INSECURITY; AS NORTH BLOWS THE BURGLE FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
"There is time for us to take the necessary measures, but it is the measures we want....No nation...has a right to be in a position where it can be blackmailed." These were the words of Winston Churchill, wartime Prime Minister of Britain. He made the call to save his country from capitulating to Germans during the Second World War, today, in Nigeria the North is sounding similar burgle call for a lasting peace, such that will ferry Nigeria off from its plunging dive towards anarchy.
The Northern State Governors Forum (NSGF) led by Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu, Governor of Niger state realises that fighting terrorism, poverty and general economic backwardness of the region is a systematic and intricate task that requires the contribution of all within geographical confines of Nigeria to deal with cardinal factors like leadership, economy and social lapses towards fabricating a new and purposeful society free of strife, loath and violence. The NSGF is therefore aware that the task to reposition Nigeria must begin now to avoid blackmail of weakness, bad leadership and gross insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians.
The Northern States Committee on Reconciliation, Healing and Security - [NOSCREHES] is a brainchild of Northern Governors, who apparently yoked with the social and economic challenges in the region have decided to confront the monster of security challenges before the region becomes a wasteland inhabited by human remains and desolate relics of once good old days. The task however transcends region, political affiliation as rightly posited by the chairman of the forum and governor of Niger state Dr Aliyu. It is a challenge that requires every Nigerian to war against.
The Forum needs useful contributions of Nigerians to deal with certain variables that may have contributed to security challenges in the region, vicious circle of violence that is novel to Nigerians and at the same time shredding the garment of unity in the country. The forum realises that together Nigerians can work towards blending out a blueprint that will serve as a standard for peace reconciliation and development.
Nigerians must therefore collectively arise to work with the challenged North to proffer solutions to insecurity of multi-dimensional facets in the region, the excruciating pain of poverty, unemployment, youth restiveness and violence, rejection of the core value of honesty, equity, fairness and justice in our communities. Other areas that must be addressed includes the challenges of ethnic politics, indigene/settler syndrome, kidnappings, murder and bombings as well as the Almajiri syndrome with the integration of Islamic and Western education systems.
Nigeria must draw lessons from best standard practices in democracies across the globe. The Ottawa workshop organised by the Canadian government early this year aims at providing tools to effectively deal with security challenges in countries practicing democratic system of government. At the conference countries including the United States, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, and Canada came together to exchange ideas and to present some initial findings and observations with respect to the interaction between public security and federal arrangements in their countries.
At the workshop they examined possibilities for national-security, emergency-preparedness, counter-terrorism, and law-enforcement practitioners, decision-makers, and policy analysts from inter-governmental affairs, provincial, and municipal security community to benefit from global practice and lessons learned elsewhere and towards ensuring social, political and economic tranquillity.
The value of such workshops helps in providing additional knowledge to participating countries on how best to go about tackling internal security and maintain the balance of peace and unity. Unfortunately Nigeria though beguiled with so many socio-political upheavals is yet to extend tentacles to involve itself fully into the global knowledge centres in respect to managing democratic nations. Nigerian government elites elected or appointed need to understand the challenges of providing public security, and the way they are harnessing synergies to mitigate threats to public safety. It will also allow them to gain general insights into the security communities of the other countries, and build their networks and forge new relationships and articulate internal security in the best way possible.
Nigeria therefore needs to start from somewhere though late but it is very necessary that we must stay together as one nation. All what the Northern governors need is for Nigerians to help liaise with stakeholders in the Northern States, to get to the root of the security challenges and proffer solutions; Dialogue with any identified group[s] with a view to negotiating the way out of the menace.
The forum needs people who can liaise with the Federal Government and deliberate on the best approach to resolving the security challenges; Work out modalities for reconciling warring parties/communities in the North; Organize meetings and have interactive sessions with stakeholders across the States; Engage experts from the Society for Peace Studies & Practice [SPSP], West African Network on Peace building [WANEP] and other relevant organizations for further discussion and strategic inputs; Recommend mechanisms for peace building and entrenchment of enduring democratic values at the Ward, Local Government and State levels; and Design mechanisms to address youth restiveness and unemployment in the region.
This might be a test case for Nigeria in the direction of keeping with the concept of ‘brother’s keeper’. This is not the time to fold hands, dismissing the activism of Northern governors in tackling terrorism as a regional problem restricted to the north. We must arise and confront the monster, we must gather to find a way out, now that the burgle has been sounded.
Written By Ayegba Israel Ebije