimensions. They provide a comprehensive basis for exploring the evolving relationship between these two influential African nations.
Nigeria-South Africa Diplomatic Ties Since 1994
Akindele Olufemi Olunloyo [AOO]: How would you characterize the overall relationship between Nigeria and South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994?
Adetunji Omotola [AO]: The overall relationship between Nigeria and South Africa since 1994; I would like to characterize it as a relationship that has been marked by many good things but also many bad things. So basically, I would say it’s been an up-and-down relationship. Of course, in the early days, it was very difficult because, as many of us would recall, at the time that President Nelson Mandela was sworn in as President of South Africa, on the 10th of May 1994 – the same time, Nigeria had one of its worst leaders in power, a gentleman by the name of General Sani Abacha.
And if you recall, it was during Abacha’s regime that the late author, playwright and human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was killed on November 10, 1995. Despite all the pleas by Nelson Mandela, the Pope and the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan at the time. All those pleas fell on deaf ears, and President Mandela led the opposition, or rather, the move to get Nigeria removed or sacked from the Commonwealth, which was the first time in Nigeria’s history. So, the early days of the relationship were fraught with a lot of pain.
Of course, the subsequent presidents were Mandela and Abacha, followed by Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo. Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Obasanjo had a long friendship – an old friendship that began, I suspect, when Thabo, as the head of the ANC foreign relations, was based in Nigeria in 1977. I believe he was based in Nigeria for a couple of years, and that’s where their strong relationship had been forged. And they continue to do great things together. Thabo Mbeki was in office from 1999 as President to 2008, and President Obasanjo from 1999 to 2007.
So, under these two men, the relationship between Nigeria and South Africa was very strong. There was a lot of economic cooperation. They cooperated on Africa. They set up, together with Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the former president of Algeria and Abdoulaye Wade, the former President of Senegal – they were all able to set up the New Partnership For Africa’s Development (NEPAD). In fact, the core of the relationship between Obasanjo and Mbeki was expressed in the reformation of the OAU into the AU – from the Organization of African Unity to the African Union, which was then launched with massive fanfare in Durban in July 2002.
Once these two men left office, Mbeki was succeeded, first by Kgalema Motlanthe as a stopgap, and then in 2009, President Zuma came to office. Whereas Umaru Musa Yar’Adua succeeded President Olusegun Obasanjo. We didn’t really have an international, Pan-African posture, so the relationship started to go deep downwards from the Yar’Adua – Jacob Zuma time up to the Goodluck Jonathan – Zuma time. Then, there was the Muhammadu Buhari – Zuma time. And then the Buhari – Cyril Ramaphosa time. And now the Bola Tinubu – Ramaphosa’s time.
A lot of factors have led to the decline. The yellow fever Saga, which happened in 2012 when 125 Nigerians were deported because of yellow fever, alleged fake yellow fever vaccination certificates. That was a bad time. There was also a time when the plane carrying 9 million dollars was allegedly owned by Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the former president of CAN – the Christian Association of Nigeria. That was also a touchy time, and then, of course, a big fine was imposed on MTN in 2015. And, of course, the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and the general treatment of Nigerians at the points of entry in South Africa. And even in terms of visa relations, which have been very difficult. So, many bad things have happened.
But despite that, there’s cordiality at the government-to-government level. And there’s a lot of South African investments in Nigeria. And the Nigerian companies are beginning to trickle in, although they’re very slow to do so.
I must also add to the list of painful irritants in the relationship, which is the issue of the death of 85 South Africans on September 12, 2014, at The Synagogue Church of All Nations in Ejigbo in Lagos. Ejigbo is a suburb in mainland Lagos. Not only was it very painful for South Africans, the 85 of the citizens that died in very painful circumstances, tragic and unfortunate circumstances in Nigeria, but the pain was deepened by the fact that the Nigerian authorities were not able to repatriate the mortal remains of South Africans – 85 South Africans for many, many months and that was, hmm, a very painful matter for South Africans. And they have not forgiven Nigerians for that, despite the overtures by the church to the families of the 85 victims. So that was a very big one. A very painful time.
