NIGERIA BAR ASSOCIATION COMMUNIQUÉ ISSUED AT THE END OF THE 2 DAY PEACE AND SECURITY SUMMIT ON: COMPREHENSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE PEACE AND SECURITY IN A PLURAL SOCIETY: EXTREME CHALLENGES TO NIGERIA INTERNAL SECURITY (Held at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, 30 th January, 2013) 31 st A. PREAMBLE The Nigeria Bar Association in its determination to identify with and/or contribute to the collective effort at finding comprehensive and sustainable peace and security in Nigeria, organized the 2-day summit on peace and security in Nigeria from 30 th 31 st January, 2013, at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. The summit to a large extent succeeded in attracting the target audience. The Summit was graced by prominent citizens of this country, starting with President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR, ably represented by the Hon. Attorney General and minister for Justice. Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN, General Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, (former military Head of State), General Abdulsalam Abubakar, GCFR, (former military Head of state) who was ably represented, the President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, ably represented by Senator Umaru Dahiru, Chairman Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Miriam Aloma Mukhtar, GCON who chaired the Opening Ceremony, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, GCVO, GCON former Secretary 1
General of the Commonwealth who chaired the Showcase Session and Chief A. K. Horsfal, former Director General of the SSS/NIA, who delivered the Keynote Address. Other present include the representatives of the Chief of Defense Staff, Chief of Naval State, Ministers of Federal Capital Territory, the Minister of Interior, the representatives of the Sultan of Sokoto, the Igwe of Onitsha and the Oni of Ife, many Senior Advocates of Nigeria, top Judicial Officers, the Diplomatic Corp, the Clergy, representatives of NANS, serving and retired Military and Police Officers. Many of the above mentioned dignitaries delivered goodwill messages during the Summit, each commending the NBA for organizing this auspicious Summit at this point in our chequered history when suddenly the whole nation is facing unprecedented threats to our security and unity. Eminent and resourceful persons presented papers and proffered oral contributions on both days of the Summit. OBJECTIVES Our objectives in holding this summit include the following: To critically evaluate the Nigeria problem from different perspectives, including political, economic, social, educational, religious, legal and military perspectives. To closely examine strategies that have been successfully implemented in other nations with similar multi-culture and multi-religious societies such as Malaysia, in terms of maintenance of peace and security, as well as the nurturing and sustenance of a culture of peaceful coexistence and tolerance, and to consider how such 2
models could be effectively adapted to the Nigerian context. OBSERVATIONS At the end of the 2-day deliberations, the following observations were made: 1. The extreme threats to peace and security of the nation are mounting by the day, with perpetrators recruiting more and more persons to their ranks. 2. It is becoming more evident with each passing day that the present military or armed approach at solving the problem of insecurity is not enough -- that we cannot shoot our way out of the problem hence the need to adopt both civil and military strategies in order to attain both short and long term solutions to the problem. 3. The identified causes of insecurity in our nation include corruption, inequitable distribution of income and social amenities, unemployment, tribal and/or ethnic allegiances to the detriment of national patriotism, poor and ineffective educational system that fails to imbue a sense of value and self worth in our children, poor leadership, religious and cultural intolerance, corrupt and ill-trained and ill-equipped police force, religious manipulations, and porous border entry points. 4. There is a large army of unemployed and disillusioned young men and women whose ranks are growing exponentially by the 3
year and who are easily susceptible to expressing their grievances through violence in one form or the other. 5. Insurgency, kidnapping, armed robbery and corruption have taken alarming tolls on lives and properties in Nigeria, and have badly damaged both national and regional economies of our country. 6. There is mutual distrust between government and insurgent groups in Nigeria, thereby making it difficult to have dialogue as an alternative means to achieving lasting peace and security in the country. 7. Mis-governance with its attendant impunity denies government the much needed sympathy and collaboration of well- meaning members of society in fighting the menace of insecurity. 8. the Judiciary is considerably weak as a result of insufficient funding and provision of necessary infrastructure and working tools; and is even made weaker by corruption and lack of strong will to hear and determine corruption cases with dispatch as a matter of utmost public policy importance 9. There is no noticeable strong will on the part of government to fight corruption and there is no effort either to find out why citizens suddenly ring themselves about with bombs, or bear arms against the society, to kill and be killed. 10. Millions of Nigerian children are in the streets and out of school about 16 Million in the Northern part of Nigeria alone and these are potential sources of recruitment for insurgents, 4
