Reinvigorating Peace And Security For Visionary Nigeria

REINVIGORATING PEACE AND SECURITY FOR VISIONARY NIGERIA: THE FALLACY OF PEACE-ENFORCEMENT

By

Aliyu Mukhtar Katsina 08036168944, [email protected], http://Aliyu.wordpress.com

PG Candidate, Department of Political Science and Defence Studies, Nigerian Defence Academy [NDA], Kaduna

BEING TEXT OF A PAPER PRESENTED AT THE FOURTH ANNUAL NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF ISAH KAITA COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, DUTSINMA HELD AT THE COLLEGE AUDITORIUM 28TH – 30TH JULY, 2009

Abstract This paper examines the impact of peace and security on the general development of the Nigerian society. The paper challenges the existing and popular notion that peace and security are commodities that can be purchased and imposed on a large scale at any-time through the application of instruments of force and coercion (armed forces, police) as exemplified by excessive militarization in the area of internal security. The paper hinges its arguments from the theoretical perspective of alternative security strategy which states that peace and security are conditions that can only be attained through the judicious and equitable use of state resources for the development of all segments of the society. The paper concludes with the position that lasting peace and sustainable security can only be achieved in Nigeria, if socio-economic equality, political stability and democratic ethics, culture, dialogue and negotiation prevail.

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Introduction: Armed conflicts, violence and civil unrests and measures to address these by government (national and local) in Nigeria have overtime given rise to various security doctrines, strategies as well as policy frameworks that emphasise the utility of peacekeeping and peace-enforcement measures through the application of physical security strategies and instruments of coercion (militarism). One probable explanation for this state of affair is the relatively narrow and militaristic conception of peace and security in Nigeria. The implication of this towards ensuring sustainable peace and security in the country and the general development of the society is simply flawed. First, even assuming that peace and security can be ensured through the use of force, it then goes without saying that the group with superior force capability and resources would always have its way. Two, this has not always been the case; there are historical instances where groups are known to have engaged in fierce competition for force-supremacy. The example of Niger-Delta in this context is quite instructive. Between the Nigerian state and the youth militants there is a fierce competition to out-do each other in the acquisition and application of superior force for the maintenance of each others dominance in the region. This paper offers a new perspective on understanding the question of peace and security from the hitherto conventional-militaristic doctrine that underpins the Nigerian national security and defence policy and doctrine since independence (NNDP, 2006). In this new approach, it is shown how economic development, equality and justice among all segments of the society complemented with a purposeful and dynamic political leadership are the necessary ingredients to a sustainable peace and security in Nigeria. The effect of this on reinvigorating the Nigerian society is quite monumental.

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Framework of Analysis: Understanding Peace and Security Advanced Learners Dictionary (Hornby, 2005), defines peace as “a situation or period of time in which there is no war or violence in a country or area…the state of being calm or quiet…the state of living in friendship with somebody without arguing”. This is a broad definition of peace and it can be added that in the context of socio-political relations within or among nations, this understanding amounts to utopia. History and Anthropology have never furnished students with a period in human history when this situation or state is known to have existed. In An Inquiry into the Nature of Peace and the Terms of its Perpetuation, Thorstein Veblen (1917) perhaps one of the greatest thinkers on peace in the 20th century, posits that peace is a state of affair in which economic development supersedes all indices of social development (Biddle & Samuels, cited in Goodwin, 1991:105). Although it is not possible to accept the argument of Veblen in its entirety, it is not difficult to appreciate the impact which economic development in any society could have towards the general security and development of that society. This is because as revealed in the succeeding pages; economic development is sine-quo-non to any meaningful and lasting peace and stability in any country. Security as a concept lacks universality of definition owing mainly to disagreements among various schools of thoughts that address this question (Ejogba, 2006:305). In most of the mainstream writings, security is seen as the state’s physical ability and strength to defend itself from both internal and external threats and acts of aggression (Okwori, 1995:20). In this thinking, security is reduced mainly to the wherewithal of a state to organise and sustain necessary capabilities, power and resources for the physical protection and or defence of its territory, citizens and their properties. One of the greatest assumptions of this thinking according to Rourke (2005:308) is that “the threat of violence may 4

