At the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center on Tuesday, January 30, problems currently besetting the Nigerian state would be the topic of a panel discussion put together by the Atlantic Council.
Founded in 1961, the Atlantic Council is said to be a non partisan institution devoted to promoting transatlantic cooperation and international security.
It is basically an American body used over the years to engage Americans with their European partners on matters of global concern.
With a string of functional transatlantic programmes, the body also has regional programmes in which the Michael Ansari Center is one. The Center works to transform U.S. and European policy approaches to Africa by building strong geopolitical partnerships with African states to enhance security and strengthen economic growth and prosperity on the continent.
It is on record that the Michael Ansari Center has been a keen follower of activities in Nigeria and happens to be one of the first American group that hosted President Goodluck Jonathan, even as an acting President in 2010.
The Center showed an above average interest in the April 2011 general elections with some of its officials, including the current director as international observers in the election widely acclaimed to be free and fair elections.
Shortly before the elections, Peter Pham, director of the Michael Ansari Centre wrote on “Why Nigeria Matters.” According to him, “it might be useful to recall why Nigeria is so important, both in its own right and for U.S. strategic interests. With proven petroleum reserves conservatively estimated to amount to some 36 billion barrels—the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa and the tenth-largest in the world—Nigeria is America’s fourth-largest supplier of imported oil.”
Pham added that, “Nigeria’s significance to American interests goes beyond its acknowledged importance as an energy supplier. Nigeria’s population of just shy of 150 million people makes it the eighth most populous country in the world and by far the most populous in Africa. Historically, the country has played a major role in resolving the conflicts besetting the continent and has long been the largest African contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations.”
It is against this background that  followers of Atlantic Council/Nigeria relationship were taken aback with the framing of this Tuesday’s panel discussion with the alarmist title “Nigeria on the Edge.” In the justification note for the panel discussion, organisers of the event chronicled recent upheavals in the country, pointing out what it termed President Jonathan’s inconsistency and wondering if, “ President Goodluck Jonathan’s leadership, will manage to pull back from the brink, or descend further into regional, civil, and religious conflict.”
Were the Michael Ansari Center a media house, the alarmist title of the event would have been justified to lure consumers, but for a respected policy emanating body to sound that alarming is apparently at variance with its stated mission of  “ building strong geopolitical partnerships with African states.” By African culture, it is considered doomsdays prophesy.
To a large extent, the event promises to be an interesting meeting especially with former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador John Campbell among the discussants. Campbell, a Ralph Bunche Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria between 2004 and 2007, has in recent times positioned himself with the opposition group in Nigeria chiding the present Jonathan administration from every angle.
This is largely reflected in his rather negative remarks about Nigeria’s political situation, and specifically in his book titled, “ Nigeria.
Only on May 2, 2011, Campbell in the opinion page of New York Times in an article titled, “Nigeria: The Morning After,” derided the internationally commended April 2011 general elections stating that, “the elections have polarized Nigeria and resulted in likely underreported bloodshed in the northern parts of the country.”
Even with intensified efforts by the U.S. government to assist Nigeria in the menacing Boko Haram terrorism threat through the U.S.-Nigeria Bi-national Commission, Campbell recently called on the Obama administration not to be involved in the anti-terror activities of the Nigerian government.
In his reasoning, Campbell believes that, “If the United States becomes associated with Abuja’s oppression, then we and the international community become fair game.” For benefit of doubt, it is apt to reiterate that Nigeria will as many other countries, survive its current challenges, just as “United Kingdom did not close down because of decades of IRA disturbances and 911 did not significantly affect the position of the United States as the most powerful and economically dominant nation of the world,” as pointed out by Professor Adebowale Adefuye, Nigeria Ambassador to the United States in a recent public function in Washington D.C.