Nigeria–Pakistan relations

Nigeria–Pakistan relations refers to the bilateral relations between the nations of Pakistan and Nigeria. Pakistan maintains a high commission in Abuja, while Nigeria also operates a high commission in Islamabad as well as a consulate-general in Karachi. The Government of Pakistan plans to open a trade mission agency in Lagos and the Government of Nigeria is also expected to open its trade mission agency in Karachi.[1] The two states have maintained a close relationship, which was described by the Defence Minister of Nigeria as "friendly" and like a "family tie".[2]

Pakistan-Nigeria relations

Pakistan	Nigeria

Defence attachés from Pakistan and Russia visit the communications tent at the Nigerian Air Force Base, Abuja, Nigeria, on July 21, 2008, during Africa Endeavor 2008.

Country comparison

Official Name	Federal Republic of Nigeria	Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Flag
Coat of Arms / State Emblem
Population	214,028,302 (2020 est.)[3] — 6th	233,500,636 (2020 est.)[4] — 5th
Area	923,768 km^2 (356,669 mi^2)[5] — 31st	907,132 km^2 (350,246 mi^2)[6] — 33rd[7]
Population Density	217/km^2 (563/mi^2)[8]	274/km^2 (710/mi^2)[9]
Capital	Abuja	Islamabad
Largest City	Lagos (14,368,332)[10]	Karachi (16,093,786)[11]
Government	Federal Presidential Republic	Federal Parliamentary Republic
First Leader	Nnamdi Azikiwe	Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Current Leader(s)	President Muhammadu Buhari Vice President Yemi Osinbajo	President Arif Alvi Prime Minister Imran Khan
Ruling Political Party	All Progressives Congress	Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
Official Language(s)	English	English, Urdu
Main Religions	Islam (50%) Christianity (49%) African Folk Religion (10%)[12]	Islam (96%) Hinduism (2%) Christianity (2%)[13]
Ethnic Groups	Hausa (25%) Yoruba (21%) Igbo (18%) Ijaw (10%) Kanuri (4%) Fulani (4%) Other (18%)[14]	Punjabi (45%) Pashtun (15%) Sindhi (14%) Sariaki (8%) Muhajir (8%) Baloch (4%) Other (6%)[15]
Human Development Index (HDI)	0.534 (low)[16] — 158th	0.562 (medium)[17] — 150th
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — Nominal	US$421.8 billion (2018)[18] — 29th	US$314.6 billion (2018)[19] — 39th
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)	US$1.1 trillion (2020)[20] — 24th	US$1.2 trillion (2020 est.)[21] — 23rd
Military Expenditures (US$)	$2.2 billion[22] — 68th	$11.4 billion[23] — 35th
Military Strength Ranking — Worldwide Power Index	0.6485[24] — 42nd • Non-nuclear weapons state	0.2364[25] — 15th • Declared nuclear weapons state

History

Relations between Pakistan and Nigeria are friendly, affable and strong. In January 2009, Nigeria's Minister of Defense, Shittima Musa, announced that "Nigeria and Pakistan would continue to maintain closer relations" and stated that the two countries have also declared to forge closer military ties, especially in the areas of military training and transfer of technology.[26]

Nigeria and Pakistan are both members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Diplomatic relations

Pakistan has a High Commission in Abuja and Nigeria has a High Commission in Islamabad, as well as a consulate-general in Karachi. The two states have maintained a close relationship, a relationship which is described by the Nigerian Defence Minister as "friendly" and like a "family tie"[27]

Cooperation

Nigeria and Pakistan have a number of bilateral agreements. Among the most significant, they agreed to cooperation on law enforcement, particularly with regards to narcotics shipping[28] The presidents met in New York at the United Nations headquarters prior to a session of the General Assembly in September 2004.[29]

However, defence is the area in which both countries are most keen to develop their relations. Indeed, in January 2009, the Nigerian Defence Minister vowed to further develop their relationship after a visit by the Pakistani High Commissioner.[30]