successfully deter an enemy from attacking”. If for instance, from the perspective of the conventionalist thinkers, Nigeria possesses the capability to protect its territory from foreign incursion, Nigeria has a strong security system. Alternatively, through the police force and other instruments of coercion, internal security could be enforced. The theoretical underpinnings of this school of thought have its antecedents in the writings of Aristotle, especially in Nichomachean Ethics, where he points that: “We make war so that we may live in peace”. Tedheke (1998:6) rejects this position and argues thus: “Security is beyond militarism. The term security goes well beyond military consideration (force). Security can be understood both as a defence against external (or internal) threats as well as the overall socio-economic well being of the society”. It is important here to point that in the post-Cold War era, threats to the security of states – external and internal – for the most part are not necessarily military or political. In fact, there is increasing evidence to suggest that threats are assuming economic, environmental and religious dimension. McNamara (cited in Tedheke, 1998:6-7) offers a more elaborate explanation on this concept. According to him: Security means development. Security is not military force though it may involve it: security is not traditional military ability though it may encompass it; security is not military hardware though it may include it. Security is development and without development, there can be no security. Any country that seeks to achieve adequate military security against the background of acute food shortages, population explosion, low level of productivity, fragile infrastructural base for technological development, inadequate and inefficient public utilities and chronic problem of unemployment has false sense of security.

This amply contrasts and even ridicules the view of the conventionalists who hold that a necessary measure to peace and security in any country is through the use of force and its monopoly by the government. According to Palmer and Perkins (2007:198), force can not be used as a serious guarantor of peace or even security in a state because “so long as force system prevails, then armament has a utility, and that so long as it has utility, so long will 5

armament survive and the greater the utility, the greater will be the armament (subject to limitations of finance)”. It is interesting to reflect on this argument against what is presently happening in Niger-Delta as well as the ever-mounting cases of armed robbery and youth violence in Nigeria.

Two Necessary Indicators of Peace and Security in Nigeria in the Context of the 21st Century: 1. Economic Development: It might be puzzling to predicate sustainable peace and security to economic development. This needs not to be so. According to Lowry (cited in Goodwin, 1991:5-6), there is an emphasis upon security through economic self-sufficiency, the absence of which no meaningful understanding could occur. Understanding the place of national economy is central to any serious analysis of peace and security in modern societies. This has become imperative because studying security and peace matters from purely military perspective has now become practically impossible. This of course is closely related to the Cold-War fall-out that sees a paradigmatic shift in security studies from conventional security strategies to non-conventional one that encompasses political and economic development, equitable social institutions and opening up of the public environment for dialogue and negotiations in place of force and violence. Socio-economic development of a country is the greatest indicator of any level of peace and security. This is because social indices of development such as poverty, unemployment and crime levels are not only a direct function of the level of development attained by a national economy, but also by the level of equality (or inequality) inherent in such a development. The Nigerian economy has since the early 1980s taken a turn for the worst. This situation is occasioned by its very nature: weak industrial and productive base driven 6

primarily by a mono-culturally, export oriented royalty oil sector. For instance, crude oil accounts for about 80% of all government revenues, 90-95% of export revenues and over 90% of foreign exchange earnings from 1980-2001 (Analysis, Vol.1. No.3, September 2002:23). This exposes Nigeria not only to a climate of fear, complete subordination to foreign sources and absolute dependence of the economy on foreign countries, but also exposes the porous nature of the indigenous productive base. And this is very important to a meaningful and sustainable development. As a rule, because of this poor level of economic development in Nigeria, the mass of the citizenry could not partake in gainful endeavours that are necessary to any stability and order in the country (Anyanwu, 1992:1). This undeveloped nature of the national economy makes it possible and even nourishing, for all manner of anti-social tendencies – drug abuse, prostitution, youth militancy and violence, moral deprivation, armed robbery, assassinations, and general level of societal insecurity that characterised Nigeria over the last ten years – to grow which in themselves have become serious security threats to the country (Maier, 2000:65).

