It is understandable that in this state of glaring uncertainty, and considering the global dimension the Boko Haram insurgency has taken, the Nigerian government would be inundated with all kinds of proposals suggesting modalities to tackle the insurgency. However, this is the time for government to be very circumspect and methodical. Officials should extricate themselves from the morass of party loyalty and primordial sentiments and explore all available options; carefully weighing the odds against any choice it deems needful in seeking a resolution to the crisis. The Nigerian Security summit, which held Friday, at the Harvard University Radcliffe Institute for Advance Study was one laudable initiative which sought to generate purposeful collaboration between stakeholders with a view to charting the way forward. Without any rancor, truth was spoken to power; and the conclusion according to the experts was that fixing Nigeria’s leadership and governance problems is central to defeating the insurgency.
Organized by Huhu Group Inc., publisher of the online news portal, Huhuonline.com, the summit grouped experts from within the Harvard community and Nigerian government officials, who sought to end the blame game and put the animosity generated by perceived political ineptitude and seeming insensitivity of the federal government in the wake of the abduction of over 200 Chibok schoolgirls in abeyance. Under the theme: Insecurity, Nigeria and Beyond; the keynote address – Challenges of Governance in an era of insurgency – was delivered by Mohammed Sambo Dasuki, National Security Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan.
Admitting that Boko Haram is “threatening our very democratic foundations,” and has re-shaped and redefined Nigeria’s international image, Dasuki regretted that all other governance issues have become subordinate to security, forcing the government to divert scarce resources from development to security. The phrase, “changing the wheels on a moving car” correctly depicts the challenge of governance, especially in an environment where there is no alternative but to drive ahead,” Dasuki noted. The national security adviser outlined the policies elaborated by the Jonathan administration in fighting Boko Haram, which includes a Counter terrorism Centre and, working with key stakeholders, to develop a National Counter Terrorism Strategy (NACTEST); the first major holistic attempt to address the rising wave of terrorism. The NACTEST is organized around five streams, each with key objectives and indicators; within a framework for the mobilization of a coordinate cross government effort involving 17 federal ministries and 27 departments and agencies,” Dasuki noted.
Working with Governors of the six northeastern states most affected by terrorism, Dasuki said the government is currently designing a regional economic revitalization plan that will serve as the foundation for a federal- state partnership to revitalize the region’s economy through the Presidential Initiative for the North-East (PINE). The inter-ministerial; committee that is driving PINE has developed a short-term strategy called “the Emergency Assistance and Economic Stabilization (EA-ES) program”. This program, with a 24-month time frame, will cater to over 1 million people or 150,000 households. The EA-ES will also fast-track stalled federal projects in intervention-ready communities and employ 150,000 youth through its Productive Works program. The long-term economic transformation program of PINE will utilize the asset-based economic development approach. PINE is already mobilizing relief materials to be distributed to individuals and communities adversely affected by violence.
The Nigerian ambassador to the United States, Prof. Ade Adefuye traced the history of terrorism in Nigeria and underscored the permanence of multidisciplinary, multi-agency and multilateral approaches as effective counter-insurgency strategy; which also entails a genuine commitment to proactive internal security mechanisms in Nigeria. “This is the reason for support being requested from the international community in strengthening our internal security mechanisms,” he said. While stressing the need to continue the dialogue put in place by President Jonathan on April 16, 2013 to constructively engage with the Boko Haram sect, Nigeria’s top diplomat in America appealed to Nigerians in the Diaspora to join in combating terrorism by disseminating positive information about Nigeria in their host countries. “The Diaspora can also play a major part in Nigeria’s fight against terrorism. The Israeli provide an example of the way their Diaspora supports the government through the lobby within the United States Congress and the financial remittances to individuals, groups and organizations for various causes. This is an example Nigerians can follow,” he noted.
To Prof. Robert Rotberg; founding Director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Program on Intrastate Conflict and President Emeritus of the World Peace Foundation, presidential leadership is fundamental to defeating Boko Haram. “Nigeria is as close to being a failed state as it has ever been,” noted Rotberg, who directed the establishment of the African Governance Index that evaluates leaders for the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. He said: “to defeat a disciplined and fanatical insurgency inspired by some kind of ideological fervor, disciplined leadership is fundamental… Victory over Boko Haram is only possible if President Jonathan makes such a victory a national cause and if he and his close followers find a way to strengthen the legitimacy of the state and of key state institutions such as the military. This would mean Jonathan demonstrating a real belief in the integrity of the nation, casting aside party and ethnic considerations, and showing that he really is the leader of all Nigerians, not just southerners, Christians, or the denizens of Abuja.”
Participants at the summit, including Nigerians in the Diaspora, expressed strong reservations over foreign commentators, who have overnight become self-elected Boko Haram experts. While these experts may be genuine authorities in their own right, they urged Nigerian leaders to consider their solicited and unsolicited proposals on how to tackle Boko Haram with extreme caution and diligence. This is to ensure that such submissions do not sway the President to steering the country into perdition. The government must not dance to the discordant tunes, which many people are singing over Boko Haram. The lives of Nigerians are involved, and this is not the time for grandstanding. The standing view was that, in as much as Nigerians have become flatteringly positive about a successful counter-insurgency strategy by the envisaged presence of foreign assistance, opinion was unanimous that the government should not allow the current challenging national crisis to become an opportunity for turning Nigeria into a casual guinea-pig in social engineering.
The summit acknowledged the relentless quest for those values and ideals that define and nudge the peoples that make up modern-day Nigeria. Nigeria’s greatest strength is her diversity. Without doubt, there are things that Nigerians in their ethnic differentiation have as common values and to that extent are universally cherished and should be the basis for their unity and strength. At the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, a few of them were reflected upon and embraced for Nigeria to live beyond the current trying times. Today, Nigeria is so greatly afflicted that some wonder at her prospects. The task of nation-building may yet be on-going, but a united community known as Nigeria is bound to be fully built; and upon which the country will thrive. As Prof. Rotberg remarked; “given the extent to which Boko Haram has made mockery of Nigeria’s established institutions, including the military, it is essential that Boko Haram be stopped now, not after Nigeria has elected a new leader. For all of his weaknesses, this is Jonathan’s test of strength.”