and equally constitute a looming future threat to national security. 11. Some insurgent groups now have foreign affiliations. RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Government should take urgent steps to put in place the necessary foundations for short and long term peace and security in the country. 2. Government should make conscious efforts at achieving comprehensive and sustainable peace and security in the country, and these efforts should be geared towards attaining economic peace, political peace, educational peace, legal peace and military peace. 3. A homeland security model, which is all inclusive, should be adopted for more effectiveness in sharing intelligence, eliminating working and speaking at cross purposes, manning our borders, preventing waste of security funds, preempting and preventing violent crimes like insurgency, armed robbery, corruption and kidnapping in good time. 4. The political class should work hard to fulfill the expectations of the masses by providing good governance and avoiding corruption and loud and ostentations living with ill-gotten wealth. 5
5. Government should take urgent step to address the problems of excruciating poverty in the land, in equitable distribution of income and basic economic infrastructure and unemployment. 6. Government should declare a state of emergency in the educational sector in order to arrest the rapidly declining educational standard and thereby obviate a looming and horrendous future of Nigeria of 20 to 30 years from now being dominated by ill-educated and ill-equipped citizenry. 7. Governments at all levels should as a matter of urgency introduce scholarship schemes for the singular purposes of taking the loitering millions of children off the streets and into schools possibly boarding schools and thereby keep them away from the reach and influence of crimes of different shades and colors. 8. Government should put n place anti reprisal mechanism whereby victims of violence and insurgency are quickly pacified and economically restored and rehabilitated. 9. Government should create a transparent and trust-worthy mechanism for dialoguing with insurgents as well as for addressing their grievances. 10. Government should fashion out educational curriculums at all levels to contain teachings aimed at inculcating in the citizens, the culture of tolerance and coexistence in our plural society, as well as teachings on patriotism and civic responsibilities to the nation over and above allegiance to tribe or ethnicity. 6
11. The media i.e. print, electronic and social are to be enlisted in the collective effort at reshaping the mind and character of our youth towards tolerance and peaceful coexistence. 12. Government should display convincing strong will in fighting corruption and should avoid using the law enforcement agencies as instruments of blackmail or selective justice. 13. The Heads of various levels of court in the land should treat corruption, Security related and kidnapping cases as of utmost public policy importance by designating some courts in their various jurisdictions to handle and determine such cases a on day- to - day basis. 14. Government should champion the move to get the National Assembly to amend the constitution and remove the immunity clause in order to underscore government s seriousness in fighting corruption at all levels. 15. A moderated position between pro- and anti - state police proponents is recommended, to the effect that the police force both at the Federal and State levels should be made independent in terms of appointments, command and operations, and finances, in order to eliminate the abusive uses to which the power holders have been known to put the police since Nigeria s independence. 16. Government should endeavor to study and adapt the Malaysian institutions and strategies which have proved very effective in addressing issues of peace and security in the 7
Malaysian plural society, particularly their inter-faith, intercultural and inter-social institutions that are by far more effective than what we have in Nigeria. 17. Government should endeavor to govern according to the rule of law, and avoid all forms of abuses of fundamental rights of the citizens and extra-judicial killings -- which are unlawful acts that readily lead to greater insecurity. 18. The Attorneys-General at all levels should prosecute without delay all persons involved in kindred crimes of corruption, insurgencies, kidnapping and armed robbery, and to put these heinous crimes off limits of the criminal administration system of plea bargaining. 19. Governments at all levels should engage in a comprehensive Review & Reform of the Criminal Justice System to eliminate anachronistic provisions and refashions the statutes in order to adequately address the new and threatening crimes of today. In that regard, the NBA recommends the following Acts be immediately reviewed and refashioned: a. Criminal/Penal Code b. Criminal Procedure Laws c. Criminal Procedure Act/Laws 20. The NBA notes that there are a number of Bills presently pending before the National Assembly at different stages of legislative process, which have to do with security and administration of justice in the country. NBA therefore, calls on the National Assembly, to fast track the passage of these Bills 8
into law as a matter of urgent public importance. The Bills are as follows: a. Administration of Justice Commission Bill b. The Police Act Amendment Bill c. The victims of Crime Remedies Bill d. The Prisons Act Amendment Bill e. The Elimination of Violence in Society Bill f. Terrorism Act (Amendment) Bill g. Administration of Criminal Justice Bill h. Whistle Blowers Bill 21. That the NBA would put in place appropriate machinery for monitoring and investigating impunity and executive lawlessness. 22. The EFCC Act should be amended to incorporate the fullness of the provisions of the first EFCC bill drafted by Justice Kayode Esho Committee, which proposed that anybody exhibiting wealth beyond his visible means of income be made to account for his source of income. 23. The Police Forces should be re-trained and re-equipped to be able to confront the criminal menaces of our present time. Adopted today, January 31 st, 2013, by all participants at the Peace and Security Summit. OKEY WALI, SAN PRESIDENT, NBA 9