A former Minister of External Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, has cautioned Nigeria and other countries in the global south against becoming pawns in the ongoing rivalry between world powers, stressing that the Russia-Ukraine war offers a stark lesson.
Speaking in an interview on Channels Television’s “Politics Today” on Sunday, the Professor of Political Science described the conflict as a reminder of the need for smaller nations to carefully define their national interests to avoid being dragged into disputes between superpowers.
“Nations like the Global South must avoid becoming pawns in the conflict between nations in the Global North. Let us define our national interests very narrowly, that it does not become part of the interests of any of the global powers,” he warned.
Akinyemi also raised concerns about the legitimacy of international institutions, particularly the International Criminal Court, after Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared at a high-level summit in Alaska despite an outstanding ICC arrest warrant.
“As the most powerful country in the world, its behaviour undermined the legitimacy of the ICC,” he argued, referring to the United States’ decision to host Putin despite not being a member of the court.
According to him, the Alaska meeting produced clear winners and losers.
“The first is the international community because there is an outstanding international criminal court warrant for the arrest of Putin. And yet the United States allowed him on American soil. The second is Europe, the third loser is Ukraine, and the fourth loser is the United States itself, while the main winner is Putin,” Akinyemi stated.
He further dismissed suggestions that the talks marked progress toward peace, pointing instead to signals of renewed Russian ambition.
“When the foreign minister of Russia turned up in Alaska, he was wearing a T-shirt. And what was written on that T-shirt? Soviet Union. In other words, the aim of Putin was to reconstitute the Soviet Union. So, he didn’t move towards peace at all,” he stated.
On Nigeria’s position, Akinyemi stressed that the country must take its role as Africa’s largest nation seriously and avoid aligning blindly with global powers.
“Especially a country like Nigeria, that we call ourselves the biggest black power in the world, we should pay very close attention to the implications of what we call ourselves. The black population of the world look up to us, and to that extent, we should take ourselves seriously, and we shouldn’t get ourselves caught on the side of any of the global powers,” he said.
The professor noted that the war, and the shifting alliances around it, are not merely foreign policy issues but carry direct economic consequences for Nigeria.
With Western sanctions reshaping oil and energy markets, he said Nigeria must carefully weigh its interests to avoid collateral damage from decisions taken in Washington, Moscow, or Brussels.
Source: PUNCH