Economic relations

Bilateral trade between Nigeria and Pakistan reached US$56 million in 2010. Pakistan exported $37million worth of goods to Nigeria while it imported $19 million worth of goods from the Nigeria. Pakistan main export items included textile garments, home appliances, surgical equipment and rice.[31]

The two nations maintain good trade relations, with visits by trade delegations, including a significant visit from Nigeria to the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce in order to hold talks with the Chamber's President. In the talks, the two parties discussed an increase in bilateral trade and the possibility of entering into joint ventures, such as in textiles, pharmaceuticals and other areas in order to increase the volume of trade between the two.[32][33]

A similar meeting took place in December 2005, where the leader of the delegation stated that "active co-operation in trade was imperative to increase the trade volume of the two sides".[34] Other meetings were conducted in January 2006[35] and, more recently and more significantly, March 2008, in which diplomats emphasised the importance of increasing bilateral trade- at the time of the meeting, Pakistan's exports to Nigeria stood at US$23.2 million, whereas, in the same period, imports from Nigeria were around US$10 million[36]

Trade and investment

	2007		2008		2009		2010		2011		2012		2013		2014		2015		2016
Nigeria Exports	Nil		$42.9 M		$24.9 M		$38.2 M		$18.6 M		$24.4 M		$39.9 M		$40.9 M		$47.7 M		$79.4 M
Pakistan Exports	Nil		$96.2 M		$151 M		$232 M		$172 M		$88.6 M		$117 M		$116 M		$87 M		$36.9 M
Total Trade	Nil		$139.1 M		$175.9 M		$270.2 M		$190.6 M		$113 M		$156.9 M		$156.9 M		$154.7 M		$116.3 M
Note: All values are in U.S. dollars.[37][38]

Security relations

Throughout the relationship, meetings have taken place between the defence ministries of Pakistan and Nigeria, including those between Defence Ministers themselves and high-ranking military officials. For example, in June 2008, Nigeria's Admiral G.T.A. Adekeye, the chief of Nigeria's naval staff held talks with the Pakistani Defence Secretary.[39] Perhaps of greater significance, the then head of the Nigerian Army met with then Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf in September 2004, with the objective of "[enhancing] existing excellent relations enjoyed between the two armies"[40]

With the close ties of the two nations and Pakistan's nuclear capability, there has been consideration given to the possibility of Nigeria purchasing nuclear arms. In the Pakistani chairman of joint chiefs of staff said "[Pakistan] is working out the dynamics of how they can assist Nigeria's armed forces to strengthen its military capability and to acquire nuclear power", a statement which proved somewhat controversial, particularly in Washington, D.C., where members of the Bush administration were reportedly "baffled".[41][42]
The statement regarding nuclear cooperation was later retracted, with a spokesman for the Pakistani Interior Ministry claiming it was "incorrect" and that nuclear weapons were not intended to be a part of the offer[43][44] and Nigeria has since denied it is seeking a nuclear capability.[45]

More recently, a Pakistani Government advisor has said that the involvement of the Pakistani military in Nigeria was important for the latter's stability, with Nigerian officers being sent to Pakistan for training.[46]

Defense ministers of both Pakistan and Nigeria have also signed a Memorandum of Undersigned (MoU) to enhance defence collaboration[47]

Pakistan has supported Nigeria in its fight against Boko Haram, it supplied the Nigerian military with armored tanks and other advanced military hardware.[48]

