Nigeria–Gambia Military Cooperation and Regional Security

Geo-Strategic Importance of The Gambia to Nigeria

The Gambia represents a region of geo-strategic importance to Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram (Touray, 2015), as well as in maintaining influence across West Africa. Nigerians currently represent the largest population of foreign nationals in Gambia (Punch, 2018), and Nigeria has a strong interest in keeping political peace in the region (Blomfield, 2017). The hesitation of Yahya Jammeh to hand over power to the duly elected Adama Barrow was a signal to other West African states that Gambian politics might undermine ECOWAS and create broader problems. Nigeria quickly pledged to send military forces to ensure that the democratically elected Barrow was inaugurated.

The Gambia is viewed as rich in mineral resources and as an important waterway, and Nigeria would like to strengthen trade relations with The Gambia for this reason. As The Standard (2018) points out, "The Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) and The Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to facilitate and deepen economic ties in both countries." This MOU is intended to serve as the foundation of a relationship that will "encourage, promote and facilitate trade cooperation among the business communities of both countries" (The Standard, 2018).

However, The Gambia is also approximately 90% Islamic, and with the radical Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram considered a primary threat among West African states, the possibility of Islamic terrorism taking root in The Gambia is a real concern that states like Nigeria must address. That is one reason Nigeria was adamant about seeing Barrow assume his position as Gambia's rightful leader. In order to confront the Islamic threat represented by Boko Haram, Nigeria needs assurance that the threat is contained and that a source of terrorism — given that several Islamic states in the Middle East provide financial support to extremist networks in the region (Hadebe, 2017) — does not open in Gambia and spread across West Africa.

Military Cooperation in Addressing Security Challenges

Nigeria's ambassador to The Gambia stated that "in support of the Gambia government's development efforts, the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has continued to post Technical Aid Corps Volunteers (TAC) to The Gambia" (Cham, 2013). Nigeria's support, in the ambassador's words, "is informed by our conviction and belief in the development of The Gambia and the well-being of its people" (Cham, 2013). By helping to develop Gambia, Nigeria aims to stabilize the whole of West Africa. Security challenges persist, however, which is why Nigeria has been deeply involved in overseeing The Gambia's military operations in recent years.

In 2017, the armoury of the Gambian Armed Forces was "completely taken over by troops of the Nigerian Army for security reasons" (Kilete, 2017). ECOWAS heads of state used the army to help stabilize The Gambia following Barrow's election. The security challenges that remain relate to ensuring that the state does not attempt a coup to oust the elected Barrow. As Dwyer (2017) notes, the military of The Gambia has historically played vastly different roles depending on the leader in power, noting the "vastly different roles the military played in the state under President Jawara (1965–94) and President Jammeh (1994–2017)" (p. 362). To ensure a smooth transition in governance, it is therefore necessary that the Nigerian military work with The Gambian state to prevent any coups that would potentially destabilize ECOWAS. Since Jammeh himself came to power through a military coup in 1994, the presence of the Nigerian military in The Gambia today follows the principle that prevention is better than cure. With the future of the entire West African region bound up in The Gambia's stability through ECOWAS, Nigerian military cooperation is widely viewed as essential to The Gambia's development (Hartmann, 2017).

Evaluating Military, Economic, and Political Relations

As Hartmann (2017) points out, military, economic, and political relations are intimately connected in The Gambia, particularly because of its role in ECOWAS. Since 2016, The Gambia has received heightened attention: "Following the disputed December 2016 presidential elections in The Gambia, ECOWAS managed to 'restore democracy' in the country by using the threat of force, but without any use of direct physical violence" (Hartmann, 2017, p. 85). The regime under Jammeh refused to hand over authority to the newly elected Barrow, and only the credible threat of force ultimately persuaded Jammeh to relinquish control.

Hartmann (2017) describes the success of this convergence of military, economic, and political relations between The Gambia and Nigeria — which represented the bulk of the military force directed at Jammeh — in terms of four conditions:

1) ECOWAS had a clear legal mandate to threaten the use of force in order to protect democracy in one of its member states; 2) there was consensus that ECOWAS forces could have coped with the relatively small Gambian army; 3) the Gambian president could not rely on regional peers or any powerful external ally; and 4) regional leaders such as Nigeria and Senegal made a credible commitment to the intervention (Hartmann, 2017, p. 85).

These factors help explain how military, economic, and political interests intertwine in the relationship between Gambia and Nigeria. The broader West African peace demanded that Gambia be stabilized — and only Nigeria could provide that stability with any degree of certainty.

