CREATING A CULTURE OF PEACE THROUGH SERVICE

Speech by Atiku Abubakar, GCON, former Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, at the Rotary International Conference, organized by District 9125 – Nigeria, at the Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.

31 May, 2013.
Protocol
I thank you all very much for the privilege to address this conference.

The theme which you have chosen for this conference, “Creating a Culture of Peace through Service,” is quite appropriate and very timely. There is no better time than now to discuss and strive toward peace in the world generally, and in our country, Nigeria specifically.

Our country is obviously going through very serious challenges, including the challenge of providing adequate security, reducing conflicts, narrowing the infrastructure deficit, providing gainful employment especially for the youth, and rebuilding our educational system.

Many diseases continue to ravage our people, including malaria, measles and polio. We also rank very poorly in various indices of development such as poverty rate, life expectancy, infant and maternal mortality, and literacy rate.

These challenges have excised the minds of many Nigerians, including political and civic leaders. Most alarming to Nigerians in recent times has been the rising wave of insecurity of life and property as well as wanton violence across the country.

Hardly a day goes by without news of fresh slaughter of fellow citizens in one part of the country or the other. We have violent insurgents, armed robbers and kidnappers. Specifically, there are violent insurgencies in the North, particularly the North East as well as in the South of the country. Violent militancy is also once more rearing its head in the South-South. Kidnappings in the South-East and South-South have become all too common and are increasingly spreading to other parts of the South, especially Lagos.

We also have violent struggles between Muslims and Christians, herdsmen and farmers. The words “indigene” and “settler” continue to be used as exclusionary tools in the struggle for scarce resources. Even security operatives, sent to protect innocent civilians, have been accused of atrocities against those same civilians. It is as if we have lost our souls.

The economies of Borno, Yobe Plateau, Kaduna and, increasingly, Adamawa states have been badly hurt by this wave of insecurity. The South East elite is increasingly in internal exile in Abuja, Lagos and other cities, a major blow to the rural communities and families that rely on the financial and organizational resources of this elite.

In addition, cries of marginalization continue to echo across the country as those who purport to speak for different groups claim that their ethnic, religious or regional groups are being mistreated by the rest of the country or a section thereof.

Whatever the immediate causes of these conflicts and insecurity, there is no doubt that the high level of unemployment, poverty and accompanying alienation, especially of our young people, have provided veritable recruiting grounds for these insurgencies and other forms of criminality. And these are taking place within the context of a collapsed educational system, poor investment climate, less than mediocre governance and increasing corruption.

While these may, in a sense, be seen as part of the pangs of nation building, the danger is that we may be proceeding at a pace that would destroy the very nation that we seek to build.

Therefore we must not be tempted to consider this situation as normal. We must reverse this dangerous trend. We must collectively build a nation that knows peace. Such collective work requires sacrifice; it requires selfless service. It requires commitment. It requires transparency. It requires fairness and justice.

Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, while conflict is an integral part of the human condition, peace is, without a doubt, critical for development. The planning and execution of development projects and programmes require peace. The construction of a road and provision of electricity, in order to open up a depressed area for investments, cannot proceed if the construction workers or their supervisors are being kidnapped. Schools, hospitals and industries cannot also be built in such areas if those carrying out the jobs fear for their lives.

What hope would we have in the modern world if schools are burnt down and teachers killed or threatened with violence? What would be the fate of our young people in the next ten to twenty years if they are deprived of good quality education? What hope would our various rural communities have if the middle class from those communities refrain from visiting their villages for fear of being kidnapped or violently robbed?

How can we hope to maintain law and order for societal progress if the very state officials tasked with enforcing the law are themselves slaughtered at will? Something is deeply wrong and we need to retrace our steps from the precipice.

Interestingly, the critical development challenges, which we currently face are connected. At the centre of it all, in my view, is the need to provide critical infrastructure to spur economic development. We need massive investments in power, roads, bridges, ports, schools, hospitals, and transportation. Such investments will immediately create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and they will, in tandem with incentives and an open and fair legal environment in turn, spur investments by private entrepreneurs both local and foreign. These will in turn create even more jobs for our teaming young people, thereby depleting the recruiting grounds for insurgents and other criminal elements.

Peace and security are needed for these to happen. That is why the government must do all that is necessary in a democratic society to protect lives and property. Thus, there is the need to engage aggrieved groups in dialogue while taking decisive security measures to protect innocent people. I hope that the current emergency rule in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states does not obviate the urgent need for such dialogue in that zone and elsewhere.

I urge you to give serious thought to these in your deliberations at this conference. What would service mean in the context of contemporary Nigeria? Where would the impetus for solutions to these challenges come from?

What could be the role for leadership that is visionary, honest and transparent? What if we had real democracy or, at least, began a genuine process of building one through, among other things, genuine electoral reform and processes, internal democracy in our political parties, a two-party system that cuts across our regional, ethnic and religious fault lines, more fairness, equity and justice in the allocation of our resources and in the enforcement our laws? What if we invested massively in infrastructure provision, including power, and education?

What my proposed solutions mean is that service is critical for creating the kind of conditions that will make for peace in Nigeria. Service will provide the needed infrastructure, job creation, modern notion of citizenship, and genuine efforts to combat corruption and insecurity. When the people see service, they recognize it; when they see justice, they recognize it; when they see dedication and selflessness, they recognize it. Rotary’s focus is on service. Service should be the focus of all public officials. That is why their job is called public service.

Leaders of the critical sectors of our society must serve honestly, with integrity and dedication. They must lead by example.

When we do all of these we may still have some insecurity, we may still have some conflicts. But they would be vastly reduced to levels considered normal in civilized societies.

My dear friends, we need robust and sustained economic growth for several years in order to significantly increase employment opportunities for our young people. We must give them hope. We must give them something to look forward to and to aim for when they are in school. We must give them a reason to believe in this country and its future, their future. We must, individually and collectively, provide service to them. We must provide justice to them. That way we would be building a more peaceful Nigeria and would encourage our people to serve our country- because the country would be serving them.

I urge you to be pragmatic, realistic and honest in your deliberations. It would be very helpful if you could come up with strategies for encouraging greater service and volunteerism in our country. It would be a good way to recruit, train, provide valuable experience to and access our young people for public service.

It is appropriate that an association, such as yours, which is renowned for service to humanity would be looking at the issue of peace. It shows clearly that you understand your fundamental purpose, and you are willing to use it in pursuit of the higher goal of attaining peace.

I'm honoured to have your kind permission to make my little contribution to your so very timely conference and wish you successful and impactful deliberations.


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