The Nation Newspaper

Tag: security

  • In the name of security

    In the name of security

    In the name of security Citizen voters must bow As jittery candidates scared of losing Reboot their flailing campaign

    It is now abundantly clear that a sleazy security cabal has the President’s back in his assault on democratic values. What is particularly galling is the matter-of-fact manner in which this latest scheme was executed and the insult on our collective intelligence that it represents.

    The National Security Adviser flew the kite in London. Citizens’ reaction was instantaneous and overwhelmingly against election postponement. The government itself came up with a rebuttal. This was only a calculated dishonest response. The presidency knew that Sambo was delivering its message.

    It is that Machiavellian deceptive attitude we have come to identify with this presidency for which politics is the jewel of accomplishment. Attending mega churches during election is not to campaign but to thank Christian brethren praying for the nation. Publicly lamenting state government decisions not to sponsor pilgrims to Jerusalem is not a subtle appeal for Christian votes; it’s only encouraging those governments to rethink. And not calling to order supporters who threaten hell fire should he lose the election doesn’t encourage them; it only acknowledges free speech. Every time that an aide makes some pronouncement on behalf of the President, my heart aches. How does Nigeria get to this sorry pass?

    We were there before and 2015 is now looking very much like a replay of 1965 and 1983. I have just been informed that security agents arrested top leaders of APC in Okeho, Oyo State. Governor Abiola Ajimobi had led his campaign to Oke-Ogun. After he left Okeho, some unknown miscreants vandalised the President’s campaign posters. But someone must pay for the crime. The police therefore arrested and detained Okeho APC leaders in Ibadan for two days. They were lucky.

    In 1965 during the heat of the Western Region election, Honourable Atioro representing Shaki visited Okeho. Shortly before he left town, there was a scuffle between his followers and some NNDP members. It happened in front of my house. After Atioro and his boys left for Shaki, my father and other Action Group leaders were arrested, detained and charged to court in Ibadan. It was the coup of 1966 that saved them from prison. And in 1982, a friend of my father was killed by a leader of the NPN protesting taxation. Nothing happened to the killer. Every community has a story to tell about the rot in our system of policing, and the politicisation of the police in aid of the central ruling party. IGP Abba is not a different species.

    For those of us who have been victims of police partisanship, therefore, what is happening is a cruel reminder of the past that should be tossed in the dustbin of history. And when some cowardly commentators hiding behind pseudonyms question our integrity even when in the performance of a labour of love since 2006, I write out of conviction without asking for payment in cash or kind, without receiving contracts from any government, what can one do but to ask for God’s mercy upon them and their ilk?

    We have now reached a new low with the politicisation of the armed forces. Who would have thought that after the near collapse of the institution of the military between 1993 and 1998, our men and women in uniform would be toying again with the fire of shame and ignominy? Since 1998, there appears to have been a deliberate effort to give the military a new lease of life and apart from some random cases of individual acts of indiscipline in public, the institution seemed to have held its own. That is until now. Our military is now firmly in the corner of the President with its resources of men and equipment in the service of the ruling party. Evidence 1. Ekiti leaked tape. Evidence 2. Service chiefs’ letter to INEC.

    The leaked tape from the Ekiti election is a clear case of official abuse of power. I pity the hapless Brigadier-General, who was humiliated by political warlords on a mission. Will there be an investigation? Hell No! The President has nominated as Minister Musiliu Obanikoro, former Minister of State for Defence, who resigned his position to contest the Lagos State PDP primary, and who has been implicated heavily in this sordid affair of conspiracy to influence the outcome of democratic elections.

    The nomination, coming two weeks before the original date of the elections and barely four months to the end of his presidency, calls into question again the thinking of the President and the rationale behind it? Is it for Obanikoro to have an official standing to repeat his Ekiti feat in the general elections? Or is it a signal to us that there will be no elections and the President is going nowhere? In any case, it is now up to the Senate to conduct a proper investigation of the tapes and to ascertain the involvement of the nominee in the Ekiti electoral heist. For the Senate to grant Obanikoro confirmation hearing without a preliminary investigation is to shirk its constitutional responsibility.

    With regard to their derailment of the elections, there are urgent questions for the service chiefs and the NSA to answer:

    First, did they or did they not confirm few days before their February 6 letter to INEC that they were ready to provide security for the elections on February 14 and 28?

    Second, if the answer to the first question is yes, when did it occur to them that they were no longer in a position to provide security for the elections? What was the basis of this new realisation?

    Third, Professor Jega reported that the new operation against Boko Haram was to begin on February 14. Does it make sense to disclose this strategic information about the start date of such an important operation? And what makes this (election) date the most appropriate for the military to begin its operation?

    Fourth, Professor Jega quoted the letter from service chiefs as suggesting that the six weeks extension was only a “first instance” request, implying that a further extension may be requested. Does this mean that the elections may be cancelled since the military does not want to be “distracted” by any elections? And how is this not a coup against democracy?

    For my fellow democrats, especially those who applaud the extension, I have a few questions as well.

    First, if you look down into your democratic heart, reflect dispassionately on what is going on, and you eschew your candidate preferences or party leaning, can you honestly say that you are in tune with what just happened to the polity?

    Second, are you able to separate your hatred for a person from your principled stand on democratic values?

    Third, in a different setting, where the dramatis personae are different, can you honestly and conscientiously assent to the impunity that has characterised this regime in the last four years?

    I ask these questions from a conscience that is absolutely clear. In 2009 I wrote several columns objecting to the North’s insistence on having one of its own complete the term of Yar’Adua. I vigorously applauded the new “transformation agenda” of Jonathan in 2011. What changed for me was my inability to defend a President that has all but destroyed the very foundation upon which he was elected to power.

    Whether the President was ill-advised does not really matter. The buck stops at his desk. First, the suspension of Salami and Sanusi was an abuse of power. Second, the intervention in the affairs of the Nigeria Governors Forum was the height of fascism. Third, the triumph of corruption in the war against it is a national disgrace. Fourth, the loss of territory and girl-citizens is a national humiliation. Assume the President is given the benefit of the doubt that the last is too complicated due to international terrorism run amok. I hold him fully responsible for the first three. What prevented his party from presenting a different candidate from the Southsouth?

