IT may be by happenstance, but what can be interpreted as a direct response to the newly pronounced economic diplomacy drive of the present administration has come from Liberia now seeking the immediate establishment of a Liberian-Nigerian joint commission.
At a reception on Tuesday night in Abuja marking the 164th independence anniversary of Africa's oldest republic (1847), the Liberian Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Alhassane Conteh, said a Liberian-Nigerian joint economic commission will give a "living" and measurable expression to the kind of bilateral relations that can impact on the lives of citizens of both countries.
The Liberian envoy, who fielded questions from The Guardian after his main proclamation, stressed that time was of the essence for the streaming informal trade between both countries to be formalised.
Statistics of the volume of trade between the two nations were by the end of last year still subject to conjecture, owning to the informal nature of business interaction, whereas the medium and small-scale trade especially in spare parts are dominated by Nigerians.
The Liberian project consumed a substantial part of the over $13 billion spent by the Federal Government on peacekeeping operations lasting over 12 years. Hundreds of Nigerian soldiers paid the supreme sacrifice in operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone alone, beginning with the ECOMOG intervention in 1990 with troops peaking at 12,000.
According to a May 2010 report from the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Nigeria had about 6,000 men and women participating in peacekeeping missions in parts of Africa, including Sudan (Darfur), surpassed only by Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.
But the joint economic commission being canvassed by Ambassador Conteh is actually going to be a re-launch. It was first set up in 1987 but sadly has been bereft of any meaningful employment. The envoy enthused that the trade platform would be set up by the end of August.
"We want it to be immediate. It is what is most desirable today to make our economic relations to be viable. When this is formalised, it will now be the platform for leveraging on all of the opportunities that exist between Nigeria and Liberia. We have a lot to share. We can, for instance, find a way of resuscitating the rubber industry. We both have rubber in commercial quantities and we are importing tyre."
Oil was recently discovered in Liberia. The Liberian ambassador disclosed that a Nigerian firm, Gamla Group, has just moved into Liberia for a stake and investment exploration in the oil industry following the heels of several banks.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Martin Uhomoibhi, had expressed the desire for stronger collaboration with Liberia. He challenged the creative enterprise of businessmen across the divide to take the utmost advantage of the friendly relations that exist between Nigeria and Liberia.
The Guardian