2. Political Leadership and Development: Political development and, in democratic society, the quality of national leadership are also central to a study of peace and security. Where political development of a country has attained a considerable degree of openness and accountability, democratic ethos and principles are bound to guide all process of decision-making and governance. In such situations, as a measure of respect to both tradition and constitutionalism, differences among constituent units are more likely to be resolved through dialogue and negotiations. This contrasts sharply with dictatorships and tyrannies where least differences are likely to be resolved through the medium of repression, force and violence. Rule of law is also the 7

guiding sprit of all forms of interactions – social as well as political – between the governing elite and the mass of the citizenry. The nature of political leadership, including its grasp on societal issues, dynamism, pragmatism and sensitivity to the aspirations of the public, is also instructive in this regard. Where the political leadership is insensitive, corrupt, unaccountable and dishonest, democratic tendencies would become repressed and genuine aspirations of the public would neither be tolerated nor respected. Public interest would become subordinated to private political interest and corruption and abuse of office would become rampant. As a general principle, this always leads to a climate of distrust, suspicion, fear, alienation and ultimately civil unrest and violence. In a study of law and order in the Nigeria’s Second Republic, Imobighe (1984:41) states that: Any detailed study of law, order and security during the first four years of Presidential rule in Nigeria will present a number of striking paradoxes. The first paradox is that those who are saddled with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the country turned out to constitute the greatest danger to the security of the country. This observation is based on the fact that a people’s security must start from the level of meeting what is basic to human life before moving into the area of providing security against physical violation. In this sense, by robbing the nation of the means of meeting, the basic necessity of human life, either by mis-management or outright looting of the treasury, the political elite of the Second Republic and their bureaucratic collaborators have created a climate of insecurity in the country the indisputable mark of which is general frustration and miscontent. The second paradox is that of faithlessness on the part of the political elite in the survivability of the system they are given the responsibility to manage. By implication, it is also a manifestation of a lack of confidence in their own ability to ensure the survival of the system.

Sustainable Peace and Security in Nigeria: How Feasible? If the observations of Imobighe, complemented by poor economy, are pertinent to the understanding of the general level of insecurity in the Second Republic which found ultimate expression in the December 1994 military coup as agreed by near-unanimity among scholars and analysts (Barrett, 1985, Nzeribe 1985, Eluwa et. al., 2005), how much need to be said about Nigeria in the Fourth Republic. To start with, Ode (2003:136) points 8

out that: “peace and order are sine quo non for the development of any society”. Talks of stability, progress and development can not be possible in Nigeria when poverty, illiteracy/ignorance, unemployment, diseases, inequality, injustice and blatant anticonstitutionalism attitude of the ruling class persist. According to Mbachu (1998:23), “the first task of any state is to ensure the safety of life and property of its citizens”. This obligation however does not imply the provision of physical instruments of defence to the detriment of other necessary security indicators. Alabi (1997:131) observes that: Security measures must be directed towards immaterial objects like life-style, culture, freedom, identity and the protection of nature. This is so because an individual who has not satisfied his or her basic needs like food, clothing, housing, health, education and work can hardly be called secure – no matter how much weaponry the individual may have at his disposal”.

The question this paper poses is therefore simple: is peace and security in the context of the current prevailing situation feasible in Nigeria? The answer to this question is in economic development, purposeful leadership, democracy and constitutionalism, accountability, productive empowerment of the people as well as equitable distribution of national resources. This argument finds support in the assertion of the Former U.N Secretary General, Boutrous-Boutrous Ghali, who says that “unless security assumes a broad and holistic dimension, national development and peace cannot but remain a fleeting illusion” (cited in Alabi, 1997:131). The implication of this towards reinvigorating the Nigerian society for a prosperous and happy future is clear. Abdullahi (2005) offers a more elaborate pertinence of this argument thus: Security involves food security and health-care delivery. You do not get anything, far less self-reliance, from people who are hungry or sick. If people are too concerned with their securities, there would be no time to be patriotic or to think of production of goods and services. The young and able-bodied would be too busy seeking other means of survival, begging or stealing…Where self-survival is at stake, talk of self-reliance is useless.

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Conclusion: The conclusion of this paper is that peace and security cannot be attained in a society where there is a disproportionate level of inequality, poverty, hunger and injustice. For a nation to attain any significant level of peace and security, it must channel and utilise its national resources towards building a society in which the economy is strongly rooted in indigenous initiative characterised by equality, justice and fairness. There is the need to deemphasise the role of physical security institutions and structure such as the police and armed forces towards achieving this desired state. These institutions are solely beneficial only to the idea of peace-keeping and peace enforcement. And it has been shown that there is an increasing shift of emphasis, world over, from peace enforcement to peace building. Arguably, the idea of peace enforcement has its merits, but whatever those might be, they are superficial and only achieve limited objectives. In the ultimate, peace and security established on the foundation of force only breeds a consciousness of fear, suspicion, distrust and evil intent on the part of the weaker party (Palmer & Perkins, 2007: 200).

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