It was also crucial to ECOWAS that a peaceful transition of power be effected in The Gambia. It initially appeared this would be the case when Jammeh congratulated Barrow on his election victory and indicated he would peacefully step aside. However, when Jammeh began claiming the election was fraudulent and called for a new vote, the ECOWAS states began working together to ensure that no adverse economic or political consequences flowed from turmoil in Gambia. As Hartmann (2017) notes, ECOWAS chiefs "gathered on 14 January in Abuja to discuss the preparations for the establishment of the ECOWAS Military Intervention in The Gambia (ECOMIG). On 18 January, troops (most from Senegal, with contingents from Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, and Togo) started to move towards the border with The Gambia (which is surrounded by Senegalese territory), and together with Nigerian forces also implemented a naval blockade" (p. 89). The ensuing peaceful handover of the state to Barrow was largely the result of this swift collective military action, with Nigeria playing a commanding role in ensuring that The Gambia was completely isolated from any allies Jammeh might have called upon to support his illegal retention of the presidency.

Implications of Cooperation for Nigeria

Thanks to the continuous presence of the Nigerian military in The Gambia, the region has been considerably more stabilized. Vanguard (2018) reports that "the NAF was the first to deploy to The Gambia in January 2017 as part of the standby force tasked by ECOWAS Heads of State to enforce the December 1, 2016 election mandate, which restored Adama Barrow as President." The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) is currently rotating its forces in a continued effort to provide stability to the state in cooperation with Gambian leaders. The effect of this continued military support and collaboration is that economic peace and prosperity have become more achievable — meaning one of the major implications for Nigeria is that it and ECOWAS will benefit from the support shown to The Gambia, to Barrow, and to the democratic process.

Omosebi (2018) notes that this continued military support has been instrumental in facilitating the strengthening of political and economic ties between the two nations, ties that have resulted in "a Memorandum of Understanding to encourage, promote and facilitate trade cooperation among the business communities of both countries. Nigeria, through the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) and The Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) signed the MoU to facilitate and deepen economic ties in both countries."

The ACCI agreement is expected to benefit both The Gambia and Nigeria. According to The Independent (2018), "under the agreement, it is expected that both countries would coordinate their activities in order to: establish and expand a trade network; facilitate business opportunities; collaborate in logistics matters; assist each other in organising or participating in trade fairs, exhibitions, conferences, seminars, and other similar activities, particularly in areas like tourism, education, oil and gas, construction, agriculture, and technology sectors." By building their relationship on the shared foundation of democratic governance, the two nations have opened the door to broad economic collaboration across multiple sectors.

References

Aning, K. (2014). Transnational security threats and challenges to peacekeeping in Mali. Conflict Trends, 2014(2), 11–17.

Blomfield, A. (2017). West African states prepare to invade Gambia. Retrieved from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/16/west-african-states-prepare-invade-gambia-force-yahya-jammeh/

Cham, L. (2013). Nigeria clocks 53 — Relations with Gambia grows. Retrieved from

Dwyer, M. (2017). Fragmented forces: The development of the Gambian military. African Security Review, 26(4), 362–377.

Hadebe, S. (2017). The Gambia and the geopolitics of West Africa. Retrieved from https://shadebe.wordpress.com/2017/01/22/the-gambia-and-the-geopolitics-of-west-africa/

Hartmann, C. (2017). ECOWAS and the restoration of democracy in The Gambia. Africa Spectrum, 52(1), 85–99.

Independent. (2018). Nigeria, Gambia sign MoU. Retrieved from https://independent.ng/nigeria-gambia-sign-mou-to-promote-facilitate-trade-cooperation/

Iyanda, R. O., & Osundina, K. C. (2014). Youth unemployment and human trafficking in Nigeria/Gambia: The role of human security provisioning. Global Journal of Political Science and Administration, 2(3), 11–22.

Kilete, M. (2017). Nigeria takes over The Gambia military. Retrieved from http://sunnewsonline.com/nigeria-takes-over-the-gambia-military/

Oguanobi, C. R., Akamobi, A. A., Aniebo, C. A., & Mgbemena, E. M. (2014). Nigeria and the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme: The journey so far. Review of Public Administration and Management, 400(3614), 1–7.

Omosebi, K. (2018). Nigeria, Gambia sign MoU. Retrieved from

Punch. (2018). Gambia will collapse without Nigerian professionals. Retrieved from https://punchng.com/gambia-will-collapse-without-nigerian-professionals-vp/

The Standard. (2018). Nigeria, Gambia to strengthen trade relations. Retrieved from

Touray, S. (2015). The Gambia Boko Haram connection. Retrieved from http://www.kaironews.com/the-gambia-boko-haram-connection/

Vanguard. (2018). NAF airlifts Nigerian army. Retrieved from https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/03/ecomig-air-force-airlifts-nigeria-army-naval-troops-support-ecowas-mission-gambia/