President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria must be congratulated for attempting to end the agony of the Nigerian civil war by pardoning and restituting the benefits of thousands of Nigerian soldiers who fought for Biafra.
This act was overdue, after all, Gen Yakubu Gowon had declared "No vanquish, no victor" while accepting the official surrender of Biafra.
During that same time. Nigeria promised to adopt a policy of the three Rs (Rehabilitation, Reconciliation, and Reconstruction).
Sadly, Gowon's promises were not fully kept, that is why there had been a cold war between Nigeria's power-wielders and the former Biafran fighters. This also accounted for why top ranking Igbo military officers have not been assigned to top level critical military posts. In other words, while Nigeria promised reconciliation, it refused to pardon those
who fought on the other side and treated them unjustifiably for 30 years.
Col. Phillip Effiong repeatedly pointed out the contradiction between the official proclamations and the reality of the
situation.
President Obasanjo and his military advisers must also be congratulated for trying to reduce the size of the armed forces and encouraging the military to embrace democratic values and human rights. However, it is quite clear that reducing the size of the forces and training soldiers in the ideals of democracy and human rights will not be sufficient enough to turn the tide against an endemic instittutional problem. More would have to be done for soldiers to respect civilians and
nonmilitary institutions.
A number of reasons can be given to support the view that training alone will not do the trick. It should be recalled that Gen. Ibrahim Babangida attempted to do the same so that soldiers would desist from staging military coups. The effort failed
miserably.
There is no doubt that the Nigerian armed forces is one of the best fighting machines in the world.
The soldiers are fearless and willing to take risks in order to accomplish any task assigned to them. Due to their meritorious performances, the United Nations has repeatedly requested their participation in a number of conflict situations, including the Congo, Lebanon, Bosnia, Somalia, Liberia, Sierra Leone etc. In particular, their roles in Somalia, Liberia and now in Sierra Leone are highly commendable.
However, the armed forces have an institutional problem.
They have always treated civilians with no respect whatsoever. Immediately, during, and after the civil war, there were many clashes involving soldiers and civilians. Quite often, the soldiers would round up any civilian and physically abuse the person on the slightest provocation or rumour that a soldier had been assaulted. It is an open secret in Nigeria that
Soldiers call civilians "BLOODY CIVILIANS".
Infact, civilians are not the only victims of the military.
Members of the Nigerian armed forces are highly disdainful of the police. Members of the police force are constantly insulted with all kinds of derogatory names. One of the most popular disdainful names for the police is "WOMEN".
In other words, soldiers regard policemen and women as women. The reason being that the police do not go to war while
soldiers do. Since the police do not fight a war, they are equated with women because in society, women generally do not go to war. It is not uncommon for soldiers to intimidate and beat up policemen.
As can be seen, the Nigerian armed forces have never recognized the fact that they belong to Nigeria and are owned by Nigerians.
They have never regarded themselves as being part of Nigeria and must obey the laws, mores and norms of Nigeria. In short, they think that they are above the law. This explains their lukewarm attitude toward human rights. When ever called upon to maintain peace and order, they use excessive force, sometimes shooting recklessly.
Almost every community in Nigeria has experienced the destructive onslaught of the military. The Niger Delta is treated like an enemy territory and the citizens have no rights.
The miltary thinks that civilians are an undiscplined lot that must be disciplined by force.
They also believe that Nigerian civilians are not patriotic, hence, must be educated through teaching the "bloody civilians a lesson". Nigerian soldiers tend to display an attitude that they are more patriotic and would do whatever it takes to keep the country as one.
In launching a book about the Nigerian civil War on 2000 Army Day, Lt Gen. Samuel Victor Malu reinforced the stereotypical view by saying "The army will deal decisively with any attempt to balkanise the nation. We fought to keep the nation
one, and will always do so..."
The truth is that the military has done so much to destroy the country.
