Being text of a lecture delivered at the GLOBAL PATRIOT NEWSPAPERS/ NIGERIA CONSULATE, NEW YORK/ NIGERIANS IN DIASPORA ORGANISATION, NEW JERSEY CHAPTER International Conference on Patriotism, Security, Governance and National Development By Malam Abubakar Sokoto Mohammed,mni, Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria. (Senior African Fulbright Scholar, Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., USA, 1990/91 and Member of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru-Jos, Nigeria, 2007).
Introduction.
My presentation will be very brief and I shall comment summarily on each of the concepts in the theme as they currently affect Nigeria.
1. Patriotism:
a. By definition, Patriotism connotes the following:
“Devotion to and vigorous support for one’s country”,
“Love for one’s nation”,
“Commitment and sacrifice for the fatherland”,
b. NIGERIA is a country blessed by God:
-People: (It has a large population, 200+million, that is hard working, intelligent and resourceful), people
-Natural Resources: (It has abundant, strategic mineral resources- Petroleum, Gas, Uranium, Gold, Coal, Limestone, etc.)
-It has an enormous land area, 1million Sq. Km., with favorable agro-climatic zones, cultivable all year round with varieties of food crops and industrial raw materials,
c. All these divine and natural endowments impose a Leadership Role on Nigeria in Africa and the World.
We have a nation to be proud of and ready to die for.
2. SECURITY
In its ordinary meaning security covers the following:
a. “Security is being free from danger or thereat.”
-“Security involves safeguarding the lives and property of the citizens”,
-Security is concerned with the protection of our territory from external aggression and enhancing a peaceful atmosphere for development.
-President Muhammadu Buhari stated that, “Without securing the Country, you cannot do anything”,
b. Nigeria’s Security Challenges are currently enormous: they include insurgency, banditry, kidnapping for ransom, armed robbery, rape, farmers/herders conflicts, cybercrimes, etc.,
* As a solution there is a necessity for large increase in QUANTITY and QUALITY of the security forces in Nigeria, (Decentralized police, Rural police, Community policing).
The Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is a great advocate of State Police in Nigeria because of our large land area, extensive land and maritime borders against an inadequate Nigeria Police Force which is less than half a million officers in strength for a population of over two million citizens.
In comparison, Egypt with about half the population of Nigeria has a Police Force with the strength of over 1 million officers.
-To combat Nigeria’s security challenges, credible intelligence must be collected and timely utilized.
– Technology must also be vigorously employed to tackle the inadequacies of the security agencies. Recently the Nigeria Immigration Service launched electronic border surveillance equipment with real time pictures of some strategic border posts in the country.
3. Governance:
An explanation of the concept of Governance will include the following:
a. “Governance is the manner or action of governing a state or organization”
-Governance must be anchored on Accountability and Transparency,
– It must also be based on Responsiveness to the needs of citizens,
– Governance should enhance Consensus in decision making devoid of parochial and sectional considerations,
– Governance must embrace the ethos of Inclusiveness in order to give all citizens a sense of belonging. (For instance in Sokoto State the dichotomy between “indigenes” and “settlers” does not exist in access to public services such as education, health care, etc.).
b. In order to improve on the conduct of governance in Nigeria there is a tremendous need to establish credible criteria for recruitment into Nigeria’s political class.There must be emphasis on higher educational qualifications and professional expertise. The current educational qualification required for contesting any political office in Nigeria is a secondary school certificate which many of the political actors do not possess. When compared to the United Kingdom it will be found that the last seven Prime Ministers were either products of Oxford University or Cambridge University. Similarly, in the United States of America, the past five Presidents, with the exception of Mr. Donald Trump were products of Yale, Harvard, Princeton or some Ivy League University.
-Governance must mobilize the Citizens to participate in the manner or action of governing the country. They must be involved in decision making for example from the formulation to the implementation of Annual Budgets.
-In the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As amended) there are too many powers given to the federal level at the expense of the other tiers of government. There must be some Devolution of Powers to the lower levels for governance to have any positive impact on the lives of the ordinary citizens.
– The Democratic ethos must be imbibed and practiced in the running of all national institutions in order to promote a political culture of openness, majority decision making and the upholding of fundamental rights and freedoms.
4. National Development
National development is a process that is a product of Nation Building. Nation Building is a long term, conscious and sustained effort at constructing a united, economically strong and militarily powerful country.
In order to ensure National Development in Nigeria, I am putting forward three recommendations as follows:
i. There should be massive investment in the development of the HUMAN RESOURCES of Nigeria, (Education, Health and Social security, Poverty alleviation). This is the strategy that propelled the South East Asian Tigers into First World status.
ii. There should be gigantic investment in the development of INFRASTRUCTURE in Nigeria(Power, Roads, Railways, Airports, Sea Ports, Communication, Water, Energy, Housing,)
iii. On the part of the Citizens, since we have a country to be proud of, we should enhance national integration and cohesion as well as solidarity.
5. Conclusion
The people that are calling for the disintegration or dismemberment of Nigeria are totally ignorant of the profound roots of social and economic integration in the country. As one of the Governors of the South Eastern States said, with about 7 million prosperous Ibos entrenched in Northern Nigeria, it does not make sense to demand for the breakup of the country.
NIGERIA’s destiny to be an African and World power is emerging with Nigerians holding very strategic and high profile positions in the African Development Bank,World Trade Organization, United Nations, etc.
