Boston – By Emman Okuns.
Like the truth and reconciliation commission, the recent Nigeria Security Summit held at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts presented participants the opportunity to speak their minds, leading to the classification of Nigeria by Harvard Professor, Robert Rotberg as a nation with all the symptoms of a failed state.
Professor Rotberg who spoke at the occasion as a facilitator focused on fixing Nigeria’s leadership problem as a fundamental element in solving other national issues, including security problems, such as kidnapping, Boko Haram insurgency and ensuring good governance.
Nigeria, he said is unable to protect its own people and that it is not secured.
Failed states, according to him are unable to provide basic services, such as security, potable water supply, electricity, education, schools and roads, and that Nigeria was close to being a failed state as it has never been before, giving what he described as the structural defects of the country due to bad leadership.
Nigeria, he remarked has long lost control of violence, adding that since 2007 the country has been graded in the bottom rung of good governance in Africa. Good governance, he said means security and safety.
He however said that Nigeria records fewer murder cases than countries like South Africa and Honduras, adding that it ranks so low on the bottom in the area of rule of law and transparency.
Professor Rotberg advised that in trying to find solution to the nation’s problems, “corruption should be the centerpiece of Nigeria discourse.” “This is relevant to Boko Haram,” he said.
Nigeria, he regretted was performing below expectation in spite of its enormous human and natural resources.
He questioned the leadership ability of President Goodluck Jonathan, saying corruption in government has dragged down the country in all aspects of its national psyche.
He gave example with the military which he recalled used to be respected around the world due to its effective role in peace keeping and defense of democracy in once troubled spots in Africa, including Liberia and Sierra Leone.
He expressed surprise that the military cannot defend the nation against insurgency and instead has taken a serious beating from the Islamic insurgency.
Professor Rotenberg told the audience that the president could reverse the ugly trend by making victory over terrorist insurgency a possibility “more than what he is currently doing.”
“He should believe in the integrity of the country and push aside ethnic, political and religious considerations”.
The professor cited the Republic of Botswana and Republic of Mauritius as great examples of good governance and wondered if Jonathan can rise in the amount of time left in leadership. “Boko haram must be stopped; this is Jonathan’s test of strength,” he invoked.
He advised the president to declare the need for Nigerians of all shades to be united against Boko Haram; shake up the military and create a “strike force” that would deal decisively with the insurgency.
In addition, he advised the president to appoint new INEC commissioner and begin an in-house clean-up of his administration, letting go anyone found wanting.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States, Professor Ade Adefuye in a fierce reaction condemned Professor Rotberg judgment on Nigeria, describing it as misleading, malicious and one that should not be taken seriously.
He said that such classification was based on wrong and false premise, as projected by the Western media, adding that Boko Haram did not start during President Goodluck Jonathan’s era and that to make such comment about Nigeria was to negate all the great efforts that the president has made to fix the problem of the country.
Ambassador Adefuye challenged Nigerians in the Diaspora to be properly informed about what is going on in the country instead of relying on false information as peddled, according to him, by biased Western Media.
He had earlier told a curious audience that the government was not lukewarm about the situation in the country and that it was not trying to change the narrative about the reality of the Boko Haram insurgency, but only trying to change wrong public perception of the whole situation.
The Ambassador’s comment in this regard was a reaction to the comment earlier made by the convener of the summit, Mr. Emmanuel Asiwe that the money paid by government to an American Public Relations firm to mitigate the negative effects of the Boko Haram activities could have been channeled into other productive areas, such as job creation.
Ambassador Adefuye dismissed the notion that government was slow to action in the wake of the kidnapping of the Chibok girls, saying that it reacted the very moment the girls were abducted, and that the administration knows the location of the girls, but wants to secure their release without casualty.
He called on Nigerians abroad to help spread positive information about the country and defend it against campaign of smear.
According to him, even though the Americans have negative impressions about Nigeria, “America is Nigeria’s most strategic partner in Africa,” and that the International community still has confidence in Nigeria despite the negative effects of the Boko Haram Insurgency.
He said the problem in the northern part of the country should not be used to judge the entire nation and should not prevent foreign investment in any other part of the country.
“Let them know the scope of Boko Haram. That Nigeria is not on fire.”
Ambassador Adefuye met a victim of kidnapping, Vivian Omoregie Edewi and Uche Egesionu, whose father, Paul Egesionu was murdered during his visit to Nigeria about two years years ago.
He apologized on behalf of the government to all victims of kidnapping, insurgency and other violent crimes in Nigeria.
Both Uche and Vivian were given the opportunity to speak.
Vivian, with a lot of emotions narrated her harrowing experience for the periods she was in captivity until she was freed following the payment of 1.2 million naira in ransom by her family.
Equally, Uche Egesionu, in an emotion-laden speech said his father raised them with the spirit of patriotism and emphasis on the need to always remember their roots in Nigeria. According to him that same principle led him to begin a plan towards relocating back home, hence all his investments over there, but that his life was cut short during one of his trips to the country he so much loved.
The death of his father, he said has cast a dark shadow on their perception of the country because they do not feel safe going back home.
“My father was the biggest inspiration in my life,” he said. Uche who lamented that up till now those who killed his father have still not been apprehended appealed to the government to find and bring them to justice.
He also appealed to government to pay more attention to the issue of security, crime prevention and prosecution in Nigeria.
