Washington, DC — The White House announcement on October 16 that President Biden’s postponed trip to Angola has been rescheduled for December, fulfilling a promise that he would visit Africa before leaving office, is welcome.
A victory by Vice President Harris in November could expand on the Biden administration’s Africa engagements and take U.S.-Africa relations to a higher level.
While Africa remains a relatively low priority for Washington, the Biden Administration acknowledged Africa’s growing importance and the need for African leaders to be at the table where significant global decisions are being made. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed this when he rolled out the administration’s new Africa strategy, saying Africa “is a major geopolitical force…that will shape our shared future”.
Building on the legacy of the Obama Administration as well as key bilateral policies advanced by earlier presidents, Biden resuscitated and reinvigorated U.S interest in Africa that had soured and languished under the Trump administration. In the global arena, the Biden team successfully pushed for permanent membership for the African Union in the G-20, lobbied for greater African representation on the Executive Boards of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and called for the creation of two African seats on the UN Security Council.
On the bilateral level, the Biden administration organized multiple Cabinet-level Africa visits, signed scores of new agreements between Washington agencies and their African counterparts, and re-established important strategic dialogues with the African Union, Nigeria and South Africa.
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The high point of the Administration’s engagement was the second U.S-Africa Leaders Summit in December 2022, drawing 49 African leaders. President Biden committed $55 billion in funding to Africa over three years, established the first U.S.- Africa Diaspora Engagement Council, created a new Digital Transformation initiative with Africa, and allocated over $800 million dollars to the development of the Lobito Corridor — the first major U.S. supported infrastructure project in Africa in nearly four decades. To deal with the on-going crisis northeast Africa, the president appointed Special Envoys for Sudan and the Horn of Africa. He also signed a joint “Vision Statement” with the leaders of the African Union.
This record is impressive, but a Harris administration would have an opportunity to foster deeper American relations with Africa – a continent searching for partners to help it achieve its economic and development goals, end violent conflict, and strengthen governance and service delivery to its growing population.
Here are a number of initiatives a President Harris should pursue to enhance U.S. relations with Africa.
RECOGNIZE NIGERIA’S PIVOTAL IMPORTANCE
Expand Relations
Nigeria deserves more high-level attention from the White House and senior officials, a Harris administration should prioritize its relationship with Nigeria and undertake a series of policy initiatives to strengthen ties.
Prioritize the U.S. relationship with Nigeria and undertake a policy initiatives to strengthen ties
Nigeria is Africa’s most important nation. It has Africa’s largest economy, and with over 220 million people, the continent’s largest population, equally divided between Muslims and Christians. Most importantly, Nigeria is Africa’s largest and most vibrant democracy with a political system modeled after that of the United States.
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Since the end of military rule in 1998, Nigeria has held five presidential elections and has witnessed peaceful political transitions between the country’s two dominant parties. Nigeria’s commitment to democracy and democratic resilience stands in stark contrast to recent military coups in the neighboring Sahel region.
In foreign policy, Nigeria has steered a centrist path. It has maintained a cautious distance from the policies of Russia and China and has not shown a great deal of interest in joining the BRICS alliance. Although facing its own security challenges, Nigeria’s economic growth and development and its political stability are key to West Africa’s long-term peace and prosperity. The U.S. needs to be invested in Nigeria’s success.
Make an Early Presidential Visit to Nigeria
A presidential visit to Nigeria is long overdue. The last U.S. president to visit Nigeria was George W. Bush, in 2003 – over two decades ago – during his first term. President Obama bypassed Nigeria on several presidential trips to Africa, and President Trump never visited the continent. Given Nigeria’s strong commitment to democracy, its enormous economic potential and the large Nigerian diaspora in the United States, a President Harris should make Nigeria a stop on her first visit to Africa.
U.S. presidential travel that skips Nigeria is akin to POTUS going to Europe and not stopping in Great Britain or France.
Passing over Nigeria does not go unnoticed by Nigerians and dampens rather than deepens relations. U.S. presidential travel that skips Nigeria is akin to POTUS going to Europe and not stopping in Great Britain or France.
Invite Nigeria to be a Permanent Member of the G-20:
The inclusion of Nigeria as a permanent member of the G-20 is also long overdue, and Washington should be in the forefront of pushing for this. As the continent’s largest democracy and economy, Nigerians should be represented at the table whenever key world leaders are gathered. Nigeria is already more important on a global stage than several of the current G-20 members and over the next two decades, Nigeria will become a mega state – with the third largest population in the world behind India and China and with major regional economic influence.
Open a U.S. Consulate in Northern Nigeria:
Expanding American diplomatic presence and outreach in Nigeria should be priority. The U.S. is underrepresented and under resourced in Nigeria, particularly in the northern region.
Northern Nigeria is home to Kano, the second largest city and one of the largest Muslim cities in the world. Nigeria’s Islamic population is among the world’s largest and the largest in Africa – larger than Egypt’s entire population — and bigger than any Arabic-speaking state in the Middle East. Most of the country’s Muslim population lives in one of northern Nigeria’s sixteen states. The U.S. should revisit the idea of establishing a U.S. Consulate in northern Nigeria – in either Kaduna or Kano, where the U.S. previously had offices.