References

1. "Nigeria 'll be Africa's economic power by 2030 if". Archived from the original on 2 January 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
2. Auta, Benjamin (4 February 2008). "Nigeria: Minister Hails Nigeria-Pakistan Ties". Retrieved 17 April 2017 – via AllAfrica.
3. "Current Population". www.census.gov. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
4. "Country Comparison :: Population – The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-25.
5. "List of countries and dependencies by area", Wikipedia, 2020-07-26, retrieved 2020-07-27
6. "Where is Pakistan?". WorldAtlas. Retrieved 2020-04-25.
7. Internationally sourced and published statistics include data for Pakistani-administered territories of Kashmir: Azad Kashmir (13,297 km² or 5,134 sq mi) and Gilgit–Baltistan (72,520 km² or 28,000 sq mi) in this value. Further including Pakistani claims over Indian-administered territories in Kashmir would produce an area figure of 1,008,470 km² (389,370 sq mi). Excluding all of these territories in the Kashmir region would produce an area figure of 796,095 km² (307,374 sq mi).
8. "List of countries and dependencies by population density", Wikipedia, 2020-07-27, retrieved 2020-07-27
9. "Pakistan Population (2020) - Worldometer". www.worldometers.info. Retrieved 2020-04-25.
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12. "Nigeria". rlp.hds.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
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21. "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". www.imf.org. Retrieved 2020-04-25.
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23. "Data for all countries from 1988–2018 in constant (2017) USD (pdf)" (PDF). STOCKHOLM INTERNATIONAL PEACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE. 2017–2018. Retrieved 25 April 2020.CS1 maint: date format (link)
24. "2020 Nigeria Military Strength". www.globalfirepower.com. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
25. "2020 Pakistan Military Strength". www.globalfirepower.com. Retrieved 2020-04-25.
26. "Nigeria, Pakistan vow to forge closer military ties_English_Xinhua". News.xinhuanet.com. 2009-01-28. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
27. Archived 8 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
28. "NewsLibrary.com - newspaper archive, clipping service - newspapers and other news sources". Nl.newsbank.com. 1998-09-19. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
29. "Article: Musharraf meets President of Nigerian and President of UN General Assembly. | AccessMyLibrary - Promoting library advocacy". AccessMyLibrary. 2004-09-24. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
30. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2010-04-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
31. "The Nation Newspaper Nigeria - Read Latest Nigeria News". Retrieved 17 April 2017.
32. "Article: BUSINESS (Nigerian Trade Delegation visits ICCI). | AccessMyLibrary - Promoting library advocacy". AccessMyLibrary. 2003-10-29. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
33. "Leading News Resource of Pakistan". Daily Times. 2003-10-28. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
34. "Article: Nigeria delegation seeking investment opportunities in Pakistan. | AccessMyLibrary - Promoting library advocacy". AccessMyLibrary. 2005-12-23. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
35. "Article: Distt (Sialkot): Nigerian High Commissioner visits SCCI. | AccessMyLibrary - Promoting library advocacy". AccessMyLibrary. 2006-01-17. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
36. "Article: PAKISTAN, NIGERIA DISCUSS INCREASING ECONOMIC COOPERATION. | AccessMyLibrary - Promoting library advocacy". AccessMyLibrary. 2008-03-06. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
37. https://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/export/nga/pak/show/2016/
38. https://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/import/nga/pak/show/2016/
39. "NewsLibrary.com - newspaper archive, clipping service - newspapers and other news sources". Nl.newsbank.com. 2008-06-17. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
40. "Article: Nigerian Army Chief calls on President. | AccessMyLibrary - Promoting library advocacy". AccessMyLibrary. 2005-09-24. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
41. Julian Borger in Washington (2004-03-04). "Pakistan may make Nigeria a nuclear power | World news". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
42. "Pakistan offers nuke to Nigeria". Expressindia.com. 2004-03-04. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
43. "Nigeria denies Pakistan offer included n-power". The Hindu. 2004-03-05. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
44. "Nigeria's claim on nuclear aims a 'typo'". UPI.com. 2004-03-04. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
45. "Nigeria Denies Nuclear Ambitions - AP Online | HighBeam Research - FREE trial". Highbeam.com. 2004-03-05. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
46. "Nigeria: We Have Trained a Lot of Officers - Pakistani Defence Minister". allAfrica.com. 2008-10-11. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
47. "Pakistan, Nigeria vow to promote Defence Ties". Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
48. "Saudi Arabia bars Nigerian planes carrying Pakistani arms - Times of India". Retrieved 17 April 2017.

Further reading

• Ahmed, Syed Salahuddin (1987). "Pakistan-Nigeria relations : a study in bilateral relations". Pakistan Horizon. Pakistan Institute of International Affairs. 40 (2): 85–94. ISSN 0030-980X.