  • Leadership, security and national development

    This lecture focuses on leadership, security and national development from African and global perspectives. Security and what it constitutes can take many forms. However, it is all about the survival of an individual, a group or an entity such as a state. It should be noted that there is a duality in every country’s security challenges, and these manifest as the internal and external factors that shape its state of security. Due to socio-political and geo-political peculiarities, every nation’s security challenges and imperatives are, to a large extent, unique. This is why the security situation of one country, with its attendant implication for peace and national development, can be very different from another’s even when their external security challenges are similar.

    Although national security problems arise out of conflicts or threats within or outside a given nation, how these conflicts are resolved, managed or contained is critically dependent on the effectiveness of existing governmental institutions for conflict prevention and resolution. This also entails the disposition and orientation of leadership at local and international levels. Social chaos is, therefore, often a manifestation of a failure of government machinery or governmental systems as may be revealed by a thorough and dispassionate examination of past conflicts. Indeed, government never became necessary until humankind saw the need to invent systemic machinery for managing social crisis and maintaining public order. This is why there is need to begin this discussion by looking at the evolution of formal or governed society as we know it today.

    From State of Nature to State of Society

    Overwhelmed by hazards in the unorganised natural environment and by the antagonistic effects of his own primitive self-centredness, man, generically speaking, needed a “neutral” authority to protect his life, family and property.  Formal society developed out of this basic need to preserve oneself and one’s possessions. Organised society evolved over a long period before the dawn of civilization as we know it today. Political thinkers, notably the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), argued that individuals, persuaded by enlightened self interest, traded off the insecure “state of nature,”1 where only freedoms existed, for a state of society governed by a central authority that enforced the rights of everyone. The state of nature, according to Hobbes, was not only “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short” but also in its entirety “anarchic.”2 The emergence of centralized government, responsible for common security, is therefore meant to curb the excesses of selfish and unscrupulously competitive individuals.3

    Although the modern nation state is commonly the most developed form of the state of society, monarchy, a crude form of centralized social order in medieval times, had preceded it. Under the monarchical dispensation, the people were ruled by supposedly divinely appointed kings who reigned indefinitely, often for life, before yet another king took over to, literally, lord it over the populace.  With time, it became clear that what the people needed was governing machinery, not a ruling institution.

    Defining the nature of the relationship which should ideally exist between the state’s governing authority and the governed, John Locke (1632—1704) stated that such relationship should be in the form of a social contract that is subject to periodic public renewal of confidence.4 According to Locke, the authority of government should be based on “just powers from the consent [i.e. delegation] of the governed.”5 This gave rise to variants of the social contract theory, particularly in the 18th and 19th century, that became the bases of the evolution of systems of government powered by periodic elections. Thus, in the event of the elected authority losing the confidence of the public, the people, under the Lockean social contract system of governance, reserve the right to change it through the ballot box or, if necessary, by violent means. By this stance, revolution becomes justifiable in the last resort.

    It should be born in mind that for one to talk of security and national development presupposes that there is a country or state and that there is a governing authority. A state or country is recognisable under international law only if there is a defined territory that is reasonably populated and has a de jure or a de facto government. A de jure government obtains in the event of a government in exile which is recognized by others.

    Socio-Economic and

    Political Modalities

    A democratic state, particularly one where the people directly elect the leaders, is usually founded on the basis of a constitution or some other governing set of rules. Such rules set out the modalities by which human rights and the state’s commitment to the provision of the basic needs of the people are guaranteed on a sustainable basis. For such a high level of expectation to be met, it would entail the formulation of policies and programmes for national development. The constitution would, of course, establish a structure of government and provide for security machinery to create an atmosphere conducive for individual pursuits and for government to prosecute its national development programmes.

    It is lack of consensus on the best formula or set of modalities for the achievement of such objectives that engenders continuing debate, nationally and internationally, among politicians, opinion leaders, and the intelligentsia. The issues under discussion have always been choice of system of governance, leadership disposition and orientation, performance of the institutions of government and management of resources. Around all this is the spate of continuing debate on the need for strong leadership or strong institutions or both.

    The lack of consensus at the international level leads some countries or a bloc of them to resort to ideological warfare or armed intervention to persuade or cajole other countries to adopt certain socio-political and economic systems. This behaviour, which ensued for several decades, characterised the Cold War and still appears to be the pursuit of some powerful countries which act outside the dictates of the United Nations. With the ascendancy of the capitalist market economy system, following the apparent defeat of communism and the collapse of the communist bloc in the late 1990s, the intensity of the Cold War has greatly reduced. However, a strong undercurrent is still evident in some turbulent spots of the world.

    Leadership and Global Security

    International security covers a variety of interconnected issues within states that have impact on the peace, stability and survival of individuals and groups across states. The issues range from “traditional or conventional modes of military power, the causes and consequences of war among states, economic strength, to ethnic, religious and ideological conflicts, trade and economic conflicts, energy supplies, science and technology, food, as well as threats to human security and the stability of states from environmental degradation, infectious diseases, climate change and activities of non-state actors.”6

    The leadership role of the United Nations, particularly the role of its Security Council, has been rather ambivalent. Events of the World War I (1914-1918) and the failure of the League of Nations, formed to prevent such wars in the future, led to the occurrence of the World War II (1939-1945) and the formation of the United Nations. The UN kicked off with the five leading victorious powers becoming the permanent members of the core group, the UN Security Council, and arrogating to themselves veto power. Those powers enjoying such a unique privilege have so far resisted moves to reform the Council and admit new members with veto power. This situation has prevailed in spite of agitation and significant contributions to the maintenance of world peace by UN member countries outside this club.

