Utomi, Teriba, and others chart path to peaceful nation

Nigerians have been charged with banding together and reducing the insecurity that is ravaging the country in order to pave the way for peace and economic prosperity.

This comes as experts have expressed concern about how the media has been portraying some of the country’s problems, warning that if Nigerians do not respect their differences and work together, they will be held responsible in the end.

The experts established a link between peace and economic prosperity during a webinar on ‘The Imperative of Peace for a Successful Economy’ organized by the American Business Council Nigeria, warning that the current wave of insecurity was slowing the country’s progress.

Dipo Faulkner, President of the American Business Council, stated in his welcome remarks at the webinar: “There is an intricate link between peace and economic prosperity.” The prevalence of insecurity in Nigeria casts a large cloud of doubt over investors’ confidence in the country. This can be seen in the drop in quarterly foreign direct investments from 251 million in the fourth quarter of 2020 to around 154 million in the first quarter of 2021. And, more recently, when looking at the figures for the second quarter of 2021, it has dropped to 77.9 million. According to the American Business Council’s economic impact survey on US companies, insecurity is a major concern for US investors in Nigeria.

“The webinar was organized with the goal of shedding light on the importance of private sector participation in maintaining peace, bridging the gap between the government and the public for the good of all, and finding solutions to Nigeria’s insecurity.”

Read also: Ortom: We Rejected RUGA in Order to Protect Benue People’s Lives

Prof. Pat Utomi, founder of the Centre for Values in Leadership and moderator of the webinar, stated that Nigerians could become guilty by omission and get into deeper trouble, noting that the country’s current state of affairs was a serious challenge.

“If we do not tap into what is known about the challenges we face and the need for peace and goodwill,” he said, “we may be in much deeper trouble than we appear to be today.”

Dr. Garba Abari, Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), who spoke on the topic ‘Rather Than Violence, All Hands on Deck,’ stated that a country as large as Nigeria, with vast human and material resources, could not afford not to have peace as a sine qua non for achieving its national development goals.

He blamed the country’s current state of affairs on the abandonment of the foundation laid by its founding fathers. “Over the years, we have actually jettisoned everything that our forefathers did to bring about a functioning country,” Abari said. Our forefathers worked hard to establish governance standards. Despite the fact that their methods and tactics were clearly different, they clearly succeeded in constructing a functional society. We missed the bars along the way in the course of nation building, and the reasons for missing the bars had already been adduced by many scholars in many fora and studies. The truth is that we are paying for abandoning what the nation’s founding fathers left to us. As a result, our development goals have been derailed, and we have lost focus in our governmental processes and procedures.

“As a result, all hands should be on deck.” We must be seen to be guided by the rule of law, because no society can progress unless the basic tenets of the rule of law are adhered to. We must work together to reach an agreement.”

“The government has the constitutional responsibility of ensuring the security and welfare of Nigerians, as well as promoting a peaceful environment,” he added. The government should promote inclusive governance, ensure equitable resource distribution to give every segment a sense of belonging, address the problem of hate speech and fake news through appropriate legislation and sanctions, and most importantly, the government should not allow any gaps in its information dissemination to citizens.

“The government should investigate the proliferation of small arms and light weapons as soon as possible through effective border control and sanctions against violators.” The government should address intergenerational relations by empowering youth to participate in governance, economy, and enterprise; political parties can play an important role in this, and then support the establishment of structures for peace, justice, and integration.”

In his remarks, Dr. Ayo Teriba, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Economic Associates, argued that the country’s economic stagnation was to blame for the country’s current security challenges.

“I looked at the topic, which seemed to imply that peace is a prerequisite for economic progress, and I take the opposing view that economic progress is a prerequisite for peace; it’s not the other way around,” he says.

Read also: Ortom: We Rejected RUGA in Order to Protect Benue People’s Lives

“By the way, Nigeria is at peace; it is not at war.” We are in a period of peace, but there is a risk that it will be broken. We enjoy peace, but our economic stagnation is the source of our fear of anarchy. And I’m concerned when I listen to public figures.

“Nigeria and Africa are the last to realize that it is not about the ends you seek; it is about the means by which you seek the ends.” We make a never-ending list of things we need to do, but we never ask ourselves where we will get the resources to do them. Whatever you want to do, money is the answer, and our Nigerian mentality is to assume that the money will be available. We make budgets that we don’t follow through on because there isn’t enough money. As a result, various groups in Nigeria are losing faith in the republic due to economic reasons. It’s as if, because we didn’t bake a large enough national cake, we’ve been boxed into a corner where different groups are fighting for a piece of a shrinking national cake.

“What we need is agreement on how to find the resources to maintain socio-political harmony.” It’s all about the money. Looking at China, they made a U-turn from being a staunch communist country to welcoming foreign investment in search of money. They are not saying what they intend to do with the money, but they are outrunning everyone in order to obtain any type of money from the global scene. China is either first or second in terms of FDI, export revenue, or diaspora remittances. The same is true for India. Since 1991, India’s economic policy has been one of liberalisation, privatisation, and globalisation (LPG). These three words describe how to obtain funds from abroad. They realized that money is the answer to everything.”

“So, when you talk about insurgency and insecurity, do you know that the great wall of China was built to prevent miscreants from simply crossing and invading China?” Teriba continued. You will continue to claim that bandits are from neighboring West African countries unless you have the funds to build a similar wall. There will be no progress in any economy that is not threatened by marauders, whether they are states or individuals. If you are truly wealthy, you must be able to save some money to protect your wealth. So, let us concentrate on how Nigeria will obtain funds to address its never-ending list of issues. Nigeria will advance the day we get that right.”

Alhaji Garba Bello Kankarofi, for one, expressed dissatisfaction with the way the media portrays the country’s problems, particularly when influenced by politicians. He urged regulatory authorities to impose appropriate penalties on defaulting media organizations.

“Let us examine the role of the media in this country critically.” Listening to radio stations in Kano, Kaduna, or Maiduguri, all you hear is politicians trying to stir up trouble. What exactly is the NBC doing? Why aren’t they using the regulatory powers bestowed upon them, as well as the tools at their disposal? Do we continue to allow the media to incite Nigerians? Who will put a stop to this? “As a result, I have a problem with that,” Kankarofi stated.