Category: Thursday

This last week was not a good time for Nigeria, what with Blessing Okagbare being sent out of the Olympics for doping and Deputy Commissioner of Police Abba Kyari being fingered by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI ) in USA for involvement with the Nigerian fraudster Rahman  Olorunwa Abbas alias Hushpuppi.  One who has no idea of cultural diplomacy may dismiss the Okagbare incident and the banning of another 10 Nigerians out of the Olympics for missing out three out of competition tests which are mandatory as not major incidents. They are. In a world where sports have gratefully replaced wars as a mark of national pride and superiority, excellence in sports do confer recognition on winning countries. The relative cheapness of using sports to advance national pride and influence compared with the traditional diplomacy which is very expensive, recommends investment in any aspect of cultural diplomacy, be it sports, creative arts, cultural artifacts and literature.

In the 1970s, Shell Oil Nigeria Limited sponsored a traveling global exhibition of 2000 years of Nigerian Art displaying Nok Art and Ife naturalistic figurines, Benin idealized works, Ugbo-Uku exquisitely woven art works all in terra cotta and bronze. It certainly caught the eyes of the world and people began to place us with Ancient Greece as contributors to world civilization. I remember when I was presenting my letters of credence as ambassador of Nigeria to the President of Germany, Baron Richard Karl von Wveisacker in 1991, he was more interested in talking about our national soccer team and the plays of Wole Soyinka especially “The Death and the King’s Horseman”. In this play, Soyinka explores the complex Yoruba culture in which the horse-keeper of the Oba was expected to die with his patron and the attempt by the British colonial authorities to stop what must have been seen to be barbaric culture. I first saw the play incidentally not in Nigeria but far away in Washington DC in the United States, I believe in 1979. I have always found Soyinka’s works rather tedious and requiring more than mere attention than I was prepared to devote to literary works, which if not immediately enjoyed was not worth my effort. Thank God I knew about the tradition of Abobaku” in Yoruba monarchical institutions and I tried to make sense out of it in the engrossing discussion I had with the German nobleman and a man of letters himself. He knew about the importance of Nigeria politically and economically and the strong economic relations between Germany and Nigeria but what interested the man was those intangible areas of our national life which constitute our cultural contribution to the world. I could not have been talking about our crude oil production or our cocoa, timber and palm oil and our huge market for consumer goods. This was commonplace in the eyes of the German President.

While talking on culture, I remember a story worth telling. The Nigerian Union in Germany was having their national celebrations in Bonn in 1994 and it just happened that a delegation sent by General Sani Abacha led by Chukwuemeka Ojukwu to ask for Germany’s patience with him and his regime after locking up MKO Abiola, the winner of the 1993 Presidential election and also later arresting Generals Obasanjo and Yar’Adua for attempted coup d’état was visiting Bonn Germany. I took the delegation to the social evening of the Nigerian Union. After a beautiful performance by a young Yoruba boy on the talking drums, Ojukwu stood up to make some remarks. He said he was not ashamed to say when we in Nigeria talk about Nigerian culture worth celebrating, what we were all talking about is Yoruba culture in music, literature, clothing, creative arts, traditional architecture, history, traditional religion and numeracy. If I had made such remarks, the security boys in my mission would have filed negative reports about me and it could have led to my recall. Of course, no diplomat sent to represent a multinational state like Nigeria would have singled out one ethnic group and put it over the others. Certainly, I was too sophisticated and urbane to commit such a faux pas.  Also, I did not necessarily agree with Ojukwu’s dismissal of other cultural attainment of other Nigerians except the Yoruba. But Ojukwu was not a diplomat.

Now back to sports as an important component of cultural diplomacy. One is inclined to ask why Blessing Okagbare was even taken to the Olympics in the first place. I mean she is no longer a young lady. After a decade of running for Nigeria, we ought to have found younger and more nimble legs that would not require being pumped up with dope before she can run. She has had her days she should be encouraged to hang her boots without ruining her own image but most especially Nigeria’s image. When your colleagues start referring to you as “Aunty Blessing” it is time for you to go. As for the other 10 athletes who did not fulfill the testing requirements, they and our officials who should have ensured full compliance with Olympics regulations and protocols should be ashamed of themselves and should be reprimanded. Our people must realize that these little things matter in the eyes of the global community.

Nigeria already has a bad image of human trafficking, advance fees fraud, prostitution, immigration violation, visa and passport forgeries. We don’t need to add to what has become a sordid reputation. Now we are known for international terrorism. Our people have been found carrying bombs on behalf of Al Qaeda and killing British soldiers right there in the streets of London. Of course our people are rated as one of the best in scholarship particularly in medicine, surgery, engineering, computer science, design, and so many other areas of human endeavors. Nigerians occupy key positions in the United States government and even in the mass media. One is always proud when one reads about the achievements of our young ones abroad and at home in music and films but the black legs amongst them always ruin our collective image. This is why it is always sad when one reads about these sad stories of Nigerians’ involvements in fraud and other untoward activities.

