Lagos:  In Part 1 of this essay, I argued that Nigerians hardly benefit economically from the relative peace their country has guaranteed in West Africa at the cost of over $1 billion, more than 1,000 soldiers dead, plus thousands wounded in peacekeeping and peace-enforcement operations. Instead, South Africans are among the biggest beneficiaries of Nigeria’s often emotion-driven Africa-centred foreign policy.

I therefore contended that Nigerians are, indeed, making West Africa safe for South African business, with substantial evidence from South African business forays in Nigerian-liberated Liberia. Part 2 explores how South Africans are, once again, reaping the benefits of the Nigerian and UN-backed peace in Côte d’Ivoire which South Africa almost unravelled because of its selfish economic interests.

In that typical bully image, South African former President Thabo Mbeki, as mediator in the election result stalemate in Côte d’Ivoire in October 2011, tried to craft a power-sharing agreement between Laurent Gbagbo and Allasane Ouattara against African Union and ECOWAS positions. They also controversially docked their naval vessel in Cote d’Ivoire’s waters, for which the UN chastised them publicly. Mbeki’s image-laundering adventure was a foreign policy fiasco.

South Africa’s misguided Ivorian policy was economically-driven. Its MTN was a majority shareholder in Telecal, an Ivorian Internet service provider. During the civil war, mobile telephones remained one of the three profitable sectors in the war-torn country. Sotra (the state public transport company) had signed a contract to buy buses from a South African company; a huge market was taken over from the Côte d’Ivoire electricity company (CIE); while a South African company was contracted to provide electric metres with prepayment cards.

Similar arrangements were instituted in less visible, but more widespread markets, including supermarkets where South African wine was well represented. Hence, Pretoria reluctantly agreed to UN mandate to freeze Gbagbo’s stolen assets which were funding its controversial Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) programme.

Despite sporadic incidents of violence, including the recent attacks and coup plots by mercenaries and Gbagbo’s supporters, the Nigerian and UN-backed team has put Côte d’Ivoire on the path to recovery. Economic growth rate is expected to reach 8.5 percent this year. Unsurprisingly, investors have flocked, especially from South Africa, to reap the benefits of peace. More than 30 mining companies with global operations are currently exploring across the country, improving Côte d’Ivoire’s potential to double its annual production of seven metric tons of gold in two years. Its reserves of other natural resources such as diamonds, nickel, cobalt, bauxite, iron and manganese is tempting to investors.

Randgold Resources, a South African mining company with four mines in Côte d’Ivoire and one in the Congo, is one such beneficiary. The company forecasts a 19 percent production increase for 2012. Another South African miner, Gold Fields Limited, generates about half of its 3.5 million ounces gold production in South Africa and the balance evenly split between West Africa, South America and Australia. AngloGold Ashanti Limited, a South African gold mining company, went from a posted loss in 2009 to a $1.3 billion profit for 2011.

Other sectors have benefitted tremendously. In March this year, MTN was awarded a universal licence to operate third-generation (3G) networks and roll out high-speed data services in Côte d’Ivoire. There are 20.6 million Ivorians, a relatively small, but developed and competitive market with an estimated 75 percent cell phone penetration. Rival Orange Telecom enjoys 60 percent market share while MTN holds about 30 percent. Yet, the country is an important market for MTN and South Africans for several reasons.

Côte d’Ivoire is seen as a launching pad to overcoming their tendency to feel ‘uncomfortable’ doing business in West Africa because of language problem and their timidity when confronted with French competitors who have been doing business in the region for years. Côte d’Ivoire is perfectly positioned to provide a base from which to easily service the surrounding markets of Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea.

In the run-up to this year’s African Cup of Nations tournament, French-owned sportsbook software provider LVS has struck a deal with South African partners, Morpho and LotSys, to provide its Advanced Betting Platform (ABP) to Côte d’Ivoire’s exclusive gambling operator, Loterie National de Côte d’Ivoire (LONACI). The sportsbook, which will operate under the Sportcash brand, is scheduled to launch in 80 shops just ahead of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations football tournament, expanding to 2,000 terminals over the next 12 months. Initially, football will be the sole product on offer, but future plans include the addition of lottery style games and pari-mutuel horseracing. Yes, let’s promise Ivorians sudden wealth to pillage them more!

The costs and benefits of emotion-driven and interest-driven foreign policy couldn’t be clearer. President Jacob Zuma’s business pals and the ‘empowered black elite’ will continue to smile to the bank; after all, someone else is paying for their deluded regional aspirations. Except for the likes of Aliko Dangote, who has also invested $4 billion to build a new cement facility in Ivory Coast, Nigerians must continue to die, drain their national treasury, and many military families must mourn their unsung heroes alone. To make West Africa safe for investors from Mandela’s country is a task that must be done!