'Russia Sees Africa as Partners, Not Subjugates,' Says Ex-VP Candidate

The first ministerial summit highlights Russia’s genuine interest in partnering with Africa, shown through the high attendance of African countries and discussions focused on initiatives aimed at benefiting the continent, Dr. Emmanuel Chukwuka Johnson, former vice presidential candidate of the Action Alliance Party in the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria, tells Sputnik Africa.

Dr. Chukwuka challenges the Western media narrative that Russia is isolated, instead commending the strong ties between Africa and Moscow, which he attributes to Russia’s historic role in supporting Africa’s liberation during the colonial struggle since the Soviet era.

“Like in the Soviet era and even now, Russia has been fighting global injustice, which has always been a key point against Africa; we have been victims of this global injustice. For example, colonialism. There is no history of Russia colonizing any part of the world, including Africa. Rather, Russia fought colonialism and saw how they removed it from the history,” he stresses.

For Nigeria, the politician says that Russia is the kind of friend the country needs, and he sees so many similarities between the two states.

“Russia, as it is, is the most populous country in Europe; Nigeria is also the most populous country in Africa. Russia has gas and crude, just like Nigeria. Russia promotes family values, traditional values, just like Nigeria. Again, look at Russia, a multinational country and multireligious country just like Nigeria. Nigeria is also multinational and multireligious,” Dr. Chukwuka explains.

Commenting on the key takeaways from the ministerial meeting, Dr. Chukwuka notes that discussions covered economic, innovation, and security issues. However, he emphasizes that, for Nigeria, security is currently the top priority for economic transformation.

“The first thing we need to do is to fix our security issues, which I know that Russia is in a good position to help us. They have good ideas; this is not about supplying or selling arms. It's about doing practical things that could put the country in a secured way, like training of armed personnel in the security agencies,” he adds.

To find out what else our guests had to say, tune in to the Global South Pole podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.

In addition to the website, you can also catch our episodes on Telegram.

► You can also listen to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer, Castbox, Pocket Casts, Afripods, Podcast Addict, and Overcast.

► Check out all the episodes of Global South Pole.