‘African leaders must prioritise security’

At 54, Nigeria still battles with a lot of problems. Would you say that the country’s problem is that of leadership or followership?I think it is a combination of both. I’m convinced that what we need to do in this country is to build strong institutions. It’s not an issue of having one or two […]

At 54, Nigeria still battles with a lot of problems. Would you say that the country’s problem is that of leadership or followership?
I think it is a combination of both. I’m convinced that what we need to do in this country is to build strong institutions. It’s not an issue of having one or two good leaders, or one or two people who are doing the right things. More importantly, we need to begin to strengthen the institutions that will ensure the growth of democracy within our country. We need to make sure that the various arms of government are properly empowered to play their role in the governance structure. Be they the executive arm, the legislature or the judiciary.
Also, the police and other security agencies all need to be strengthened to be able to do their work to ensure transparency, accountability in the process of management of resources, and to ensure that the civil society, journalists and the media are also strengthened to play their oversight roles and together we can build a better Nigeria.
As president of the Pan- African Parliament, what has been your achievement since you were elected in 2012?
The Pan-African Parliament, an organ of the African Union, was established as a platform to provide for the African people and their vast organizations. It is a platform to air their views to be part of decision making process in finding solutions to the many problems facing our continent.
Based on that, we started under the initial protocol which gave only more or less consultative and advisory powers to the parliament. One of the first issues we had to deal with when I became president was to ensure that we were able to transform the parliament to give it legislative powers in clearly defined areas.
In Pan-African Parliament, the institution requires additional legislative powers to enable it impact in the lives of African people. The process of integration in the continent cannot happen unless we’re able to provide legal and legislative framework within which the integration process can grow.
Over the last two and a half years, we’ve had the protocol transformation process achieved in this July summit, where the Heads of States in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea adopted a new protocol for the Pan- African Parliament. That’s our first landmark achievement.
Today, the Pan- African Parliament is recognised as the legislative organ of the African Union, with powers to draft model laws in clearly defined areas as may be approved by the Heads of States.
We’re working currently on a draft model law on pharmaceutical manufacturing across the continent to make sure we have similar standards. When that model law is adopted, member states will implement and domesticate it.
Standardizing things like the manufacturing of drugs, trade tariffs and customs regulations would help to begin to improve intra- African trade. It will also help create job opportunities for millions of young Africans who are currently unemployed and risking lives trying to cross the Sahara to Europe hoping that there are greener pastures.
Terrorism is probably the biggest challenge currently facing the African continent; how has PAP been able to encourage member countries to tackle the menace?
That’s a major problem. There can be no development without peace. It’s only in an atmosphere of peace that you find any serious development going on. If you look at the north eastern Nigeria today, nobody can be talking about achieving Millennium Development Goals, because the schools are closed; there’s no education going on for young people; there’re no medical services available. The medical facilities are all under one attack or the other.
There are human rights abuses in terms of people being killed by Boko Haram. There are no economic activities going on. That’s why it’s critical that we all work together to stamp out terrorism within our continent.
When terrorists took over parts of Mali, the PAP was the first African-based institution to send a fact- finding mission to Mali. Today, peace has been restored to Mali and its national integrity and sovereignty have been restored. A new president has been elected in Mali under a free and fair electoral process. Incidentally, the new president was a member of PAP until his election.
The process of restoring peace and security to African countries is a top priority and it should be the focus of whatever efforts being made on the continent. As a parliament, in our contributions, we’ve always as much as possible asked that we should look at the root causes of some of these crises and address them before they become difficult to manage.
We’re convinced that the AU Peace and Security Commission needs to improve on their early warning system so that we can well in advance anticipate some of those causes and be able to nip them in the bud and manage them early, instead of waiting for them to become full blown political cases before we begin to react.
Some of these are direct outcomes of the electoral process. You find that sometimes people begin to agitate that there’s no adequate opportunities given to political parties to participate, or when we have a situation where a president decides to change the rules mid way into the game either by extending their term by constitution amendment to allow additional terms, we frown at that.
What message do you have for Nigerians on the occasion of its 54th Independence anniversary?
I want to urge our countrymen that Nigeria needs all hands on deck. We have to work together and commit to sustaining the unity and integrity of our country. The fight against Boko Haram is not for those in government, or not meant for any parliamentarian. Their atrocities affect every Nigerian and not just those in the north eastern part of the country, because we’re all connected in one way or another.
Working together, the future can be great for a great nation like Nigeria. We just need to re- commit ourselves, rebuild our institutions, and ensure that all various segments of our society are provided for.
As we approach the elections in 2015, all Nigerians must realize that if anything goes wrong, we have no other nation to go to. We must all be law-abiding, and we must ensure that the rights of Nigerian citizens are not trampled on by anybody.