Why CSOs, Military crucial in national security – Experts
Philip Clement, Abuja
The Nigerian army as well as Civil Society Organizations have been identified as crucial stakeholders in advancing Nigerian peace and security.
This was stated by experts and stakeholders at a conference on intersection of national security and the Civic space in Nigeria which held in Abuja on Thursday.
The conference was hosted by the Whiteink Institute for Strategy, Education and Research (WISER) and the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC) with support from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).
In his opening address, Brig. Gen. Saleh Bala (Rtd) the President and Founder of the Whiteink Institute for Strategy, Education and Research (WISER) stated that Army as part of the Nigerian security architecture, and the civil society are important partners to progress the growth and defense of civil rights and every freedom valued by society.
He said: “I want to thank the able leadership of the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC) for its belief, trust and benevolence in supporting this humble effort of the OSIWA-WISER project to promote and generate already growing understanding and synergy building between State institutions and the organized civil society, in both their local and international composition.
“The event holding today is a mark of progress made of a grant awarded to WISER by OSIWA on the Intersection of National Security and the Civic and the occasion being a third stage of our workplan, which involves bringing members of State institutions and their civil society counterparts to a conference.
“The earlier stages were a round advocacy visits to select State institutions and a seminar with similarly select CSOs in Abuja. Outcomes from the interactions generally revealed that both communities understand to favorable extents the unique but common interests they both share around providing enabling spaces for the exercise of the full extents of the rights of citizens in accordance with local and international laws and principles
“The problem which remains a stumbling block has been the trust deficit between and even amongst them, which is traceable to strongly held views fostered by turf wars due to mutual suspicion and territorialism,” he said.
According to Gen. Bala (Rtd), the third stage of the workplan is designed to provide a forum to promote interaction and experience sharing, hoping to further healthy debate to generate friendship, understanding, cooperation and collaboration among the key actors, particularly for officers at the critical operational levels of affairs, where the delicate and sensitive people-to-people interaction takes place.
“Indeed, it was one of the achievements of our advocacy visits that birthed a collaboration of WISER with the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC), who have accepted to host the conference by providing the venue (without charge), a moderator and a speaker.,” He added.
In his remarks, the head of Nigeria Office of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) Jude Ilo said his Organization believe that the exchange of cordial ideas between Civil Society Organization’s and the armed forces is crucial in achieving a safe nation.
According to him, the military is not in any way enemy of CSOs and same applies in the opposite direction.
He said: “A forum like this provides a honest conversation for a secured society. To be sincere there is an bit of friction between the Civil Society and the military but we hope it gets better.
“Today we hope our conversations is expected to Highlight the difference between national and regime security as there is a fundamental difference between the two. The military have sworn an oath to protect the citizens and not a regime or the government in power.
” As such when the military takes decision in favour of the regime in power and not national security, there will always be friction as patriotism is not about people in power but Nigeria entirely,”
Speaking further, Mr. Ilo called for synergy between the military and the CSOs to chart a course for Niigeria’s national security.
In his submissions, one of the panelist, Dr. Jibrin Ibrahim, a Director at the Centre for Democracy and Development, stated that given the huge security challenges facing the country, it is important that Nigeria as a nation devises effective strategies that will stem the insurgency and create conditions for the protection of human rights and the deepening of democracy.
He added that “The armed forces have a significant role to play in this regard. Nigerians are particularly concerned about the rules of engagement for military operations within the civilian population.
“There are military operations in virtually all states of the country. This means that the normal process of police being in charge of internal security issues no longer operates.
At the same time, the military have not been traditionally trained to engage in this arena and their rules of engagement might not be suitable for the new role thrust upon them.
“It is important in this context to publish, debate and revise the rules of engagement to ensure that they are in conformity with human rights principles.
Finally, we cannot give up on the police. We must expand the police, train them and build their capacity for effective law enforcement,”