Starting from the first military coup in January 1966, Nigeria's civilian populace has experienced heart wrenching fiascos initiated by members of the armed forces. Of course, the disastrous military regimes are direct evidence of the ill the
military has inflicted upon Nigerians. What about the great oil wealth? No military officer has been able to explain to Nigerians what happened to the oil wealth.
During the reign of Generals Babangida and Abacha, Nigeria was almost pushed to disintegrate. This being the case, the military does not and should not claim to have an exclusive right to Nigerian patriotism. In short, both the military and the political establishments have been the major sources of the multitude of problems facing the country.
Due to the false sense of patriotism, Nigerian armed forces are always talking about maintaining order and teaching anybody a lesson.
Yet, the military establishment has shied away from disciplining its own members who have been responsible for putting Nigeria in an unbearable situation. Most Nigerians today are desparate due to hopelessness.
Why does the Nigerian armed forces behave as if they are more disciplined, patriotic, and needing to teach some lesson? The answer lies in the past. The Nigerian armed forces are a product of the colonial system. The British established the African Rifles or the King's Army or whatever, as part of the British Expeditionary Force. This force then led to the establishment of the West African Frontier Force. The WAFF served as an instrument to advance British colonialism by conquering various ethnic groups, squashing indigenous resistance, and preserving the territorial integrity of the colonies. Although made up of African soldiers, the officers were mostly British.
Since they were recruited to subdue their own African people, most of the African soldiers were isolated from the African people. They were always kept in the barracks until a job was assigned. Contact between them and the African civilians was reduced to the barest minimum. They were principally trained to kill. Therefore, they were discouraged from being politically conscious and were trained not to ask questions.
Through this kind of purposeful isolation, the African soldiers could'nt care less about killing other Africans who were fighting for their own freedom. Thus, the Nigerian armed forces originated from this kind of political background. Nigerian authorities too used the British model of military control and have never allowed the armed forces to fully identify with
the citizens.
It is understandable why Nigerian soldiers treat Nigerian civilians as enemies rather than as allies. Like the colonial forces, the Nigerian armed forces are primarily trained to kill and not to ask questions, regardless of the morality of the order.
Due to the singularity of their assignments, the Nigerian armed forces have not grown intellectually to the point of conceptualizing strategic implications.
Evidently, 40 years after independence, the armed forces are still primarily designed to provide security for those in power and to squash any opposition to those in power just as the West African Frontier Force was designed to secure British colonial interest and to squash any opposition to British rule.
Consequently, the armed forces have never been trained nor socialized to believe that they are Nigerian citizens and must respect Nigerian citizens.
They have never been socialized to uphold the constitutional framework of the nation.
The worst drawback of the single purpose military force is that the Nigerian armed forces have failed to contribute to the technological growth of the country.
In almost all the industrialized countries, their economic and technological growths have been primarily carried out by the military's research and development efforts. For instance, Japan's technological growth today is directly connected to the military R & D efforts during the early part of the 20th century.
The internet revolution today is directly connected to the US military technological efforts to automate armaments and to develop satelitte system of communication.
In Nigeria, despite the increasing level of education among military officers, the various regimes did not emphasize research and development. As a result, there is no recognizable military research or scientific effort to improve anything in the country.
Since the emphasize is security and not creative expansion, the armed forces have been very lacking in finding ways of dealing with issues without resorting to the use of threats and force.
The lack of creative and strategic thinking has hindered the country from having both long and short term plans to manage the country. Consequently, the military sees every problem as a security problem, and nothing else. For example, the Peoples of the Oil Producing Areas (POPAs) have, throughout the military era, decried the Land Use Decrees and the reduction of the revenue allocation formula from 13% to about 1%.
They have also decried the lack of development in their areas while other areas of the country received all kinds of
developmental funds. It never occurred to the military establishment to analyze the situation and devise a plan to develop the Niger Delta. Now that the POPAs are taking steps to stop their economic strangulation, the Nigerian armed forces see the
actions as security threats.
