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 Periodical article |
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| Title: | Nigeria-Benin relations: the joy and anguish of bilateralism |
| Author: | Nwokedi, Emeka |
| Year: | 1991 |
| Periodical: | Genève-Afrique: acta africana |
| Volume: | 29 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 33-52 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic terms: | Benin Nigeria |
| Subject: | foreign policy |
| Abstract: | It is often asserted that Nigeria maintains exemplary relations with the Republic of Benin. An examination of the facts shows that the relations between the two States during the first decade of independence bordered first on benign neglect and later on misunderstandings owing to Benin's collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross in airlifting relief materials to the victims in the Nigerian civil war. Given this, the subsequent decades were to witness an amelioration and a consolidation of the bilateral links between the two States. Benin, which before 1972 was assailed by bewildering political instability and which has always been confronted by economic and financial crises, looked forward to exploiting the vast potentials of the Nigerian market. On its own part, Nigeria encouraged this bilateralism as a way of winning and exercising influence and of ensuring the security of its immediate threshold. However, the density of the unofficial crossborder transactions between the nationals of the two States undermines their official relations. Nigeria's low-key military cooperation as well as its nationalistic economic poicy in the wake of diminished petroleum revenue underscore the limitations of this bilateralism. Notes, ref., sum. also in French and German. |