    UN Leadership Style, Globalisation and Sovereignty

    The leadership style of the United Nations, particularly its growing tendency to over-scrutinize the affairs of members of so-called developing countries while glossing over the malfeasance of some world powers, has reduced its credibility among the developing countries. This ambivalent leadership style has also led to a situation where globalisation has been allowed to undermine seriously the exercise of state sovereignty. There is now a thin line between what should be regarded as internal affairs of a country and what should be matters of international concern.

    These days, foreign countries and organisations take more than casual interest in the conduct of elections and national census.  While this may be excusable because of lack of openness and fairness in the manner these exercises are carried out in some polities, what about unsolicited foreign interventions in the policy-making process of sovereign nations? In many developing countries, the formulation and execution of national development plans are undertaken in collaboration with foreign countries and international organisations. Such collaborations, though helpful in many ways, can be suspect. Indeed, some foreign aids can be classified as the proverbial Greek gift while others arrive with conditionality that worsens the security and developmental challenges of recipient countries.

    The motives and actions of some countries and international organisations may pose great dangers to a country’s survival. For instance, over the last few decades some foreign organisations and countries loaded some countries with ill-tailored loans, ostensibly meant for development, but which left those nations poorer, more debt-ridden and insecure. Social upheavals that compromise a country’s sovereignty and even jeopardise its very existence as a viable entity usually arise when the debt burden becomes unbearable. Some loans are so suspect that the supposedly friendly donors appear to have set out to deliberately mislead and undermine the development efforts of a target country just to subjugate or even destroy it altogether.

    What could make a country to be so adversely targeted? A country’s commitment to an independent path of development could make it a target, particularly if it is a country of great potential. All kinds of accusations are usually contrived to intimidate such a country and make it toe the line dictated by some powerful nations threatened by its independent strides. Such tactics employed to undermine certain countries have been elaborately reported. One of such notable reports is that of John Perkins who revealed how targeted countries were ensnared, leading to high ranking individuals falling victims of “tragic story of debt, deception, enslavement, exploitation and the most blatant grab in history for hearts, minds, souls, and resources of people around the world.”7 According to Perkin’s account, the victims, mainly heads of state and OPEC member countries, were under constant threats and surveillance.

    Nowadays, under any pretext, a country, particularly one without the backing of a permanent member of the Security Council, could be invaded for “reasons” ranging from human rights concerns to humanitarian considerations. Such UN-sanctioned interventions, these days, are hardly primarily based on the criterion of threat to international peace and security, which is the clear provision under the UN Charter.

    The perpetual contest for power in international relations portrays a picture of predator relationship between the bigger and smaller nations. The bigger powers jealously protect their privileged positions, hegemony and spheres of influence against states perceived to have the potential to challenge their supremacy. Size of territory and population may matter in the assessment of power relationship but more relevant is the level of technological skill and general mobilisation of human and material resources. It has also become clear that the weapons of warfare employed in the power contest at the UN are no longer primarily traditional military hardware, more sophisticated though they have become. The media has become an important battle field, and would be more so in the future. An observer succinctly put it thus:

    Global media, social media, ICT and powerful nations or regional groups working in concert are the tools of warfare, no longer merely tanks, missiles and battalions.8

    A bit of such media propaganda and campaign was employed during the Cold War with positive results. Since then, there has been a general improvement in ICT and the medium is being perfected to a higher degree. Media warfare is real; hence, the increasing cry of cyber attacks and other acts of illegalities among world powers.

    In spite of its shortcomings, the UN remains the organisation the world most direly needs for the maintenance of world peace. Its formation in 1945 became necessary when mankind and the powers that be realised that maintenance of international peace and security was beyond the capacity of a single nation. Supplementary to that was the felt need to establish international organisations as UN specialised agencies dealing with cross-border socio-economic issues that may endanger mankind. Hence, UN organs and agencies, such as the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), World Health Organisation (WHO), the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), United Nations Economic Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),9 came into being.

    The importance of such organisations is underlined by the realisation that peace and security cannot be guaranteed by application of military hardware alone. The activities of the UN agencies are therefore intended to forestall or mitigate occurrences that threaten the international system without the involvement of military means. Imperfect though the current arrangement, supported by regional defence groups, may seem, it remains about the only central machinery on which the maintenance of international peace and security is anchored. Success of this arrangement is supposed to allow member states to conserve their resources and focus their developmental efforts on meeting the needs of their people.

    Unfortunately, such conserved resources are being drained in many countries by the challenges of dealing with the problem of insecurity.

    muster every available means to quickly restore normalcy and reassure the public.

     

     

    Conclusion

    In conclusion, it should be observed that in spite of the centrality of man in security and development considerations, conduct and performance of states, group of states and non-state actors would continue to dictate events in the international system. As man in a state of nature is said to be selfish so are the states presently in their conduct, including the insensitive positions many powerful nations have taken on environmental matters. But there is a glimmer of hope in the determination of the global community to tackle the heating up of the environment which portends great danger to humanity.

    The year 2014 was said to be the hottest in recorded history. After the Lima Conference of December 1-14, 2014, attended by 195 member countries, all hopes are now placed on the Paris Conference to be held this year (2015). At the Paris Conference, countries would be expected to specify their individual contributions towards checking climatic activities in their countries that contribute to carbon emission and global warming.

    Unfortunately, many countries are only out to promote their national interests at the expense of others. Unwarranted violence inflicted against others and even beneficial collaborative efforts among them, such as the determination by certain countries to review the world economic order and create more global financial institutions to remove the prevailing bottleneck in access to money required for investment, infrastructural and social development, must be seen in that light. The United Nations as a supra-national body is not a government. It has no standing army. A few privileged members acting individually or in concert with other nations sometimes arbitrarily invade other nations hiding under a manipulated resolution.

    An international court of justice is in place but a look at those who have so far been arraigned before it shows that it is selective. Some leaders commit similar or worse crimes against others and get away with it simply because they are powerful. Powerful nations act as predators against weaker nations who may be unjustly punished for trying to develop potentials that could rival their entrenched positions. Thus, the world, in spite of the existence of a supra national body, is still operating in a state of nature governed by the law of the survival of the powerful, a law that replicates or typifies the conduct of man in a state of nature.

