This week, former President Goodluck Jonathan earns one more handshake for his historic democratic and human rights records while he ruled Nigeria. The ‘Circle of Diplomats’, between January 21 and 26 in Geneva, gathered to honour him.
Contemporary diplomacy has come to involve the use of special envoys. Beside the statutory organs and mechanisms for conducting international relationships, special representatives act as effective mediators in conflict resolution between nations. They also mediate on issues and resolve conflicts between state and non-state actors and facilitate peaceful terms of dispute resolution between parties at local or international levels.
The United Nations makes extensive use of special envoys more than individual states. According to Wikipedia, “Special Envoys are titles given to individuals working on behalf of the United Nations within the scope of ‘special procedures’ mechanisms who bear a specific mandate. Such mandate could entail to examine, monitor, advise and publicly report on human rights problems through activities undertaken by special procedures.”
The role of special envoys are usually given to accomplished former presidents, or head of reputable international organisation based on their globally recognised and accepted standard of leadership qualities.
Actually, most diplomats, who had served as UN Secretary-General, had at one time or another served the UN as special envoy or had headed at least one UN system and had made remarkable contribution in advancing the objectives of UN such as in the area of peace and security, discovery of solution to peculiar tasks such as epidemic outbreak, as well as contribution to UN’s efforts in advancing prosperity.
In the same manner, some former heads of state had served the UN as special envoy.
Jonathan as UN envoy
Some statesmen in Africa that have in recent time served the UN system as special envoys, even as Secretary-General. Kenya’s Boutrous-Boutrous Ghali and Ghana’s Kofi Annan had served the various UN systems before serving as Secretary-General.
Jonathan is about the third African to become so visible within UN systems. He is the first former African head of state to be recognised by the UN.
He managed to conduct a general election in a volatile setting and was able to effect a smooth hand-over of power to an opposition party in an election he contested as an incumbent.
History scholars record that this Jonathanian feat of 2014/2015 was probably the first to come out of Africa since the continent’s member states gained political independence in the 1950s and 1960s.
UN assignments
One of the major assignments that the former Nigerian President had undertaken so far was the headship of an election observer mission in the general election of Tanzania last November.
The Commonwealth Observer Group that monitored the election was one of the main international political organisations that harbour nearly 100 countries, being former British colonies which command strong influence in global politics and at UN platforms.
Jonathan was selected by consensus endorsement of UN allies and global powers because of the prevailing political crisis in Tanzania, then bordering on political restructuring of the country. One part of the country called Tanganyika had, prelude to the election, been threatening to pull out of the country if the popular political reform report prepared by the parliament was not incorporated into the country’s constitution. That extreme position by one of the major opposition parties had enveloped days and events leading into the Tanzanian general election with tension and uncertainty about free polls. However, the Jonathan-led Commonwealth Monitoring Group’s pre- and post-election mediations enabled the elections to hold peacefully.
Another international engagement for the former Nigerian president was mediation in the crisis in the tiny West African country of Trinidad and Tobago.
Both assignments were peacefully completed, and the reports, according to various diplomats, in tandem with the goings-on in those countries showed the former Nigerian leader worked according to the mandate given him by the powers that delegated him.
Beside these major international engagements, there is the perception in diplomatic circles that some special qualities about the former Nigerian leader, such as his eagerness to yield to populist sentiments, even in the face of provocative circumstances, an attribute which helped him conduct an election which most feared would herald chaos in Nigeria and Africa.
UN information office in Lagos said after the election, “Nigeria under President Goodluck Jonathan has earned the world’s respect which no African country has garnered since the end of apartheid in South Africa.”
Another area the former president is generally awarded great marks is his pan-Nigerian policies observable in the manner of his even-handedness in the development of various parts of the country, his creative economic development policies and blueprints that were more future-focused than Nigerian economic managers of recent past, including his creative pursuits of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the engaging in large scale developmental projects in partnership with private investors. His Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) drive-in into the economy amid security and terrorism challenges was also legendary.
Birthing in international diplomatic circles
International Diplomats Circle (IDC), an independent diplomatic organisation of statesmen around the world for the promotion of good life, good governance, preservation of environment, peace and sustainable development. The body meets between January 21 and 26 every year to appraise global issues and marshall out pathways for governments, private organisations and development bodies. It also provides a modern forum for diplomats, in and out of government service, to exchange ideas in both official and private capacity on matters of mutual interest to the world for the benefit of humanity.
The IDC, as it is globally known, holds this year’s event in Geneva, Switzerland, and has specially scheduled to award the former Nigerian leader a medal for outstanding leadership, creative governance and democratic ideals in Africa. Jonathan would be the first of such African leader to be so honoured. The body includes such prominent global personalities as former U.S. Secretary of State, Collin Powel; his female counterpart, Madeleine Albright; former Presidents Bill Clinton, George Bush, and foreign ministers past and present from all over the world. Jonathan was also billed to deliver a lecture on a global issue as it affects Nigeria, Africa and the world.