Of course, the Niger Delta crises are a political matter, yet, the powers-that-be only see the security aspect of it. Some military leaders have called upon the federal government to send military forces to protect the oil pipelines.
Likewise, both the Oodua Peoples Congress and the Sharia law issues are political matters, yet the military thinking is that these developments should be dealt with militarily.
Here again, if the various military regimes had designed strategic ways of dealing or resolving the Sharia problem 20 or 30 years ago,, maybe, hundreds of Nigerians would not have lost their lives. Of course, the military did nothing.
The military did nothing when Gen. Abacha used his hench military men to threaten, intimidate, kill, and burnt down houses. If the military establishment had intervened to stop those clandestine activities, the violence that is going on today would'nt have taken place.
Possible Solutions
Although the desire to socialize soldiers into embracing democratic ideas and human rights is commendable, nevertheless, the effort is insufficient to change the attitude of the soldiers toward civilians and civilian institutions. More needs to be
done.
First, Nigerianize the armed forces.
Currently, the military is tilted toward the North. This creates an imbalance. The best way to Nigerianize the forces
would be to reintroduce the quota system that was very prevalent during the Gowon's era. In response to the imbalance of the pre-Nzeogwu era, the federal govenment made strenous efforts to recruit people from all the states of the country. Thus, officers and noncommissioned officers were recruited nationally from the states. This enabled young men and women who
did not even have connections to join the forces.
It is an open secret today that one must be connected to one of the high ranking officers in order to gain admission into the NDA. Nepotism is a common phenomenon in the military, hence, there are a number of prominent Nigerian families with so many sons in the armed forces while a vast majority of Nigerian families do not even have one son or daughter in the forces.
Redistribute military resources.
Currently, all the major training centers are located in the North. Likewise, all the major military bases are also located in the Northern states. The Southern states are looked upon as foreign countries, hence, have small military infrastructures.
Democratize the leadership positions by making sure that any Nigerian military officer can assume leadership positions.
Typically, the positions of the Army Chief of Staff and the Defence Minister have always been given to Northerners. Southern officers tend to get figurehead positions.
The Igbos must be fully integrated into the Nigerian armed forces.
This means that a senior Igbo military officer should have the same equal opportunity as an Hausa/Fulani or a Yoruba senior military officer to command a critical military unit. The same opportunity must be provided to senior military officers from the minority groups, especially from the south. This is very important if political stability is to be maintained.
When an ethnic group or a region feels that it is not well represented in the military, the likelihood of militant reaction becomes greater. In fact, the situation in the Niger Delta is dangerous because many officers from that region were terminated or retired, thereby depriving people from those ethnic groups the opportunity to grow into the top ranks of the armed forces.
As part of the officer courses at the National Defense Academy (NDA) and the Command and Staff College, courses in psychology of aggression, preemptive and tactical strikes, human relations, strategic policy, national security, community
relations, civic affairs etc., should be offered.
Nigerian military officers need to become aware that when people have been deprived for too long, they would become more militant. The more force is used against them, the more fearless they become. The Niger Delta is displaying all the symptoms of people willing to change their destiny regardless of the force used against them. The Moslems are doing the same. Likewise, some Yoruba elements are no more fearful of military attacks.
Thus, instead of force, community relations strategies backed by economic developmental programs should be initiated in the Oil Producing Areas.
The Nigerian military establishment should become aware of the fact that the unnecessary use of force contributed to many of the civil wars that have engulfed the African continent.
Thus, the attack on Ogoniland, Ikiyan, Opia, Okpoma, Imiringi, Ikebri, Ochoba etc and the destruction of Odi will not stop
the people from feeling that they are being treated as second class citizens and must fight back to reclaim their dignity. A political strategy is needed to resolve the matter.
The military need to establish a military/community relations department that will listen to peoples grievances, investigate abuses and establish educational programs to enhance communication so that Nigerian soldiers can act like Nigerians, not as occupying forces.