I think that on the Nigerian side, I should mention the evacuation of 601 Nigerians on two Mercy flights on September 12 and 14, 2019. That was a very painful time for Nigerians globally and locally. That would be the sorest point for Nigeria – South Africa relations on the Nigerian side. For South Africans, on the Nigeria – South Africa relations, the worst low was when 85 South Africans died in Nigeria in tragic circumstances after a building collapsed at one of the buildings at The Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) on September 12, 2014. The church is situated in Ejigbo in mainland Lagos, which is not too far from Muritala Mohammed International Airport in Ikeja, which is probably about a 20-minute drive.
AOO: What key factors influenced the initial diplomatic ties between Nigeria and post-apartheid South Africa?
AO: The key factors that bind the two countries together are obvious ones. First of all, they are the two most significant economies on the continent. At the time the relationship happened, South Africa still remained a pariah nation, but the African National Congress (ANC) was now in the political driving seat, with Nelson Mandela as the president and Thabo Mbeki as his deputy. Obviously, they would have needed to move very quickly to secure ties with various African nations, of which Nigeria was the key supporter of the African National Congress.
There is still a special relationship between the African National Congress and the Nigerian government. And whichever party is in power in Nigeria, they would be very close to the African National Congress, as of right. So, there are many touchpoints. They are both members of the African Union. As I alluded to, President Thabo Mbeki and President Obasanjo were key parts of the reforms that brought about the OAU to be relaunched as AU. And of course, you remember the Thabo Mbeki speech as Deputy President of the country, when he said, ‘I am an African’ – his great speech. Thabo Mbeki obviously would have been very happy to move very quickly; as we remember, it is 1994 now.
And we had a military government with Sani Abacha at the head of that government. A terrible leader there. So, there wouldn’t have been too much that would have happened during Abacha’s regime. However, once President Obasanjo got in – by the way – Obasanjo, who was once a member of the Troika that was sent by the Commonwealth in 1986 after the state of emergency in South Africa was declared in 1985. Things went very bad. President Obasanjo was the only African who was part of the Troika formed by the Commonwealth, which they called the Eminent Person’s Group (EPG).
The Commonwealth had already sent Baba (Obasanjo) to South Africa in 1986 along with the former Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Fraser, and a gentleman by the name of Shridath Ramphal, the second Commonwealth Secretary-General, who led the Commonwealth Secretariat from 1975 to 1990. Obasanjo had insisted on seeing Mandela when he came for that visit. He mentioned this to us at an event – a dinner that was organised by the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) immediately after the yellow fever Saga. The event was organised at the Hilton in Sandton, Johannesburg. One of the people who came to that meeting is now late.
In fact, two of them are late. Minister Gbenga Ashiru was a Minister during President Jonathan’s administration when that yellow fever incident happened. That happened in 2012 there about or so. But guess what? Ashiru was the Minister for Foreign Affairs, having been put in cabinet in 2011. Baba Obasanjo, Thabo Mbeki, Ashiru, and Buthelezi were at the table. So, Buthelezi and Ashiru have since passed on. Ambassador Okey Emuchay was the Nigerian Consul General sitting at that table.
So a lot of things happened then. Baba Obasanjo told us how he became a nominee. It was Zambia that nominated Baba to take that seat for Africa on the Eminent Person’s Group. Baba Obasanjo insisted that he would like to meet Mandela in prison because he wanted proof of life. He said he wouldn’t carry on negotiating with the apartheid government unless, of course, he saw Mandela. He told us at the dinner. Mandela was, of course, released four years later. You can see the relationship. There were many interests that were aligned in terms of the fact that South Africa is the last country to get one-man-one-vote in Africa – that is, to get freedom. Self-determination for the majority of the people who are black.
The second thing is, of course, in positioning Africa, which is a very strong one. Whatever happens in South Africa, positively will also affect Nigeria positively. And we’ve seen that with Investments. We’ve seen that with a lot of Nigerians who have relocated to South Africa. We’ve seen a lot of Nigerians married to South Africans as well. We also have many Nigerians doing well in South Africa, and they have chosen this country as their home.
So the Nigerian government knew, even at the outset, that this consequence would have been a likely one given the close relationship. So, I needed to add all these points to what I said earlier about the main problem areas. So this might be the positives and the negatives.
AOO: How has economic cooperation between the two countries evolved over the past three decades?
AO: The economic cooperation between Nigeria and South Africa is very strong in many areas. In banking, in telecoms, and in so many other areas. There is a lot of cooperation in mining, education, science and technology, and the arts. There’s a lot of collaboration. Even in music and entertainment, there’s a lot of push and pull. Even in sports, there is a lot of talent from Nigeria who have done well in South African sports and continue to do so. Even Nigerians who were born here are wearing the South African flag and winning medals for South Africa.
