Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
मनोहर पर्रिकर रक्षा अध्ययन एवं विश्लेषण संस्थान

India-Nigeria Relations: On the Upswing

Ruchita Beri
He worked at Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses from 1991 to 2023 read more
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India’s relations with Nigeria are on the upswing. Recent reports suggest that India has overtaken United States to become the top importer of Nigerian crude oil and that India’s telecom provider, Bharti-Airtel, may soon become Nigeria’s the second largest mobile phone company.1 Moreover India’s ties with Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country are quite comprehensive and not limited to the commercial sector.

Historical Political Connection: India’s relations with Nigeria predate political independence. The migration of Indians to Nigeria under the system of indentured labour during the British rule marked the beginning of an informal relationship. At the same time the Nigerian nationalists were inspired by the Indian struggle for independence. In contrast to many African states, Nigerians followed a non-violent method in their freedom struggle. The deep influence of India on Nigeria was expounded by President Shebu Shaguri during a visit to India in 1983 when he said: “We come to salute India, the largest democracy in the world. We also come to learn from India as we have been learning….we followed your example and your model.”2

Diplomatic relations between India and Nigeria were established in 1958 two years prior to Nigerian independence. The visit of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 paved way for close relations between India and Nigeria. In the political realm, the open support of India’s position by Nigeria during the Sino-India conflict of 1962 further strengthened relations. At the same time India’s active support for the anti-apartheid and liberation struggle in Africa from 1960s to 1980s, considered a foreign policy priority within Nigeria, was deeply appreciated by successive Nigerian governments. However despite the potential, the India- Nigeria relationship failed to thrive and it was only in the late 1990s that a change was discerned.3 In 1995, India awarded the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development to President General Olusengun Obasanjo who served as Nigeria’s president twice from 1976 to 79 and 1999 to 2007 respectively. During his first tenure as president, he won considerable respect in Nigeria and across the world when he transferred power to a democratically elected government in 1979. President Obasanjo was also the chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations in 2000.4

In the last decade, a number of high level visits have been made to Nigeria. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Nigeria in December 2003 to participate in the CHOGM summit. Somnath Chatterjee, Speaker Lok Sabha, visited Abuja in 2006. Prime Minster Manmohan Singh visited Nigeria in October 2007. Various Indian cabinet ministers including Anand Sharma, Murli Deora, Salman Khurshid and RPN Singh have visited Abuja in the last few years.

Significant Socio-Cultural Cooperation: India and Nigeria have cooperated in socio-cultural areas too. Since independence a number of Indian teachers have been working in Nigerian schools and universities. The numbers peaked in the 1970s but declined after Nigerian President General Buhari’s in the 1980s introduced the policy to source Nigerian nationals for the public sector jobs, particularly, in health and education. India has offered scholarships to Nigerian students since the 1960s.5 While, United States and Europe are the preferred destination of Nigerians for higher studies, the relatively lower costs have made India an attractive option – around 5,000 Nigerians are studying in India.6 While many Nigerians use their own funds, the government has provided assistance under the Special Commonwealth African Assistance Plan and the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC). After the Second Africa India Forum Summit held in May 2011, the number of the fellowships available to Nigerians for technical training in India, under the ITEC programme was raised from 130 to 145. Apart from government sponsored training Indian companies in the information technology (IT) field such as Infosys, NIIT and Aptech have trained close to 150,000 Nigerians.7 The presence of 35,000 people of Indian origin in Nigeria adds to the cultural linkages.

Expanding Economic Ties: Economic cooperation is a critical component of India’s relations with Nigeria. Currently, Nigeria is India’s largest trading partner in Africa. Moreover India is the second largest trade partner of Nigeria and the largest investor with over a hundred Indian companies in the country. The current volume of trade between Nigeria and India is US$17.3 billion (2011-12). There is no doubt that the economic relationship between the two countries is dominated by the crude oil imports. It is to be noted that from 1960-1965, India imported mainly palm oil from Nigeria and subsequently palm oil was replaced by crude oil. The import of crude oil from Nigeria ceased during the 1970s which may have been due to the steep hike in the oil prices or the onset of military rule in the country. Oil imports were renewed from the mid 1990s and there was a significant spike at the turn of the century. No doubt, India’s growing energy needs and its quest to diversify sources of oil supply from volatile West Asian region pushed India to develop closer ties with Nigeria. A number of Indian oil companies such as ONGC Videsh Ltd and Essar have invested in the Nigerian energy sector. On the other hand pharmaceuticals form a major portion of India’s exports to Nigeria. It appears India is Nigeria’s leading source of pharmaceutical imports. Apart from pharmaceuticals India exports rice, computer software, telecommunications and machinery.

Several Indian companies have made investments in Nigeria. Way back in 1982, HMT set up Nigerian Machine Tools (NMT) with 15 per cent equity participation. Indian companies like Mecon Ltd, RITES, Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (TCIL) National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) have been involved in consultancy and management projects in steel, railways, telecom, and small-scale industry sectors in Nigeria for several years.88 Petroleum India International (PII) has been involved in the maintenance of Port Harcourt and the Warri oil refinery. Major Indian IT companies like Infosys, Satyam, NIIT, and Aptech have signed agreements with local companies to set up training institutes in Nigeria.

Security Cooperation: India and Nigeria are both regional powers and share a similar world view with regards to global security challenges. They both support the idea of reform of global governance institutions such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation. Bilaterally, a MoU on defence cooperation was signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Nigeria in 2007.9 However military interactions can be traced back to the 1960s. India has helped set up various military institutions including the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) at Kaduna and the Command and Staff College (CSC) at Jaji in Nigeria.10 While India has deputed officers to train Nigerians, a number of Nigerian officers have also been trained over the years in Indian military institutions. These include former Nigerian presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida and several other top military officers. The Indian government has communication equipment worth a million dollars to Nigerian armed forces. It has also set up IT labs in Nigerian defence colleges. Capacity building has thus been the buzzword of India’s security cooperation with Nigeria. There is scope of expanding this cooperation in areas such as counter terrorism. India has a long experience in countering terrorism and insurgency, while Nigeria, in recent years has been battling the rise of extremist groups such as the Boko Haram.

In conclusion, the two countries have several common factors in common: such as large populations, democratic political systems and diverse societies. Both countries also share common challenges such as terrorism, insurgency and strive for inclusive socio- economic development. Although, economic and political ties between the two countries have expanded in the last decade, there is considerable scope for enhancement of the relationship.

Keywords: Nigeria
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