THERE is a lot that Nigerians should find instructive in former President Bill Clinton's diplomatic shuttle to North Korea, this week, to secure amnesty for two American journalists who had been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment with hard labour by the North Koreans. By Wednesday, the two journalists: Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, were back in Los Angeles, free from North Korean prison, back in the warm embrace of "overjoyous" family members. It was a fine moment for diplomacy. And a fine example of citizen diplomacy - a concept that is said to be one of the planks of the Yar'Adua administration's foreign policy direction; in fairness to the administration here, its Foreign Affairs Ministry has embarked on one or two trips in defence of Nigerians in distress in foreign prisons even if unsuccessfully. But the Nigerian approach has been constructively half-hearted and many Nigerians in diaspora under difficult circumstances continue to feel short-changed by their home government and Nigerian embassies abroad. A review of the US handling of the Ling-Lee case shows the basic difference between the concept in the United States and how it is being (mis) appropriated in Nigeria. The strong message that America has managed to send across once more is that every American life is important, and that any American anywhere in the world that is in need of help can be assured of his or her country's support. We see in this case, a country that takes pride in its place in the world and the safety of its citizens.

North Korea is not a friend of the United States. The image of the North Korean leader Kim Jong II in the United States is that of a sickly tyrant who is looking for trouble. North Korea's nuclear and missile tests, and its withdrawal from the six-party talks (which includes the two Koreas, the US, Japan, Russia and China) on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula positions it as a direct threat to American interests in that region and the interests of its ally, South Korea. American troops are permanently stationed in the buffer zone between North and South Korea, to prevent a continuation of the Korean War (1950-53) by the North Koreans who continue to insist on the unification of the two Koreas. But all of this foreign policy and security issues were set aside for a moment by the US authorities. It didn't matter that North Korea was a rogue state.

It didn't matter that there are South Koreans also languishing in North Korean prisons. America just wanted to save its own. The Obama White House got into the matter. Former Vice President Al Gore, co-owner of the Cable TV station, Current TV where the two journalists work helped to speak to former President Clinton. President Obama contacted the families of the two journalists personally, the moment their aircraft left Pyongyang, he again personally phoned the families to assure them that their folks were free. A rich Hollywood producer and a Clinton-friend, Stephen Bing provided the private jet that brought Clinton and the journalists home. US aircraft are not allowed to fly into North Korea but the Korean authorities gave clearance and Washington worked out the diplomatic details with Pyongyang.

All of that high level organization and energy to save two women who stepped on the wrong side of the North Koreans, for allegedly crossing into the North through China, illegally to do a story on women trafficking. Their families say their faith in America has been reaffirmed, but not they alone, the moment those two women got back home, every American would feel a surge of patriotic fervour (pro patria mori). And this is not the first time that the US will look out for its citizens: it did in Beirut, in Saigon, in Baghdad... Many will recall the footages of the rescue of an American female Marine who was trapped in a rooftop during Gulf War 1. American troops went back for that woman and rescued her. She was not abandoned to fate and the advancing enemy. Placing the citizen at the centre of the national programme reinforces the original purpose of government and when those in power provide necessary leadership, they will without much effort secure the buy-in of the general populace and create centres of national solidarity and more agents for national progress. In Nigeria, we don't seem to get this. Our governments do not value our lives. One Nigerian was killed in Spain, another one was brutalized in Asia, routinely, our people are beheaded in Saudi Arabia.

At home and in diaspora, Nigerians are left to their own survival tactics; many have learnt not to expect anything from their government. Those who live abroad often complain about the cruelty of Nigerian embassy officials: to renew their passports, to get Nigerian passports or visas for their dual-nationality children could be a nightmare. Nigerian missions abroad complain that Nigerians also do not behave well, and that they are difficult to manage, they are mostly illegal immigrants, they do not register with the embassy, they engage in crime, they have multiple identities. Excuses. The United States does not give excuses when its people are in distress. Reconnecting the state to the citizen and vice versa is a major area of needed intervention for all Nigerians. Back home, the average Nigerian is treated badly by the authorities. In addition to the pervasive inhuman condition of everything, human lives are worthless in Nigeria. If Ling and Lee had been Nigerians, they would still be in North Korean prison. Nigerian officials would have been saying: "serves them right, let the Koreans teach them a lesson!" Over 750 persons have been killed in the course of sectarian violence in Northern Nigeria in the past week, there is no outrage anywhere. Innocent lives have been lost. But nobody knows who the victims are because there is no citizens' database. They have all been dumped in mass graves. President Yar'Adua has not commiserated with anybody. He has not visited the affected places. Life continues just like that.

Clinton's role in the matter also needs to be remarked upon. His trip to Pyongyang is the highest diplomatic contact between the US and North Korea in the past decade. At the time Clinton was in North Korea, his wife, Hillary Clinton was in Nairobi on a nine-state African tour. This week, the two Clintons took the spotlight in American foreign policy. But that didn't take away from President Obama. He left the assignment to the former President and only intervened briefly. He showed leadership and confidence. In Nigeria, the moment our former Presidents leave power, they are rendered useless and restricted to occasional attendance at Council of State meetings which some of them ignore anyway. In 2003, Former President Abdusalami Abubakar was sent as chief negotiator to Liberia and not too long ago, General Ibrahim Babangida was sent to Guinea but these were unusual occurrences. The footnote is that Nigeria's former Presidents/Heads of State have all more or less become museum items because of the baggage that they carry in terms of international influence and record of performance in office, and so, the best that they can now offer is to serve as Chairpersons or Special Guests at public functions! In Obasanjo's case, it is even worse. The last time he was invited to give a lecture in London, angry Nigerians in Diaspora went there to boo him.

The Clinton tag team would never have been allowed to flourish in Nigeria. The President would have been reminded by his circle of sycophants that this would not be a good political strategy. Someone like Hillary Clinton would have been branded a threat who could challenge the president in the next election. Is there any of the other Presidential candidates in the 2007 election playing any major role in the Yar'Adua government? None that I know of. But in the US, the country is considered more important than the individual and political differences and so President Obama has a rainbow team of the best and the brightest across political and ideological persuasions. In Nigeria's emerging "one-party" state, the winner takes it all. It is the country that is underserved.

The Americans have been busy trying to suggest that Bill Clinton's trip to North Korea has no links to non-proliferation talks and that North Korea is not going to gain any political advantage from it. I don't think so. I think the visit and North Korea's magnanimity provides a fresh opening for North Korea talks. It is also a major public relations victory for North Korea. Kim Jong II who had been said to be suffering from diabetes, heart disease and stroke got a chance to showcase himself to the world not from a position of weakness but power. He was doing the US, his country's arch-enemy, a favour! Almighty America came to beg him. If all he wanted to do was to make South Korea jealous, he definitely succeeded in doing so. The US may have refused to recognize North Korea officially, siding in the conflict with Seoul, but it is a fact that this week, North Korea was all over the American media for its humanitarian kindness. That is some form of recognition. Kim Jong II, therefore, is not the fool he is often made out to be in the American media. No wonder the American right-wing is furious.

As a journalist, I cannot but feel for Laura Ling and Euna Lee. This is one hell of a risky job. They have been lucky but there are many more journalists all over the world suffering all kinds of deprivations and assault on account of their work. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) regularly provides disturbing updates on the fate of journalists and the shape of it is as varied as the circumstances of engagement. But what makes this an exciting profession is the sheer pluck of the journalist, the courage in the face of fire.