There’s a lot of economic cooperation. MTN is the best example. And in South Africa now, we can gladly say Dangote and Access Bank. And in Nigeria, we have Stanbic Bank. There is a lot of billions and billions of Rands being made in Nigeria by South African companies. And Nigerian companies are also trying to make inroads into South Africa. There is tougher access for them, and you know Nigerians are not as organised business-wise as South Africans.
Nigerians are doing things in silos, and we don’t have strong members. In the business community here, we don’t have a business network – a strong Nigerian business network. We have failed to be able to put together a network of Nigerian business people across all ages and disciplines. And the Chamber of Commerce is supposed to do that. But I don’t think that they have the capacity. Because it needs a lot of support and funding. So yeah, that’s my take on the economic relationship.
It’s very obvious. There’s been a lot of scale – a tremendous one. Again, MTN got its licence in 2001, 23 years ago. Today, the company is worth billions and billions of dollars. They’ve done a partial listing on the Nigerian stock market, which is called the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). And they are also on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) here. They are one of the biggest companies on the JSE. Their shares are traded daily. Nigerians can buy MTN shares here. They can also buy Nigerian shares in Nigeria, and so can South Africans.
The scale of business now is very serious. As I said, Nigerian acquisitions in South Africa is 60 million dollars for Access Bank. Dangote is putting over a billion Rand here – more than 100 million dollars when the Rand was stronger. The value of the company is about 3 billion Rands. So, that’s sizeable. Access Bank South Africa was about a billion Rand when it was bought. So that’s about 4 billion Rand in value. The two companies – one was Sephaku Cement – that was the company Dangote bought. And then, the other one was Grobank. The company that Access Bank bought. So Nigerians everywhere should be proud of these two businesses that Nigerian interests are in. They are sizeable.
They’re not as big as some of the competitors with whom they are in the same business. They are small compared to them, but they are decent-sized businesses., They (South Africa) have a focus on Nigeria. I mean their Nigerian businesses. So, they are interested in doing business with Nigeria. So, that’s good news.
AOO: Can you discuss any significant trade agreements or partnerships that have been established between Nigeria and South Africa since 1994?
AO: Nigeria has signed about 40 treaties with South Africa. I mean, we have signed treaties for virtually everything. And there is a partnership in agriculture, in music, in the arts. You know, recently, the South African Consul General in Nigeria flew in here with somebody very significant in the creative industries in Nigeria, and they want to even do a documentary on the whole Chidimma saga now because I think it deserves a docu.
The documentary needs to be documented. A lot of content there. This can also help us understand what happened. So people who might have seen it from their own point of view can see the whole Chidimma thing. So, the documentary tells you what they want to do. So, Nigerians who are based in Nigeria want to make a documentary about the Chidimma story. So, that’s big. These are the ways that I see significant partnerships and agreements that are in place.
There are many of them. There are about 40 treaties. Obasanjo signed some. Jonathan signed some, and Buhari. Tinubu hasn’t signed anything, and I’m not sure Yar’Adua signed any major treaties with South Africa. But there are many partnerships. The one that should interest you is a recent one signed in 2019 by Buhari: the Bilateral Air Services Agreement, which is called BASA. That one was signed, and that’s why Air Peace is able to come in here and pick up passengers and drop them off. That’s the best evidence of an agreement – a trade agreement, that is – that we can touch. Okay! So, there are agreements in banking. There are agreements in education and defence. There is partnership all over the show.
AOO: What role have Nigeria and South Africa played in promoting peace and stability in other African nations?
AO: South Africa is a very, very strong military power in Africa. That is the first thing we need to set out. Nigeria has also played major peacekeeping roles – not only in Africa but around the world. Nigerian soldiers – Nigerian military service people in the Navy and Air Force have worked assiduously because Nigeria is part of the AU. Nigeria is part of the United Nations. Nigeria led the ECOMOG troops that went into Liberia and Sierra Leone and even restored Tejan Kabbah back to power. I think in Sierra Leone, that was done under General Abacha as the military head of state.
