|
Nigeria’s Quest For A Permanent Seat On An Expanded United Nations’ Security Council – A Pipe Dream! By Dozie Ikem Ezeife, Esq.
There is an Igbo adage that says “onye oku na-agba uloya, adighi achu oke”. The literal translation is that one, whose house is in flames, does not chase rats. In other words, a man in dire straights does not indulge in trivialities. That is precisely what the Nigeria government is guilty of in its current quest for a permanent seat on the expanded security council of the United Nations.
There is no doubt that Nigeria is presently and for a while, for that matter have, been embroiled in a myriad of social, economic and political problems. These problems include endemic religious and ethnic bloody conflicts; epidemic power shortages; bankrupt educational system; institutional corruption; stratospheric unemployment; 419 scourge; out of control armed robbery, assassinations and mayhem; and, total lack of essential social amenities, to name but a few. It is therefore criminal for our leaders to abandon urgent efforts that are needed to confront these critical problems in preference to chasing a pipe dream.
Yes! Nigeria’s yearning for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council is mere mirage. The present effort to bring this dream to fruition is an exercise in futility. With all due respect to the eminent members of the General A. Abubakar Committee, the decision to set it up and the fanfare with which it was inaugurated by the Vice President is nothing but a ruse to divert attention from the failure of the present administration to grapple with its constitutional and ethical obligations to the nation. The current quest for this seat is uncanningly akin to the now-abandoned but the hitherto much vaunted quest for foreign investors. Like the search for foreign investment, this new fad will suffer the same fate, to wit, a consignment to the scrap heap of ignominious history. In typical Nigerian fashion, the President and his Vice have rolled out the red carpet and have mobilized our scarce human and material resources to chase this fleeting fancy. A 28 member committee headed by retired General A. Abubakar have already been constituted and charged with the task of selling this campaign. The committee has among its members the deputy president of senate, the deputy speaker of the federal house, nine state governors and several public servants and eminent Nigerians. It calls to the question the justification for yanking these governors and members of the national assembly away from their constitutional mandate and obligations to their various constituencies and states to the pursuit of a project which has no real effect on the every day live of the average Nigerian. Pretty soon these public servants will abandon their duties and embark on yet another world jamboree. At the end of the day Nigeria will not be successful and they would in turn have lost precious time and effort that could have been channeled towards making a real difference to the lives of their constituents. The President has once again dusted his “globe-trot mobile” in a vain attempt to push an agenda that has no chance of success and if the truth be told, no substantive benefit to Nigeria and Nigerians.
Having laid the premise, let us have a critical look at Nigeria’s chance of landing this seat. There is a proposal to assign five seats to the continent of Africa in the proposed expanded Security Council. Three of the seats would be rotational whilst two seats will be permanent. It seems to me that if Nigeria is interested in one of the rotational seats she would not have any problem securing it. It is also reasonable to assume that of the two permanent seats allotted to Africa, one is most likely to go to North Africa leaving the remaining for East, West and Southern Africa. If that is the case, it is not far fetched to assume that apart from Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and perhaps Kenya would also be interested in that seat. While one believes that Nigeria might have the upper hand in a contest with Ghana and/or Kenya, regrettably, South Africa would be an insurmountable obstacle to Nigeria. I will explain momentarily.
Several factors would tilt the balance in favour of South Africa. One, the erroneous perception overseas that Nigeria is a haven for criminals and that Nigerians foster criminal enterprise all over the globe is the most damaging argument against this quest. The fact that for several years now, Nigeria has taken a permanent seat on the top two of Transparency International’s most corrupt nations in the world is a fact that speaks for itself. The 419 scourge and the inability or unwillingness of the Nigerian government to put any real effort in combating it will exert a terrible price on this quest. In a discussion with some people in the United States recently, a Korean national pointedly asked me whether there is any guarantee that if Nigeria is given this seat, her representative would not take bribe to influence her vote to pass or veto an important resolution in the Council. I was dumbfounded and confounded by that thought. I did not know what the answer to that would be. Your guess is as good as mine. Second, it is a little known secret that the United States does not quite trust Nigeria because they feel that Nigeria leans too much towards Europe given her colonial past. Conversely, Europe is not quite trusting of Nigeria and they are not quite sure that Nigeria (if she is given a permanent seat on the Council) would not be amenable and pliable to pressure from the United States. Nigeria is therefore seating between the rock and the hard place. It therefore goes without saying that if it came right down to it, they will ere on the side of South Africa.
Third, the Charles Taylor issue has now come home to roost. The refusal by Nigeria to give up that mass murderer and common thug to the Human Rights Court will be our final undoing. People are going to point out that Nigeria cannot seek a permanent seat on the Security Council of an institution whose rules and directives she flouts with impunity by continuing to shelter a fugitive from international justice. The President recently tried to justify Nigerian’s position by pointing to the fact that Charles Taylor ended up in Nigeria with the tacit approval of the United States and the West. Persuasive as that argument might sound, it smirks of political naïveté. President Obasanjo obviously did not remember that whoever dines with the “devil” must attend with a long spoon. The United States government would use anybody for their own expediency and toss them away when their job is done. The United States have no permanent conscience. She only has its only selfish interest. What is right is only what inures to the strategic interest of the world’s remaining super power. Ask Saddam, Noriega, Mobutu, etc. And if the President capitulates and decides to hand Taylor over to the International Tribunal, it still will not pacify critics and skeptics. Besides it will be seen as a decision of convenience.
What is needed for this sort of quest is quiet diplomacy and discreet campaign. Rather than the present hoopla, the President should have used back channels, our ambassadors and heads of Nigeria’s diplomatic missions abroad to do this job. This way, if the mission is unsuccessful, Nigeria will not lose face in the International Community. Now that we have advertised our interest and raised unnecessary dust over the issue, the stakes are high. How can we live down a defeat?
My gratuitous advise to the President is to channel the resources, human and material, that is about to be wasted on this infantile idea towards solving the teaming problems that seek to suffocate our country.
In conclusion, it really is necessary for Nigerians to ask their government how a permanent seat on the Security Council of the United Nations will better their lives. Perhaps somebody is preparing a cozy prominent position for them to retire to after they leave Abuja in 2007.
Dozie Ikem Ezeife, Esq. Oakland, California
|