America’s diplomatic presence in Nigeria has declined in inverse proportion to Nigeria’s growth. In the 1970s when Nigeria had a population of sixty million people, the U.S. had an embassy and four other diplomatic establishments around the country. Today, the country’s population is nearly four times larger, and growing, and the U.S. has an Embassy in Abuja, plus one Consulate in Lagos. Nigeria’s population is slated to double, with a significant portion of that growth in the northern part of the country.
Create a U.S.-Nigeria Development Foundation:
Washington also needs to look at more creative ways to reach Nigeria’s youthful population. To deepen and enrich the people-to-people ties between the United States and Nigeria, the new administration should propose the establishment of an independent, but jointly run, U.S.-Nigeria Foundation. Funded initially with a sizeable grant from USAID, the Foundation would be run by a board comprised of an equal number of distinguished American and Nigerian citizens with a focus on economic empowerment and inclusion for women and girls; enhancing science, engineering and digital skills for younger Nigerians; and improving business and management skills of small and medium-size entrepreneurs. Nigeria’s large and well-educated diaspora in the United States could play a significant role in this foundation and forge even stronger ties between the citizens of two of the world’s largest democracies.
BEYOND NIGERIA
Strengthen U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment Relationships:
African leaders want to expand U.S. investment and trade relations with their countries and that was one of the principal goals when many of them attended the U.S. Africa Leaders Summit. A Harris administration should continue to strengthen and expand America’s economic relations with Africa.
An immediate and early priority should be the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which has served as the backbone of America’s trade relationship with the continent since 2000. AGOA is slated to expire in 2025. The United States should remove the uncertainties around AGOA, work with Congress to update and renew AGOA for twenty years, and develop a strategy to align AGOA with the development of the African Continental Free Trade Area. Additional resources should be directed toward Prosper Africa and the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). Both organizations are key players in incentivizing and supporting new American investment and trade in Africa.
Increase the Number of Commercial and Agricultural Attaches in Africa:
Different administrations over the past decade have promised to expand the presence of American commercial and agricultural specialists in Africa. That commitment has been honored more in the breech than the reality. A Harris administration should follow through on this commitment. There continues to be more U.S. Commercial and Agricultural officers in England, France, and Germany than in the fifty-four countries across Africa.
Open U.S. Consulates in the DRC and Kenya:
Additional diplomatic representation is also required across the continent. African urbanization is among the fastest in the world and is parallelling the continent’s explosive population growth. Much of the urbanization is happening in economic and transportation hubs. The U.S. should establish consulates in Lubumbashi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Mombasa, Kenya.
Lubumbashi is one of the world’s most mineral-rich areas and a major city at the end of the Lobito Corridor, where the U.S. is working with Zambia, the DRC and Angola to develop a rail line and a value chain for batteries and green energy minerals. Mombasa is the largest port in east Africa and the gateway for trade into eight countries, serving over 300 million people.
Double Support for Democracy Activities:
The Administration should step up its support for democracy, the principles that underpin it, and the African organizations and governments that support it. According to Afrobarometer, Africa’s leading attitudinal research organization, close to seventy percent of Africa’s citizens favor democratic and constitutional government.
Actively supporting Africa’s democracies is crucial to their success
However, over the past decade, Africa has experienced a high level of democratic backsliding – military coups in five countries, changes in constitutions that perpetuate one-man rule and questionable presidential and parliamentary elections. Coming out of a successful U.S. election, a Harris administration should show added support for democracy efforts in Africa by hosting — in Washington or Africa — a series of regional conferences with Africa’s democratic states, significantly increasing funds to support democratic institution building, civil society strengthening, and domestic and international election monitoring.
Actively supporting Africa’s democracies to deliver on the economic development and social benefits that their citizens seek will be crucial to their success, especially as Africa faces the challenges of rapidly expanding populations, urbanization, job creation and economic growth, and climate change and environmental issues.
There is good reason to be optimistic about how Harris as President would direct U.S. Africa policy.
As vice president, Harris has demonstrated a serious interest in Africa and her administration has a chance to expand and build on the positive trajectory of the U.S.-Africa relationship. She met visiting African officials at the White House, traveled to Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia and has championed the President’s Diaspora Engagement Council. Her office has also led one of the most significant programs coming out of the U.S. Africa Leaders Summit: The Digital Transformation With Africa. Based on her record, there is good reason to be optimistic about how she will direct U.S. Africa policy.
Johnnie Carson, who served most recently as Special Presidential Representative for Implementation of the 2022 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, had 37-year career in the Foreign Service dedicated to African diplomacy. He headed the Bureau of African Affairs as Assistant Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013 and was Ambassador to Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Earlier, he served in Portugal, Botswana, Mozambique, and Nigeria and was a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania. He spent several years as the National Intelligence Officer for Africa at the National Intelligence Council, after serving as the Senior Vice President of the National Defense University in Washington D.C. From 1979-1982, he was Staff Director for the Africa Subcommittee of the US House of Representatives. He has a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from Drake University and a Master of Arts in International Relations from the School of Oriental and Africa Studies at the University of London and is recipient of several Superior Honor Awards from the Department of State and a Meritorious Service Award from Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.