Nigeria has been quite significant, and South Africa has been so much so. South Africa is in Burundi, in the Congo. They’re now in Cabo Delgado in northern Mozambique. In fact, they’ve lost some South African soldiers recently in Congo. There’s a lot of skirmishes in Eastern Congo. So, South Africa and Nigeria are very powerful nations in Africa. South Africa has more military might. More advanced army. The SANDF -South African National Defence Force and the Nigerian army have got a good track record, even in fighting terror and insurgency in Nigeria – it’s been tough. But they’ve managed to at least contain it in a particular portion of the country so that it doesn’t spill over.
They are very strong. They encourage peace. For example, Nigeria almost went to war because there was a coup – wanted to take ECOWAS into War, and as a result, ECOWAS has actually been split up by Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso to form the Sahel Alliance. That has weakened the ECOWAS and, by extension, the African Union. But these are challenges that are new. They will have to respond to it accordingly but as a combined Force rather than Nigeria taking the position on its own.
So, they have a very big, strong military. They have strong military capabilities, and they promote peace all the time. In fact, the war in Tigray was resolved by Nigeria. Former President Obasanjo was the chairman. I think the Secretary was former Deputy President of South Africa, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and then former President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya – they signed everything. They sealed the deal – the peace deal was sealed in South Africa a year and a half or a year ago. Nigeria was involved in that, with Nigeria at the top of it.
And then, there was another peace deal that happened. It’s the Congo peace deal that brought Kabila to power in Congo. It was also signed in South Africa. South Africa and Nigeria have been very strong in the promotion of peace. The pan-African Parliament is here in Midrand, and so is the African Union’s Peer Review Mechanism. And so is NEPAD. All in Midrand. The Development Bank of Southern Africa is also here in Midrand.
South Africa and Nigeria tend to have issues at the AU level because they compete for all these positions. So, they don’t have the smoothest of relationships at the AU level. I don’t see it because they fight over positions. The fighting is about dominance. Let me give you an example. Wamkele Mene, the Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), is a South African. Now, to get that job, he had to go against a lady whose name skips me now. But she went against this gentleman. They went through six rounds of voting. That was messy. That was very messy. So that happened five years ago. So, Wamkele has been re-elected. Then, do you remember the case of Dr Dlamini-Zuma? This happened, I think, after the yellow fever saga, and Nigeria didn’t support her, but she emerged anyway.
And then, I suspect, but I’m not sure if South Africa supported Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala when she ran for the World Bank job. But she was picked by Kim Jim Yong. Kim got the job. Kim is an American, and remember, there is a preference for Americans when they turn up for the World Bank job. They always get it. So, the current World Bank MD is an American of Indian extraction. So, his name is Ajay Banga. So, anyway, the Nigeria – South Africa relationship is not warm at the AU level because they compete from time to time. Sometimes, this xenophobia doesn’t help matters when it does happen. It makes South Africans look bad at the AU level. These are things that have to be fixed.
AOO: How did the xenophobic attacks in South Africa in 2008 and 2015 impact bilateral relations with Nigeria?
AO: The xenophobic attacks in South Africa have affected the relationships between Nigerians and South Africans on the person-to-person level. I think that’s very deep. I think the government because they have to, you know, facilitate trade. And business is important for economic well-being. Nigeria can’t really be too aggressive and caustic because we gain more from South Africa as a country. We’re better for it. We are not worse off to have a good relationship with South Africa. And I think the South African government wants to have a good relationship with Nigeria, but they have this difficulty with some Nigerians who are committing crimes in South Africa, and that is a very painful thing for South Africans as well. Why should Nigerians be committing crimes in this country, and serious crimes at that?
So, it does affect relations. A lot of Nigerians have had to flee back to Nigeria in 2015 and 2019. And that was very sad. A lot of Nigerian businesses were burnt. And Nigerians get killed. Some of these attacks – not the ones that go viral, but sometimes they get killed in xenophobic attacks like Ebuka Nwosu in the Northern Cape and Rasak Ajao in Limpopo, with the South African police killing so many of our people. The South African police have murdered them because they are Nigerians, and they just target them, profile them and kill them. Most of them, in fact, are young males.
And some of them are killed in their shops – botch robbery. Maybe the guy runs after them. They killed him. Sola Solarin comes to mind. It’s very painful. It’s a heavy burden on our government and our people. And so many Nigerians see South Africans as xenophobic. And there’s nothing South Africans can say that will change the minds of Nigerians. There is too much evidence of it. But at the end of the day, these issues remain.