    Under the leadership of the United Nations, mankind may not have entirely escaped the savagery of the state of nature. However, some sections of mankind, like many nations of the Western world, have made commendable strides in leadership, security and national development. African leadership can galvanize positive changes in their various nations instead of looking up to the prejudicial leadership of the UN to bail the continent out of its current security and developmental challenges.

     

     

     

  • Leadership, security and national development

    Leadership, security and national development

    Text of a public lecture delivered by Dr Bukar Usman at the Abdullahi Smith lecture Theatre, Faculty of Arts, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

    This lecture focuses on leadership, security and national development from African and global perspectives. Security and what it constitutes can take many forms. However, it is all about the survival of an individual, a group or an entity such as a state. It should be noted that there is a duality in every country’s security challenges, and these manifest as the internal and external factors that shape its state of security. Due to socio-political and geo-political peculiarities, every nation’s security challenges and imperatives are, to a large extent, unique. This is why the security situation of one country, with its attendant implication for peace and national development, can be very different from another’s even when their external security challenges are similar.

    Although national security problems arise out of conflicts or threats within or outside a given nation, how these conflicts are resolved, managed or contained is critically dependent on the effectiveness of existing governmental institutions for conflict prevention and resolution. This also entails the disposition and orientation of leadership at local and international levels. Social chaos is, therefore, often a manifestation of a failure of government machinery or governmental systems as may be revealed by a thorough and dispassionate examination of past conflicts. Indeed, government never became necessary until humankind saw the need to invent systemic machinery for managing social crisis and maintaining public order. This is why there is need to begin this discussion by looking at the evolution of formal or governed society as we know it today.

    From State of Nature to State of Society

    Overwhelmed by hazards in the unorganised natural environment and by the antagonistic effects of his own primitive self-centredness, man, generically speaking, needed a “neutral” authority to protect his life, family and property.  Formal society developed out of this basic need to preserve oneself and one’s possessions. Organised society evolved over a long period before the dawn of civilization as we know it today. Political thinkers, notably the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), argued that individuals, persuaded by enlightened self interest, traded off the insecure “state of nature,”1 where only freedoms existed, for a state of society governed by a central authority that enforced the rights of everyone. The state of nature, according to Hobbes, was not only “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short” but also in its entirety “anarchic.”2 The emergence of centralized government, responsible for common security, is therefore meant to curb the excesses of selfish and unscrupulously competitive individuals.3

    Although the modern nation state is commonly the most developed form of the state of society, monarchy, a crude form of centralized social order in medieval times, had preceded it. Under the monarchical dispensation, the people were ruled by supposedly divinely appointed kings who reigned indefinitely, often for life, before yet another king took over to, literally, lord it over the populace.  With time, it became clear that what the people needed was governing machinery, not a ruling institution.

    Defining the nature of the relationship which should ideally exist between the state’s governing authority and the governed, John Locke (1632—1704) stated that such relationship should be in the form of a social contract that is subject to periodic public renewal of confidence.4 According to Locke, the authority of government should be based on “just powers from the consent [i.e. delegation] of the governed.”5 This gave rise to variants of the social contract theory, particularly in the 18th and 19th century, that became the bases of the evolution of systems of government powered by periodic elections. Thus, in the event of the elected authority losing the confidence of the public, the people, under the Lockean social contract system of governance, reserve the right to change it through the ballot box or, if necessary, by violent means. By this stance, revolution becomes justifiable in the last resort.

    It should be born in mind that for one to talk of security and national development presupposes that there is a country or state and that there is a governing authority. A state or country is recognisable under international law only if there is a defined territory that is reasonably populated and has a de jure or a de facto government. A de jure government obtains in the event of a government in exile which is recognized by others.

    Socio-Economic and

    Political Modalities

    A democratic state, particularly one where the people directly elect the leaders, is usually founded on the basis of a constitution or some other governing set of rules. Such rules set out the modalities by which human rights and the state’s commitment to the provision of the basic needs of the people are guaranteed on a sustainable basis. For such a high level of expectation to be met, it would entail the formulation of policies and programmes for national development. The constitution would, of course, establish a structure of government and provide for security machinery to create an atmosphere conducive for individual pursuits and for government to prosecute its national development programmes.

    It is lack of consensus on the best formula or set of modalities for the achievement of such objectives that engenders continuing debate, nationally and internationally, among politicians, opinion leaders, and the intelligentsia. The issues under discussion have always been choice of system of governance, leadership disposition and orientation, performance of the institutions of government and management of resources. Around all this is the spate of continuing debate on the need for strong leadership or strong institutions or both.

    The lack of consensus at the international level leads some countries or a bloc of them to resort to ideological warfare or armed intervention to persuade or cajole other countries to adopt certain socio-political and economic systems. This behaviour, which ensued for several decades, characterised the Cold War and still appears to be the pursuit of some powerful countries which act outside the dictates of the United Nations. With the ascendancy of the capitalist market economy system, following the apparent defeat of communism and the collapse of the communist bloc in the late 1990s, the intensity of the Cold War has greatly reduced. However, a strong undercurrent is still evident in some turbulent spots of the world.

    Leadership and Global Security

    International security covers a variety of interconnected issues within states that have impact on the peace, stability and survival of individuals and groups across states. The issues range from “traditional or conventional modes of military power, the causes and consequences of war among states, economic strength, to ethnic, religious and ideological conflicts, trade and economic conflicts, energy supplies, science and technology, food, as well as threats to human security and the stability of states from environmental degradation, infectious diseases, climate change and activities of non-state actors.”6

    The leadership role of the United Nations, particularly the role of its Security Council, has been rather ambivalent. Events of the World War I (1914-1918) and the failure of the League of Nations, formed to prevent such wars in the future, led to the occurrence of the World War II (1939-1945) and the formation of the United Nations. The UN kicked off with the five leading victorious powers becoming the permanent members of the core group, the UN Security Council, and arrogating to themselves veto power. Those powers enjoying such a unique privilege have so far resisted moves to reform the Council and admit new members with veto power. This situation has prevailed in spite of agitation and significant contributions to the maintenance of world peace by UN member countries outside this club.

