Be it participating in peacekeeping missions and operations, in salvaging and rescuing embattled governments or staunchly supporting liberation movements, Nigeria has a rich and luminous history.
Shortly after its independence, Nigeria played a pivotal role in keeping the peace, under the auspices of the United Nations(UN), in the Congo. Thereafter, it sent a contingent, led by the illustrious Colonel Yakubu Pam, to buoy up the government of Julius Nyerere of Tanganyika, as Tanzania was then referenced.
In the 1970s, flush with petroleum dollars and leaders that knew their onions, Nigeria was in the forefront of supporting liberation movements in the Southern Africa sub-region. Its support to these movements was so robust and unwavering that Nigeria was alluded to as one of the FRONT LINE STATES.
As if that were not enough, Nigeria, with brio and in one of its finest moments, grandly articulated and championed the idea of THE CONCERT OF MEDIUM POWERS to be spearheaded by itself, Brazil and India.
Enter the 1980s and 1990s. Nigeria, under the aegis of the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS), and its bold intervention force, ECOMOG, played decisive martial roles in ending the conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone. In spite of the fact that at this epoch Nigeria was ruled by the military, it took serious exception to the chicanery and bloodletting in Liberia and Sierra Leone. It put a decisive end to these brutal tendencies and restored these countries to peace and democratic governance.
Additionally, Nigeria led peacekeeping missions to Lebanon, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Sudan, among others. Under the leadership of one its most celebrated generals, Nigeria led the largest peacekeeping mission in the world in Darfur, Sudan. This stellar effort put a further sheen on Nigeria’s image and earned it global respect.
It behooves Nigeria to play these intervention and mission roles. Apart from being the most populous Black Country in the world and the continent, its economy, until now, has been strong and sturdy.
Besides, most of its interventions tend to be in the West African sub-region where it is viewed as a hegemon and a behemoth. It is being seen and counted upon by other powers to bring stability to the region on behalf of a grateful world. Cognizant of this, it has initiated and championed the ECOWAS treaty. It has also led in financing the organization.
Furthermore, most of these interventions happen to concern countries immediately neighboring it. Apart from contiguity and proximity, most of these countries share a lot of commonalities with us: Some of them have filial, ethnic and commercial relationships with Nigeria. And before the advent of colonialism, and the balkanization of the continent which preceded it, they were the same people. They shared common ancestries, languages, cultures and outlooks.
Until recent democratic reversals – which are threatening to transform the West Africa sub-region into an unwholesome coup belt – most of these countries subscribed to the sanctity of the democratic process and the need to protect it, even if by force. This is premised on the lofty view that these governments were duly elected and that they represented the wishes of their peoples.
It is against this background that Nigeria’s recent salvage mission of the democracy project in the Republic of Benin should be viewed. The Nigerian government should be lauded for coming to the urgent rescue of that troubled government and in the decisive fashion it did.
Though Nigeria, and other members of ECOWAS are obligated to succor democratically elected governments that are imperiled by coup plotters, it is crucially important to interrogate why such coup plotters are tempted to overthrow such governments in the first instance.
In our experience in the sub-region, only a few democratic governments came about through free, fair and credible elections. Most are beneficiaries of shambolic elections. They do not represent the true wishes of their people. They are thus anathema and they represent affronts to their people. Neither do they, as a consequence, enjoy legitimacy. Nor can they command any measure of support or respect among their people or the international community.
Worse, even in circumstances where these governments emerge through credible elections, they fail to deliver good governance. There is always a huge disconnect between them and the governed: While they live in wanton opulence, their people live in abject poverty. Amenities, such as hospitals, schools, roads and pipe-borne water which citizens of developed countries take for granted, are hardly provided. The lives of their people are hellish and Hobbesian: Terrorists, kidnappers and bandits have a field day, killing and maiming with recklessness. The coup plotters exploit these failings.
If the Nigerian government could, pronto and with alacrity, rescue the faltering government of the Republic of Benin and in the most decisive manner it did, Nigerians will be right to wonder why in the past fifteen years that they have been in the throes of terror, the Nigerian government has been unable to summon similar resolve in our war against terror.
Until probably now – with pressure being mounted by members of the international community – the efforts of the Nigerian government have been mediocre. Neither have they been impressive. Meanwhile, Nigerians, in their numbers continue to be killed, abducted and traumatized. As consequences, we suffer not only heightened insecurity, we suffer from food insecurity, in spite of being blessed with arable and vast land. This food insecurity has further resulted in worsening poverty, misery and severe, acute malnutrition(SAM). Terror has also led to millions being displaced and pining away in camps. Its image besmeared, the country has become a byword and a desolation.
We are also compelled to express concern over our involvement with the Republic of Benin: With troops being drafted to shore up the government, will such an effort not dilute or distract our focus on our war on terror in the Nigerian homeland? At a time when we need more boots on the ground, will this not deplete our ranks and blunt our attacks?
This is the time for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to change the sordid narrative on terror. He should demonstrate similar resolve as he did in torpedoing the coup plotters in our fight against terror. The terrorists have brutally despatched thousands of Nigerians to the great beyond. They should not be spared decimation.
We may be obligated to assist the Republic of Benin. But President Tinubu’s main focus should be his country, Nigeria, which is in one of its direst security straits. Charity, after all, begins at home, not abroad.