Currently, Nigerian soldiers and security forces are regarded as occuppying forces by the indigenes of the Oil Producing Areas. This partially accounted for the killing of the 11 policemen and the heavy resistance to the forces sent to Odi and elsewhere.
The military establishment needs to establish a code of conduct and make sure that violators are punished either through military or civilian courts.
Currently, Nigerian soldiers and policemen and women get away with so many things. They can beat up, kill or destroy without being punished.
The Nigerian military should be restructured so that it is not only a fighting force but also a positive force for the development of the state.
This means more emphasis on scientific and technological development. In other words, the military should be involved in ways of developing the country. The colonial heritage needs to go. The British, French, American, German etc. military forces play diverse positive roles in their home countries. They are not fighting forces only.
In this regard, the Navy should establish an emergency rescue unit that will be able to rush to scenes of boat accidents, shipwrecks, oil explosions, and drownings throughout the coastal regions of the country. Currently, Nigerians in the coastal regions only encounter the navy when there is a political trouble. This creates a very poor negative image for the naval forces. The navy also needs to work with various riverine states to establish fishing and other marine ventures.
Depersonalize the armed forces so that no single individual can dominate it.
It is always very dangerous when the military is personalized the way Gen. Babangida and Gen Abacha did. They turned the
Nigerian armed forces upside down by rewarding only those who worshipped them and punishing those who refused to worship them. The military was terrorized during the middle 1980s and the 1990s.
As an institution, the military should be able to tell any senior ranking officer what is appropriate and what is not. Likewise, no officer should be allowed to think that he is above the military code of justice.
It is very dangerous to excessively reduce the number of men and women in the forces. Nigeria with a population of more than a hundred million people needs armed forces with a population of about 100,000 minimum. The planned reduction to 55,000 makes sense economically and financially, but, it is very dangerous.
Nigeria is increasingly playing a greater role in the stabilization of many hot spots in the African continent. The world is also going to put more pressure on Nigeria to do more for Africa, just as the U.S. is doing to stabilize the world. It is
doubtful whether a lean force of about 55.000 will be able to perform the stabilzer role in the continent.
There is a need to think about the strategic implications before embarking on such a drastic reduction of force.
The armed forces needs to institute a strategic planning unit made up of active and retired military officers.
This group would advise the federal government on the implications of various military options available to solve political and military crises. In addition, the federal government needs to establish a National Security Advisory Council. This body should be made up of senior active and retired military officers, some active and retired politicians, and selective members of various communities.
Whenever there is a crisis, members of the affected community should be called upon to serve as an advisory group. The purpose is to ensure that those who make decisions at the national level are fully aware of the issues and the feelings involved.
It is quite clear that the federal government enacted the Land Use Decrees and other major constitution-altering laws and policies in the past without consulting the communities who were most likely to be affected by the decisions. To continue
to act in such ways would only breed more conflicts. After all, many communities around the Niger Delta region complained that the decision to build the Kainji Dam was made without a proper environmental impact study.
As a result, the marine ecosystem in the lower Niger River region was drastically altered and the peoples means of livelihood were destroyed.
Finally, to achieve political stability, Nigerians must make sure that the MILITARY/POLITCAL/BUSINESS
COMPLEX is not allowed to grow any further.
Basically, the military/political/business complex comprised of some active and retired senior military officers, some
disreputable politicians and business men and women. This complex has been primarily responsible for the massive embezzlement of public funds, spreading of political and economic corruption and literally running down the country.
It should be pointed out that some members of this complex were responsible for forming the Foundation for Better Nigeria that helped to shipwrecked the 1993 democratic elections. The members of this complex are very powerfull and seem to dominate every aspect of life in Nigeria. Therefore, if the military wants to remain clean and professional and if the Nigeria is to metamorphosed into a full-fledge democracy, the military/political/business complex must be contained.
The introduction of some of the ideas discussed here will help to make a difference and thereby make things better for Nigerians.
It is hope that the Nigerian armed forces would change and become a force for positive change and development in Nigeria
Guides