    UN Leadership Style, Globalisation and Sovereignty

    The leadership style of the United Nations, particularly its growing tendency to over-scrutinize the affairs of members of so-called developing countries while glossing over the malfeasance of some world powers, has reduced its credibility among the developing countries. This ambivalent leadership style has also led to a situation where globalisation has been allowed to undermine seriously the exercise of state sovereignty. There is now a thin line between what should be regarded as internal affairs of a country and what should be matters of international concern.

    These days, foreign countries and organisations take more than casual interest in the conduct of elections and national census.  While this may be excusable because of lack of openness and fairness in the manner these exercises are carried out in some polities, what about unsolicited foreign interventions in the policy-making process of sovereign nations? In many developing countries, the formulation and execution of national development plans are undertaken in collaboration with foreign countries and international organisations. Such collaborations, though helpful in many ways, can be suspect. Indeed, some foreign aids can be classified as the proverbial Greek gift while others arrive with conditionality that worsens the security and developmental challenges of recipient countries.

    The motives and actions of some countries and international organisations may pose great dangers to a country’s survival. For instance, over the last few decades some foreign organisations and countries loaded some countries with ill-tailored loans, ostensibly meant for development, but which left those nations poorer, more debt-ridden and insecure. Social upheavals that compromise a country’s sovereignty and even jeopardise its very existence as a viable entity usually arise when the debt burden becomes unbearable. Some loans are so suspect that the supposedly friendly donors appear to have set out to deliberately mislead and undermine the development efforts of a target country just to subjugate or even destroy it altogether.

    What could make a country to be so adversely targeted? A country’s commitment to an independent path of development could make it a target, particularly if it is a country of great potential. All kinds of accusations are usually contrived to intimidate such a country and make it toe the line dictated by some powerful nations threatened by its independent strides. Such tactics employed to undermine certain countries have been elaborately reported. One of such notable reports is that of John Perkins who revealed how targeted countries were ensnared, leading to high ranking individuals falling victims of “tragic story of debt, deception, enslavement, exploitation and the most blatant grab in history for hearts, minds, souls, and resources of people around the world.”7 According to Perkin’s account, the victims, mainly heads of state and OPEC member countries, were under constant threats and surveillance.

    Nowadays, under any pretext, a country, particularly one without the backing of a permanent member of the Security Council, could be invaded for “reasons” ranging from human rights concerns to humanitarian considerations. Such UN-sanctioned interventions, these days, are hardly primarily based on the criterion of threat to international peace and security, which is the clear provision under the UN Charter.

    The perpetual contest for power in international relations portrays a picture of predator relationship between the bigger and smaller nations. The bigger powers jealously protect their privileged positions, hegemony and spheres of influence against states perceived to have the potential to challenge their supremacy. Size of territory and population may matter in the assessment of power relationship but more relevant is the level of technological skill and general mobilisation of human and material resources. It has also become clear that the weapons of warfare employed in the power contest at the UN are no longer primarily traditional military hardware, more sophisticated though they have become. The media has become an important battle field, and would be more so in the future. An observer succinctly put it thus:

    Global media, social media, ICT and powerful nations or regional groups working in concert are the tools of warfare, no longer merely tanks, missiles and battalions.8

    A bit of such media propaganda and campaign was employed during the Cold War with positive results. Since then, there has been a general improvement in ICT and the medium is being perfected to a higher degree. Media warfare is real; hence, the increasing cry of cyber attacks and other acts of illegalities among world powers.

    In spite of its shortcomings, the UN remains the organisation the world most direly needs for the maintenance of world peace. Its formation in 1945 became necessary when mankind and the powers that be realised that maintenance of international peace and security was beyond the capacity of a single nation. Supplementary to that was the felt need to establish international organisations as UN specialised agencies dealing with cross-border socio-economic issues that may endanger mankind. Hence, UN organs and agencies, such as the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), World Health Organisation (WHO), the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), United Nations Economic Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),9 came into being.

    The importance of such organisations is underlined by the realisation that peace and security cannot be guaranteed by application of military hardware alone. The activities of the UN agencies are therefore intended to forestall or mitigate occurrences that threaten the international system without the involvement of military means. Imperfect though the current arrangement, supported by regional defence groups, may seem, it remains about the only central machinery on which the maintenance of international peace and security is anchored. Success of this arrangement is supposed to allow member states to conserve their resources and focus their developmental efforts on meeting the needs of their people.

    Unfortunately, such conserved resources are being drained in many countries by the challenges of dealing with the problem of insecurity.

    muster every available means to quickly restore normalcy and reassure the public.

     

     

    Conclusion

    In conclusion, it should be observed that in spite of the centrality of man in security and development considerations, conduct and performance of states, group of states and non-state actors would continue to dictate events in the international system. As man in a state of nature is said to be selfish so are the states presently in their conduct, including the insensitive positions many powerful nations have taken on environmental matters. But there is a glimmer of hope in the determination of the global community to tackle the heating up of the environment which portends great danger to humanity.

    The year 2014 was said to be the hottest in recorded history. After the Lima Conference of December 1-14, 2014, attended by 195 member countries, all hopes are now placed on the Paris Conference to be held this year (2015). At the Paris Conference, countries would be expected to specify their individual contributions towards checking climatic activities in their countries that contribute to carbon emission and global warming.

    Unfortunately, many countries are only out to promote their national interests at the expense of others. Unwarranted violence inflicted against others and even beneficial collaborative efforts among them, such as the determination by certain countries to review the world economic order and create more global financial institutions to remove the prevailing bottleneck in access to money required for investment, infrastructural and social development, must be seen in that light. The United Nations as a supra-national body is not a government. It has no standing army. A few privileged members acting individually or in concert with other nations sometimes arbitrarily invade other nations hiding under a manipulated resolution.