Even though we have not won any medals in the current Olympics, but I hail the efforts of our athletes in male and female basketball and in the field and sprints events. After all, the joy of Olympics is not in winning but in participation. Although I would rather that we have won a few medals instead of consoling ourselves with the joy of participation. I know we can win if we train and prepare adequately and give our young people time to train and encouragement and financial support. There is a lot of money in sports and it can help mitigate our unemployment problem if we actively develop our sports infrastructure and operate a sophisticated sports league championship. We can also use sports to project a positive and glorious image of our country and with good image will come foreign interest and possible investment.

Now to the question of Abba Kyari’s alleged inappropriate behavior in the case of the indicted Nigerian fraudster Abbas Huspuppi currently in the United States prison. First of all, Abba Kyari is the poster boy of the Nigerian police. He is seen as a super cop who can solve any crime no matter the nature and wherever it is committed in Nigeria. He attracts a lot of apparently sponsored publicity in the Nigerian media. At the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police, he ought to have been very careful that he does not let the force or himself down. In recent times he has not been too careful. He was photographed in the burial ceremony of a certain Obi Cubana’s mother wearing “Aso Ebi” with the celebrant. This was a party where people were throwing money at each other and marching on millions of Nigerian naira. Defacing the national currency itself is a crime. A senior policeman should not have attended a party in which millions were being spent by people who could not have genuinely laboured for their wealth.

When he was challenged about his presence at such a party, he allegedly said the main celebrant was a hardworking man.  How many hard-working Nigerians spend billions of naira burying their mothers? When the Hushpuppi story about his being fingered in the USA by the FBI broke, many people were not surprised. People who live in glass houses should never throw stones. I am not saying he is guilty but appearance of involvement in crime for a senior Nigerian police officer is a serious situation. The police has apparently suspended him for the time being. If he is found culpable, this would ruin his own life and irreparably damage the image of Nigeria. Of course, Nigeria will not be the only country where senior police officers are involved in crime. They are found all over the world. But in our case, we don’t need another dent on our image which is already sordid enough.

By Jide Osuntokun

There is a general tendency in Nigeria and perhaps in most countries in the so-called third world to equate military security with national security. National security includes more than military security. It includes among other things economic and financial security, health and social security, infrastructure, transportation and communication security, power and cyber security, and above all, human and political security. Each of this arbitrary division cannot stand alone. They are indeed interconnected. It is therefore futile to think that once a military officer is installed as director of national security, the country is secured.

In most advanced countries, the work of national security involves coordination and analysis and except in rare cases does one find a military man being put in charge of national security.  If it happens, such a man or woman must be gifted with multi-tasking ability to coordinate all inputs before arriving on the way forward of arriving at the right recommendation of policy of securing a nation. In the United States, the office of the Director, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the offices of military intelligence are subordinate to that of the office of National Security which operates within the presidency.

Of course the president can call on any of the intelligence outfits for briefing and advice as the case may be. A military man may recommend military action because that is what he is trained to do. But military action may lead to all kinds of complications with foreign adversaries. This is why the diplomatic ramifications would need to be examined first before action can commence. Movement of armed forces would involve logistical considerations and consequences it carries with it, especially the kind of relations a country has with its allies and countries in the neighbourhood of where military action is targeted.

There may be need to have neighbouring countries’ permission to refuel, land troops, secure  over flight consideration and sometimes military support. To be sure that some of these considerations are taken care of, diplomatic actions would be needed. Military action also requires considerable expenses and even social mobilization of the home front. A poor country taking precipitate military action may bankrupt itself which could lead to unravelling of the country itself because of the inability of the government to maintain social order as well as financial and economic equilibrium. Unnecessary military action could trigger the involvement of a more powerful country on the side of one’s intended adversaries. This is why many things need to be studied before military action commences.

This is why looking at national security problem from the prism of the military alone is not only dangerous but may be counterproductive .This is why the diplomatic service functions  in symbiosis with the military. Simply put war is politics by other means and if war can be avoided all efforts must be made to avoid it and every war in any case ends with diplomatic negotiations before a war is concluded. This is the lesson any student of history knows.

What operates externally has its corresponding situation at the domestic level. In fact, it is very dangerous to use force to resolve complex domestic issues. This is why it is only on rare occasions that a government would call on its military for internal operations except when it is obvious that the problem has gone beyond the capacity of the police to resolve. This is because soldiers are not technically peace makers; they are trained to kill. It follows therefore that when troops are deployed, the country has entered a very serious situation. This is the reason to ensure that the various police forces are adequate, well-trained and well-equipped to take care of internal security.

