Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, on 30-31 January hosted the Fourth Ordinary Session and first Mid-Term Assembly of the African Union (AU), at which a collective decision on the reform of the United Nations (UN) organisational structure was reached.

A committee of 15 African foreign ministers was subsequently formed to harmonise Africa’s position on the two permanent seats the continent is seeking within an expanded UN Security Council.

It is safe to say that every African country has an inalienable right to vie for any of the two seats, but a series of geographical, socio-political and economic factors indicate that the frontrunners in this regard are Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt.

Egypt, the largest and most influential Arab-African country, has played a stabilising role, especially in the North African region, and could argue its case by the sheer credence of its diplomatic successes, military power and excellent strategic friendship with the United States (US). However, questions have been raised on what appears to be its faltering democratic steps, tensions with its southern neighbours regarding the management of the Nile River resources, unease over its alleged participation in global terrorism and its lack of real influence in Sub Saharan Africa.

South Africa, on the other hand, is Africa’s emerging economic and moral powerhouse, having successfully transited from apartheid isolation to a modern democratic and multiracial society with “something for everyone.” Like Nigeria and Egypt, it could easily be defined as a regional economic cauldron. Its former President, Dr Nelson Mandela is certainly one of Africa’s eminent elder statesmen and an influential authority figure on global issues. President Thabo Mbeki, alongside President Olusegun Obasanjo, is the intellectual and political force for change in Africa through the engine of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). Recently, Mbeki also became active on the diplomatic front, striving to reconcile warring factions in the Ivory Coast, the Congo and other conflict spots in Africa. Unconvinced about his credentials, however, President Jacques Chirac of France has told the South African leader to first “try to understand West Africa” if he is to succeed in bringing peace to the Ivory Coast. This is an indirect admission, even by a European leader, that West Africa, where Nigeria has pulled off spectacular and enduring peace agreements between bitter rivals in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde and Sao Tome among others, requires delicate diplomatic skills.

The question, therefore, is: how truly representative of authentic African values is South Africa, given its sub structure of a White-led economy and a Black-dominated polity? Just emerging from a pariah status, its Cinderella story is not identical with the transformation experiences of many African countries and this identity crisis may deny South Africa the moral credibility to represent Africa.

Nigeria’s case for a permanent seat in the Security Council, however, is the most convincing. With a population estimated at 140 million, which is higher than its closest competitors (Egypt and South Africa) combined, approximately one in every four Africans is a Nigerian. Of these three countries, Nigeria also emerges as having had the most authentic African experience, thereby equalling Britain’s symbolism to European values and US significance to the New World.

Nigeria is Africa’s most prominent and consistent defender of African liberation, and served in that capacity even when battling imperialism and all forms of colonial oppression was considered foolhardy. It played a leading role in merging the Casablanca and Monrovia blocs, which paved the way for the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1962 and, later in 2002, its successor, the African Union (AU), currently chaired by Obasanjo. A rousing speech by the late General Murtala Mohammed in 1975, in which he declared that “Africa has come of Age,” quickly became the mantra for Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia and non-White South Africans as they struggled for social and politico-economic independence in the 1970s and 80s. Massive material and financial aid from Nigeria were constantly channelled into and ultimately guaranteed the success of various liberation struggles. It is for this reason that Nigeria rightly earned the status of a “Frontline State.” Also, in recognition of its stand against South Africa’s apartheid, Nigeria was appointed to permanently chair the UN Anti-Apartheid Committee until the inhumane system was disbanded in 1994.

Nigeria did not hesitate to nationalise the British Petroleum Company in the late 1970s to force the hands of British colonialists and minority white settlers in granting independence to Zimbabwe. It was also the first country to grant full diplomatic recognition to the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, which Morocco claimed as its territory. In each case the decisions harmed Nigeria’s national interests, incurring the wrath of Britain and Morocco, but Nigeria was determined to put the collective African interest above and beyond its own. The country also played, and continues to play, a prominent role in finding peaceful resolutions to conflicts in Africa, as well as alleviating the humanitarian crises that accompany these conflicts.

Nigeria’s strong belief in regional integration informed its decision to co-establish the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) through which it has invested immense human and material resources for regional economic development and conflict resolution. Through the ECOWAS Monitoring Group and defence force, ECOMOG, Nigeria successfully intervened in civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone and restored democratic normalcy in these countries while caring for millions of displaced civilians. In addition, Nigerian battalions have meritoriously served in several UN and African peacekeeping forces in the Congo, Somalia, Yugoslavia, Beirut, the Central African Republic, Liberia, Sierra Leone and other places.

Presently, Obasanjo is at the forefront of giving Africa a new lease of life. He chairs NEPAD’s African Peer Review Mechanism and the AU, and also serves as the Commonwealth Chairperson-in-Office. He has used his diplomatic clout to reconcile warring factions in the Congo, the Sudan, the Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Liberia. His leadership role in Africa has engendered fresh dynamic relations with the West. Efforts to cancel African debts and link up the continent’s émigré workforce to contribute to development are also some of the salient gains of the Obasanjo diplomacy.

Apart from harbouring the largest and most educated lab