    An international court of justice is in place but a look at those who have so far been arraigned before it shows that it is selective. Some leaders commit similar or worse crimes against others and get away with it simply because they are powerful. Powerful nations act as predators against weaker nations who may be unjustly punished for trying to develop potentials that could rival their entrenched positions. Thus, the world, in spite of the existence of a supra national body, is still operating in a state of nature governed by the law of the survival of the powerful, a law that replicates or typifies the conduct of man in a state of nature.

    Under the leadership of the United Nations, mankind may not have entirely escaped the savagery of the state of nature. However, some sections of mankind, like many nations of the Western world, have made commendable strides in leadership, security and national development. African leadership can galvanize positive changes in their various nations instead of looking up to the prejudicial leadership of the UN to bail the continent out of its current security and developmental challenges.

     

     

     

  • CNPP expresses outrage at security chiefs

    CNPP expresses outrage at security chiefs

    The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has expressed outrage at the submission of the security chiefs that they could not guarantee security for the general elections earlier planned for February 14.

    In a statement, its spokesman, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, said: “We are at a loss the mileage the security chiefs will cover between now and March 28 to crush the Bokom Haram, which warranted the shift of the February polls, or will the poll be shifted again, if the insurgency rages?

    “CNPP is making this assertion, based on our phobia of possible truncation of our fledgling democracy; for we witnessed firsthand how our member political parties, some of whom have no candidate for any parliamentary bid or governorship were manipulated and compromised by the presidency to support polls’ elongation.

    “We, however, commend the 21 Resident Electoral Commissioners and 12 political parties that opposed poll-tenure-elongation and pray that there is no further elongation: they should take solace on the truism that postponement of examinations cannot assist an indolent student.”

  • Security factor is mere smokescreen, says MURIC

    The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has described the postponement of the general elections as an attempt by the ruling party to buy time.

    MURIC said the security factor cited by INEC was a mere smokescreen.

    A statement by its director, Prof Ishaq Akintola, said the postponement is unnecessary because countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, which are ravaged by worse security situations, have successfully conducted general elections and did not succumb to security threat.

    Akintola said: “The real raison d’etre lies in the imminent defeat of the ruling party. Having read between the lines, the ruling party has been running from pillar to post looking for the magic wand. They turned to litigation after the main opposition candidate’s certificate imbroglio failed. The attempt to hoodwink the Council of State also hit the rocks. The military option is the ace.

    “This postponement is therefore not about security issues. The real casus belli is the urgent desire of the ruling party to buy time. The idea is to keep stalling until a sinister plan matures. This can be gleaned from the understanding that the shift is for six weeks “in the first instance”, a phrase that has surfaced in the controversy. Well, Nigerians are waiting.

    “MURIC regretted the manner the Federal Government and the ruling party are dragging the military into politics. This portends great danger for democracy.

    “Bastardisation of the military is bound to undermine its professionalism. They appear so desperate that rather than play the role of good sportsmen and true democrats, they are prepared to destroy what they cannot enjoy. Resorting to the use of security agencies after the Council of State had rejected a postponement exposes the low level the Federal Government has sunk.”

  • Obasanjo to INEC, security agencies: get polls right

    Obasanjo to INEC, security agencies: get polls right

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has reminded the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies that the nation is under global watch regarding the February 14 and 28 general elections.

    Obasanjo warned that Nigeria must get the elections right, asking INEC and the police to perform their duties professionally and judiciously to ensure credible, peaceful and fair elections.

    The former president, who gave the advice at a public enlightenment programme on electoral process at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, said should Nigeria mishandle the elections, it would invite global opprobrium.

    The programme with the theme: “Ensuring free, fair and credible elections: A Collective responsibility,” was jointly organised by the Organisation of Tadhamunul Muslimeen (OTM) and The Muslim Congress (TMC), Ogun State chapters.

    Obasanjo was represented by Chief Idowu Akanle.

    According to the former Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), all eyes are on INEC and the Nigeria Police to carry out their constitutionally assigned roles effectively and in manners devoid of excuses.

    Obasanjo said:”The elections are crucial and the international community is watching us. We should not disappoint them, by ensuring that the elections are free and fair. This election is for progress and development of this great country and should be devoid of sentiments, such as religion, ethnicity and nepotism.

    “This election should be a unity election for all of us. The message is for all Nigerians to protect the integrity of the country, with their votes, so that we can also be like countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Dubai, where there is order in governance.

    “We must not make mistake of allowing the international community to make jest of us. So, we want to beg officials of the electoral commission, who had just told us here on how the process would go, to assure us that it shall be well.

    “You must be fully prepared. You must be up-and-doing. No excuses. You know all terrains very well; there should be no delay and late arrival of voting materials. Where you are going to use boat to ferry on the water; you know it. Where it is going to be bicycle; you know it. So, there should be no unnecessary delay.

    “A situation where somebody at Eggua will be phoning at 11am that they are still expecting materials will be unacceptable. A situation where the police will be telling us no fuel to move will be unacceptable.”

    The former President urged the security agents not to allow themselves to be used by individual or group to pervert the electoral process before, during and after the elections while the electorate is advised to vote wisely.

    He added that voters’ decisions would go a long way to determine the quality of governance the country would have in the next four years.

    “As I said, the international community is looking at us. So, we must be careful and thorough throughout the elections. We must get it right; this is the message from Baba to you.”

  • NASS adds social security for the aged, jobless to NSTF’s mandate

    NASS adds social security for the aged, jobless to NSTF’s mandate

    The National Assembly has voted to give the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) the additional mandate of providing social security for the aged and unemployed.

    The scheme currently has the responsibility to enforce the Employee Compensation Act (ECA), which ensures that employees who get injured or lose their lives in the line of duty are adequately compensated.

    The new amendment, according to the NSITF, was passed by both chambers of the National Assembly on January 14, this year and is expected to be presented to President Goodluck Jonathan for assent.

