Tunde Rahman
Is the Non-Aligned Movement still around? Is the organisation still in existence? That was the weighty question Professor Ikechukwu Okoro, a visually impaired Nigerian and Iowa State University don, slammed on me the moment I informed him of my mission in Kampala, Uganda.
Professor Okoro and I had met on our way to Addis-Ababa, me en route Kampala and he was heading to Atlanta, United States.
https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?gdpr=0&client=ca-pub-0489054010937773&output=html&h=345&slotname=6419191233&adk=380693779&adf=4071340108&pi=t.ma~as.6419191233&w=414&lmt=1706324233&rafmt=1&armr=1&format=414×345&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheeagleonline.com.ng%2Fnon-aligned-movement-and-nigerias-quest-for-equal-access-to-capital-by-tunde-rahman%2F&host=ca-host-pub-2644536267352236&fwr=1&fwrattr=true&rs=1&rh=345&rw=414&rpe=1&resp_fmts=3&sfro=1&wgl=1&dt=1706324233295&bpp=1&bdt=3090&idt=-M&shv=r20240122&mjsv=m202401230101&ptt=9&saldr=aa&abxe=1&cookie=ID%3D155c3336c2befd95%3AT%3D1702103277%3ART%3D1706324232%3AS%3DALNI_MY8rHrnYAdR7B4WATgIwGKgaahOLA&gpic=UID%3D00000ce4873ee65a%3AT%3D1702103277%3ART%3D1706324232%3AS%3DALNI_MaHBegCQodQYNsbS4XJmWUiLanCtw&eo_id_str=ID%3Db765e9a6b29e6130%3AT%3D1705987708%3ART%3D1706324232%3AS%3DAA-AfjZ–cpYNCeQNUhwvEUMsKka&prev_fmts=0x0%2C414x345%2C414x345&nras=1&correlator=4009505872886&frm=20&pv=1&ga_vid=525416571.1702103277&ga_sid=1706324233&ga_hid=293285696&ga_fc=1&u_tz=60&u_his=1&u_h=896&u_w=414&u_ah=896&u_aw=414&u_cd=32&u_sd=3&adx=0&ady=1451&biw=414&bih=719&scr_x=0&scr_y=359&eid=44759876%2C44759927%2C42531705%2C44795921%2C95321627%2C95322162%2C95323009&oid=2&pvsid=2808688249316645&tmod=2035017728&nvt=1&ref=https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2F&fc=1920&brdim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C414%2C0%2C414%2C896%2C414%2C836&vis=1&rsz=%7C%7CeEbr%7C&abl=CS&pfx=0&fu=128&bc=31&bz=1&ifi=4&uci=a!4&btvi=2&fsb=1&dtd=663
It wasn’t as if the issue he raised had not previously crossed my mind, but I did not bother much about it since I was headed for the NAM conference anyway until I encountered the sharp and witty Professor Okoro. He then got me thinking about the question of importance and relevance of the Non-Aligned Movement in today’s global power structure and politics. Indeed, only an unwary observer or naive student of global politics would have missed the seeming emptiness about NAM.