AOO: What steps have been taken by both governments to promote cultural exchange and understanding between their citizens?
AO: Cultural understanding. It happens all the time. Nigerians come here all the time, even our football teams, even though recently, one was rejected and the other was allowed to come in. Nigerians are here. There is this girl travelling now. Sheyi Atagu. I have forgotten her surname. She’s travelling around taking pictures. She was at Freedom Park taking history lessons. She’s now in Cape Town. She posted. I see these people moving. They’re moving. Nigerians are not sleeping. There’s a flight every day from here to Nigeria. There are so many flights via Rwanda, Ethiopia, Nairobi, or Addis, and then there is Air Peace and then SAA. And there’s even Air Cote d’Ivoire. Nigerians are getting on all these airlines and moving around.
Things are happening. There’s a lot going on on a people-to-people basis. People are travelling every day between Lagos and Johannesburg and between Abuja and Addis Ababa and coming into Johannesburg. This country is a beautiful country that Nigerians love. It’s just the burden of xenophobia, but people have to carry on living. There’s so much happening. We just don’t have it on record, but there are many, many relationships, businesses, and people moving between these two countries. Wine shows, Trade shows. South Africans promoting their 30-year anniversary in Nigeria. Who is going to attend it? It’s the Nigerians I see at the events. They are doing 30 years of the relationship between Nigeria and South Africa. 30 years of democracy in South Africa. The dates are special.
AOO: How have Nigeria and South Africa cooperated in addressing continental issues such as climate change, terrorism, and economic development?
AO: We’re not really doing much in the area of climate change. Nigeria’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Action, Ajuri Ngelale, resigned summarily, immediately claiming family health issues and so on. He has not been replaced. We’re not serious about terrorism as well. As a country, we’re not doing enough. So, I don’t know if South Africa and Nigeria cooperate on terror. We had a breakdown during President Jonathan, and I think there was an issue regarding mercenaries. Not very sure we’re doing much.
The only area in which we are really cooperating with South Africa is economic development with the African Free Trade project. Nigeria is trying its best. They were more aggressive under the previous government, but now the current occupants’ Doris Anite (*currently Jumoke Oduwole, appointed in Oct 2024), Minister of Trade, and then Segun Awolowo, are not as aggressive as the previous Minister of Trade and Francis Anatogu who was Segun Awololowo’s predecessor.
I am calling their names because these people are very important to the architecture of pan-African business and continental & regional integration. These offices are vital: the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Finance, and the Department of Foreign Affairs. They are very important platforms for us to use to address economic developments. But now, there’s a pan-African payment system that they use for settlements in local currency – that is a welcome development.
AOO: How have Nigeria and South Africa worked together in international forums like the United Nations or G20?
AO: On UN and G20, they haven’t really worked together so much. Well, I think that with COVID, they spoke well. They worked together on COVID-19. Everybody worked. Ramaphosa was doing his own thing, even President Buhari. Buhari wasn’t as vocal, but he gave his team support. The Nigeria CDC (Center for Disease Control & Prevention), in fact, the former Director General (Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu) has written a book on his experience there.
That book is a book that we must get and promote. It is so vital to promote Dr. Chike’s book on his experience during Covid. Nigeria did very well. South Africa didn’t do very well. It was a struggle for them. They even got the wrong vaccines. There were problems during COVID-19 in South Africa, and many South Africans died. So, I don’t think that we collaborated enough to reduce the deaths that occurred in South Africa. But we collaborated on getting vaccines. So that’s my own take on that.
AOO: What potential areas for future cooperation do you see between Nigeria and South Africa?
AO: First, I’ll talk about our food. Nigerian food must come in. Nigerian products must come in well-packaged, and we have to take them to market. We have to put them on the shelves. South Africans must travel to Nigeria. South African men must marry Nigerian women. I know that some Nigerian women will say never. You know what? We’re all Africans. We are all brothers and sisters, so we must show each other love. It’s all about love. It’s all about se ya tanda sa. So, that’s it!
On cooperation, South Africans should travel to Nigeria. Nigerian products should come in. We can add more. They’re making money in our country. We want to make money in South Africa, too. We want to sell products. We want to sell books. We want to sell Jollof. We want to sell palm wine, Egusi, Efo riro with Ata gigun. We want to sell Ojojo, Robo, Gbegiri and even dodo Ikire, kuli kuli and everything.com.
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