    Speaking about the additional role, Chairman of the Board of Directors of NSITF, Ngozi Olejeme, said its realisation was due to Federal Government’s unrelenting effort to improve the welfare of workers and vulnerable groups.

    Olejeme said: “We know that the President will assent to the bill once it is presented to him. The implementation of the employees’ compensation scheme by the NSITF was an idea that was very dear to Mr. President.

    “He wanted to ensure that workers that sustain injuries in the course of their duties are no longer left to their fate. The signing of the new national minimum wage law without hesitation shows that he is committed to bettering the lives of the Nigerian workers.

    “These additional responsibilities of providing some forms of social safety net to unemployed and aged person will be done with passion and dedication. The NSITF is well-equipped to execute these new additions,” he said.

    Managing Director of NSITF, Munir Abubakar, said the Federal Government has given the fund a huge task and its responsibility is to ensure smooth implementation. He said NSITF is ready for the task at hand.

  • Ambode’s human security agenda

    The forthcoming governorship election in Lagos state is surely arousing the curiosity of most Nigerians – from the political analysts and scholars of Nigerian politics to the so-called common man, for a number of reasons. It presents an opportunity to further test the political credentials and clout of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, unarguably the most influential politician and strategist in the south-western part of Nigeria, having previously been governor of Lagos State from 1999 – 2007. Tinubu is regarded as the originator of modern Lagos State’s development template. Upon leaving office after the expiration of his mandate in 2007, he had successfully engineered the election of his successor, now the outgoing governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola, in 2007, despite the expression of interest by a number of his own loyalists, as well as the perpetually marauding People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which is cognizant of the fact that the key to Tinubu’s continued relevance lies with his firm control of Lagos politics. Despite fielding such candidates as the late Funsho Williams, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, Ade Dosumu, in the past, the PDP has been continually trounced in the gubernatorial elections in Lagos State. With the imminent end of Governor Fashola’s tenure, a man widely respected for transforming Lagos state beyond expectations, to the extent that even opposition politicians grudgingly admit he has discharged his duties well as governor, the race for the governor’s office becomes even more interesting.

    As with previous governorship elections, the contest is between the candidates of the APC and the PDP. The PDP candidate, Jimi Agbaje, who had previously contested against Babatunde Fashola in 2007 under the less-known Democratic Peoples’ Alliance (DPA), surprised many by coming third and garnering more votes than more experienced and better-known politicians like Tokunbo Afikuyomi and Femi Pedro. Agbaje is the flag bearer of the PDP and given the weight of the PDP, and going by Agbaje’s previous antecedents in the 2007 election, he surely represents a formidable challenge to Ambode’s APC.

    Ambode has a couple of advantages going forward in the February governorship elections. First is the political goodwill enjoyed by the Tinubu-Fashola administrations in Lagos State, which gives the APC the political legitimacy to present a relatively unknown person as gubernatorial candidate. This goodwill has been earned, more so, as a result of Fashola’s excellent delivery of good governance in the State. Fashola, who was also relatively a political unknown in 2007, having served as Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, has further endeared Lagosians to the APC. The PDP has not been helped greatly by the internal squabbles within its fold, as well as the dearth of a credible leader of the party in Lagos State. Second, the prospect of a continuation of the public service delivery initiated by a candidate who understands the workings of government in Lagos State also works in Ambode’s favour. Having served in the Lagos State Civil Service for almost three decades as Permanent Secretary and Accountant-General respectively, and having the privilege of understudying Tinubu and Fashola, Ambode appears to represent the continuity in governance that the APC advocates for, which also resonates with most Lagosians.

    What appears evident from an examination of candidate Ambode’s Governance Plan is a focus on human security, centred on promoting freedoms from poverty, need and fear. The Plan has service delivery as its core, which will be under girded by the principles of Leadership, Accountability, Governance, Opportunity, Service (L.A.G.O.S). The Plan has as its main areas of focus: tourism, economic growth, community cohesion, and equitable distribution of wealth, poverty reduction and the urbanization of slums, human rights protection, urbanization and the provision of physical and social infrastructure, all in tandem with the present administration’s development blueprint.

    The Ambode Plan focuses on Security, Economy, Infrastructure, Healthcare, Education, Social Welfare and Good Governance. In the area of job creation, it proposes the establishment of an Employment Trust Fund to the tune of N25b within a period of four years by the government, with one billion naira earmarked for each of the five divisions in the state for the next four years; Ikorodu, Badagry, Ikeja, Lagos and Epe Divisions.

    On ‘Corporate Lagos’, the manifesto proposes measures that will attract and retain both foreign and local investors to Lagos, with the aid of e-governance solutions for business. Quite importantly, it prioritizes the re-establishment of a middle class in the state, under strict adherence to the Rule of Law. Also, while recognizing that multiple taxes/fees exist in the state’s tax codes, a pledge is made to remove them as soon as Ambode assumes office.

    On Education, a number of initiatives have been highlighted for implementation. The emphasis of the manifesto is on the upgrading and creation of new e-libraries, in line with best global education practices, the upgrading of the state-owned tertiary institutions – the Lagos State University (LASU) and the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), as well as the introduction of scholarship schemes in the vocational and technical colleges.

    On Health, the manifesto seeks to further improve upon the Primary Healthcare Programme, the harmonization of private and public sector partnership in secondary healthcare, as well as the establishment of medic-parks and bio-parks in Lagos state..

    On Tourism, there is a plan to launch a project known as T.H.E.S.E, which refers to an integrated solution involving the systematic integration of Tourism, Hospitality, Entertainment/Arts Sports for Excellence, aimed at enabling the state to explore, execute and enshrine a new vista of jobs for our youths, our women and vocational artisans.

    On Social Welfare issues, the manifesto seeks the continuation of free education for primary and secondary school children, in line with the core principles of the APC. Underscoring the need to ensure the protection of the rights of children in Lagos State, there is an emphasis on the enforcement of the Child Abuse Law, and the criminalization of child labour. Also, ensuring the protection of the rights of women, the aged and the disabled, as well as the provision of social welfare and opportunities for these groups are emphasized in the manifesto.

