By Torty, Onoh Abraham
The economic diplomacy of President Obasanjo between 1999 and 2003 was dictated by the mood of the international community and the general state of African economies. President Obasanjo’s economic programmes are hinged on the neo-liberal theoretical framework. This is evident from the economic path he has been traveling on since he took over. All his programmes have the nuances of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). When Obasanjo took over from the military junta of General Abdulsalami Abubakar on May 29 1999, Nigeria was more or less a pariah nation with negative and offensive international media attention. Transparency International consistently rated Nigeria as most corrupt nation on earth. In 1998, out of 85 nations surveyed in its corruption perception index, Nigeria was rated 81. This deteriorated in 1999 when out of 99 nations surveyed, Nigeria was rated 98 (www.transparencyinternational.org). This negative rating affected the influx of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as most foreigners were wary and indeed reluctant to invest in such insecure environment. The response of President Obasanjo, which was aimed at reassuring the international community, was the signing into law of an anti-corruption law in 2000. This law gave the President the impetus to go round the world and preach to perspective foreign investors to come to Nigeria and invest. Events after four years of promulgating this law have shown that is a toothless bulldog and tool of witch hunting the enemies of the president. Between 2000 and 2003 the rating of Nigeria by Transparency International has nit got better.