A discontented people are a national security threat. This is where politics comes into security consideration. Political instability can arise as a result of feeling of dissatisfaction based on inequality and a feeling of marginalization based on religious cultural or ethnic basis. It can also be fuelled by lack of economic opportunities. Democracy is perhaps the best means of enlisting the support of the majority of the people by a country’s government. But democracy must be seen to work to resolve conflicts and to carry even the losing group or minority along. A government that is based on monopoly of power even by an elected majority must ensure that opposition is treated fairly. There is no point pushing the opposition underground and creating possible fifth columnists which will prove dangerous in case of foreign attack. Every country that wants to be taken seriously must give its citizens reason for patriotic support. An angry and hungry man is not likely to be fired up by any sense of patriotism and nationalism. An unsatisfied citizen will find hollow the J. F. Kennedy’s call of “…Do not ask what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country”.  War has become a rarity in state affairs but any serious country knows that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. To secure peace a country must prepare for war. This is why a holistic approach to the issue of national security needs to be taken.

In the modern world, security involves maintaining in a secure environment, all the appurtenances of a modern state such as security of the cyberspace. In a digital world, most developed countries operate in computerized environment. Consequently any disruption of the internet connection could lead to the paralysis of the aviation network, hospital practice, power generation and distribution, fuel and food supply and distribution, rail and road transportation. The entire fabric of society in a country like the United States could be brought to screeching halt through cyber-attack by a local or foreign enemy.

There could also be a digitized fake attack which in a world of nuclear weapons could be fatal to the world. In fact, the more developed a country is, the more it is susceptible to cyber-attack and paralysis. In less developed countries, a cyber-attack can destroy the market and destabilize the fiscal stability with economic and social consequences.

Need one point out the importance of health security in the face of coronavirus pandemic. It follows therefore that national security adviser in any country must be a person with multi-task ability who of course would assemble a team versed in the various fields I have tried to identify in the preceding section of this piece.

Having given these various parameters of national security, we can then ask the very relevant question of how secure is Nigeria? Do we even have the organizational structure to secure our country? Or are we so dominant in our region that no matter what we do at home, the chances of external attack on us are negligible? Is the threat to our national security likely to come from within rather than from outside? The question of whether our dominant position in the region confers automatic security from external threat is a moot question. But it seems to me that with our country’s experience of piracy in our territorial waters and possibility of submarine-borne attack, the scenario which we witnessed in the time of our confrontation with South Africa over our opposition to their policy of apartheid comes readily to mind. The infestation of Nigeria by Boko Haram with its connection to ISIS and the faction of ISIS in the West African province  “ISWAP” definitely sponsored from outside our shores, show that we are not immune to foreign aggression and subversion. Even if we discountenance foreign attack, are we immune to internal subversion, economic sabotage and political disintegration?

In recent times in Nigeria, we have witnessed the invasion of Nigeria by foreign pastoralists who do not recognize international borders nor the title to land but seem to believe they could seize any land, dominate it by driving away the owners by force and turning them into grazing land for their cattle. Since these foreign herders appear to be above our laws, it seems our formerly peaceful herders have joined their foreign counterparts to unleash terror particularly on Nigerian farmers. This has led to natural resistance and a breakdown of law and order occasioning kidnapping, armed robbery and waylaying of vehicles on the road. This has led to food insecurity since farmers can no longer grow food crops and the herders are not having it easy because their cattle are being rustled by so-called bandits. This has led to economic and social paralysis of a big part of the northern part of our country.

This incendiary situation has spread to all parts of the country and this has led to a general perception that the disturbers of peace are being cuddled and pampered by the federal government because of ethnic affinity of the herders with the president of our country who has apparently not handled the matter with the urgency it deserves. The situation has now gotten out of hands that people fear to travel on interstate roads for fear of being kidnapped and killed if appropriate ransom is not paid. Schools have had to close in many parts of the country because of incessant kidnapping of students. Nigeria is spending substantial portion of its national wealth on military campaigns and pacification all over the country. This has led to drastic fall in production and economic decline which has undermined the fiscal stability of our country to the extent that the voice of Nigeria is no longer respected outside our country and the weakness of our currency is a manifestation of the insecurity of our country.  Cynics now dismiss Nigeria as a failed state. The obvious threat to our national security is the poor governance in the country which has manifested in ethnic marginalization and undermining of the cohesion of the country through unfair distribution of national resources and skewed appointments of the ethnic cohorts of those in  the commanding height of the federal government. It is an irony that those charged with the security of our country by acts of omission or commissions are the very ones undermining it.