    On power generation, priority is placed on the exploration of opportunities for alternative energy sources. There are also plans to further expand the already-existing Independent Power Project (IPP), and the protection of the rights of Lagosians in their engagement with private power suppliers.

    On what is referred to as ‘Integrated System’, the plan’s starting point is that the existing 29 bridges in Lagos are inadequate to cater for its huge number of motorists. It therefore seeks to expand seven of the bridges while also exploring the opportunities of pursuing an integrated transport management system.

    On Finance, the manifesto underscores its commitment to a 20-year financial and statistical planning on the needs of the state, as well as the establishment of a Lagos Finance and Development Commission, which will afford all stakeholders in the State, including the private sector, civil society and government, to match the needs of the State with the financial resources required to achieve set goals.

    While across Nigeria, there is the increasing agitation for change, especially at the federal level, in Lagos State the majority seem to aspire towards a more encompassing continuity and improvement in the delivery of public services to the people. Candidate Ambode’s credentials appear to fit the bill for the tasks ahead. In the efforts to further develop the manifesto into concrete policy documents, there will be the need for an inclusive and coordinated engagement with sectoral experts, the civil servants of Lagos State who will be tasked with implementing the plan, while obtaining the input of the citizenry, on whose behalf the manifesto has been developed. This will promote and guarantee a genuine partnership and ownership of the plan, while inculcating a crosscutting sense of responsibility and inclusivity.

    • Tunde, a public policy analyst, is based in the United Kingdom.

  • Case for security in Sanga L.G. Kaduna State

    SIR: Insecurity has risen to a level of profound concern in the country and the resultant death toll is comparable only to the civil war. The North, needless to say, is worst affected by the horrendous state of insecurity especially due to the seemingly intractable Boko Haram insurgency. However, the states of Plateau, Nassarrawa, Benue and Taraba have been scorched by a no-less deadly attacks resulting into massive grisly killings and destruction perpetrated by armed marauders suspected of being Fulani nomads. Equally, not a few communities in the Southern Senatorial area of Kaduna State have suffered similar callous attacks with devastating consequences. The attacks are always methodically accomplished. To all intents and purposes, the communities in these areas are under siege.

    Various attacks have been successfully executed in the past. However, the massacre of September 2014 rudely awakened the world to the threat against the very existence of the people of Sanga L.G.A in Kaduna State. In the wake of the massacre in Fadan Karshi, Ungwan Ganye and Karshi Daji, the military was deployed to hunt down the perpetrators and as well provide security. The semblance of calm and normalcy that prevailed due to the presence of security ensured the gradual return of residents but there was a perceptible diminution of the security operatives as the number of returnees grew. A peace building initiative was launched with the different ethnic groups as well as the Fulani community in attendance. It did restore some measure of confidence in the area. However, the shocking release of suspects not least some persons many victims accused of being accomplices no doubt still rankles. The people of Sanga L.G.A enjoyed an uncomfortable peace until few days to the 2015 when mystery gun men attacked the Tattaura community resulting in the gruesome death of 10 persons. Just before the dust of the killings could settle, another harvest of deaths were recorded in Ungwan Dauda. It was a revolting scene of massive human blood and lifeless bodies. An outcry that resulted almost snowballed into a sectarian crisis which was swiftly quashed by the small number of military officers. The tragedies did prove the peace was clearly the calm before the storm.

    There is no telling the communities on the hit list of the armed marauders as the New Year begins. Already, life is somewhat tricky for residents especially with their source of livelihood in ruination. Going to their farms is to all intents and purposes like walking on a thin ice. Many of their produce are laying waste due to fear of venturing to the farms. They are apparently helpless in the face of the new heights that the insecurity has reached in the area. The atmosphere in Sanga L.G.A is patently clouded with gloom and despondency. The communities in the area are obviously sitting ducks on the strength of the absence of the wherewithal to defend itself against the well armed marauders. Their hope of security and protection is pinned on government which holds the statutory responsibility. It behoves the government to station a rapid response team to attend to the exigencies of insecurity in the area. The issue of justice is paramount. The people are forced to feel that the perpetrators are well protected by their promoters ensconced in government.

    The security of lives and properties should be dealt as an emergency before it begins to take a religious trajectory. It is gradually been accepted that many of these attacks are attempts at deracinating or depopulating the original inhabitants. The states that have contiguous boundaries with the Local Government needs to work closely with the Kaduna State government in tackling the insecurity. It is common knowledge that the killers move in and out of the communities along the boundaries. The restoration of normalcy is what the people of Sanga Local Government Area are craving for. For many of us, the attack on the communities of Tattaura and Ungwan Dauda few days shy of the New Year is a dreadful presage. The government needs to map out effective strategies to check the mindless massacre.

     

    • Abachi Ungbo,

    Barnawa, Kaduna.

     

  • Security beef-up at Utako Park

    Security beef-up at Utako Park

    As part of efforts to guarantee passengers’ safety, the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) has stepped up security at the Utako Central Motor Park.

    The Branch III chairman of the union, Alhaji Musa Abaji said the measure became necessary to check any form of insecurity.

    Abaji was speaking with Abuja Review during at the park.

    “Security is a collective responsibility,” he said. “So we are only playing our part. Anybody who comes into this park must be checked because of the bad people. So except from depending on God for protection, we should also do what is expected of us,” he said.

    It was observed that one of the two giant gates to the park was open while the other was under lock and key.

    Travellers and other individuals who came to the park were thoroughly checked by officials of the union. They were asked to open their car boots before allowed entry.

    Speaking on the election, the chairman advised all members of the union to vote at their respective centres. He said it’s a right to vote, thus the Union members have the freedom to vote for any party of their choice.

    According to him, commercial drivers in the park relates in unity so the union will prevent any party from campaigning in the park.

    “If we bring politics into the park, there will be problems. So we won’t allow anybody to come and campaign here. We don’t want any problem. We are living as a family here,” he added.