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| Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State |
PROMOTING NATIONAL SECURITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – THE IMO STATE EXPERIENCE:
Text of Lecture delivered by Sen. Hope Uzodimma, Governor of Imo State to participants of the Executive Intelligent Management Course (EIMC) 13, at the National Institute for Security Studies, Lower Usuma Dan, Bwari, Abuja, on Friday October 9, 2020.
INTRODUCTION
Two reasons inform my excitement at the opportunity to deliver this lecture to this elite class of the Executive Management Course 13 of the National Institute for Security Studies. First of all, I feel privileged at the rare recognition provided by security experts to stand before them to discuss with them such a subject matter that bothers on national security. Second of all, it provides me with the rare opportunity to rob minds with security gurus in the hope that we can jointly fathom a way forward over the daunting security challenges that confront our nation in general and Imo State in particular.
It is against this background that I wish to express my profound gratitude to the management and staff of the National Institute for Security Studies for the singular honour of inviting me to deliver a lecturer on a truly topical issue on Promoting National Security And Sustainable Development: The Imo State Experience.In this regard, I believe that the first step is to ensure that we are all on the same page with respect to the conceptual foundations that define our topic.
DEFINING CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS
The concept of national security was birthed in the USA right after World War II. This post-war origin of the concept of national security is responsible for the earlier impression that national security was all about protection against military attack. However, the concept has evolved over the years to now include non-military aspects, such as protection from terrorism and natural disasters, combating crime, economic security, environmental security, energy security, food security and, more recently, cyber security. Thus, the security of a nation can be threatened by other non-state actors, such as sea pirates and drug cartels.
A comprehensive modern definition of natural security would therefore include everything a nation state does to protect its sovereignty, its economy, its citizens and its institutions.
The security of citizens has been elevated to a fundamental right to which every citizen is entitled. Achieving this is to a great extent the primary responsibility of government. This is the basis for the social contract that exists between the citizens and the government.
Several attempts have been made to define national security. Expectedly, the earlier definitions given in the era when national security was synonymous with military strength had a relatively narrow perspective. For example, in 1943, Waltter Lippmann defined national security as follows: “A nation has security when it does not have to sacrifice its legitimate interests to avoid war, and is able, if challenged, to maintain them by war.” A slightly broader definition was given in 1960 by Arnold Wolfers, who described national security as “the absence of threats to acquired values and subjectively, the absence of fear that such values will be attacked.”
However, the definition of national security given by the National Defence College of India captures the recent thinking on the subject. It declares that “National security is an appropriate and aggressive blend of political resilience and maturity, human resources, economic structure and capacity, technological competence, industrial base and availability of natural resources and finally the military might.” This, more all encompassing definition, appears more pragmatic.
Yet in an even more recent definition, a renowned security expert, Paleri (2008) described national security as the “measurable state of the capability of a nation to overcome the multi-dimensional threats to the apparent well-being of its people and its survival as a nation-state at any given time, by balancing all instruments of state policy through governance….”.
Paleri’s definition is unique in the sense that it highlights the multi-dimensional nature of the threats to national security.
These different definitions also point to the ambiguous nature of national security. However, such ambiguity can be eased by looking at insecurity which is the exact opposite of security. In this regard, a nation can be described as insecure when she “lacks the ability and influence to forestall the protection and preservation of its nationals from being victims of environmental disorder arising from internal and external attacks, social disorientation and dehumanisation; alleviate economic hardships stemming from domestic and foreign interplays; and imbue in citizens a physiological orientation of a national cohesion through skilful development and implementation of domestic and foreign policies”.
One salient point here about the state of insecurity of a nation, worth emphasizing, is the inability of a nation to alleviate economic hardships of its citizenry; weather occasioned by domestic or external factors. In essence when natural disasters wrought hardship on the people and the nation is unable to alleviate the hardship, it can render the nation insecure. Likewise, the fall out from the Lybian Crisis and the serial deportation by foreign countries of frustrated Nigerians seeking greener pastures, can cause hardship on the citizenry, which can aggravate insecurity.
Summarily, insecurity can be caused by the activities of other states, for example, through military or cyber-attack, as well as the activities of violent non-state actors, such as terrorists and insurgency groups, organized gangs of criminals and natural disasters which are not external to the country.
Having outlined these foundational concepts or definitions, let us now situate them to the Nigerian situation.
INSECURITY IN NIGERIA
Since her independence in 1960, the Nigerian state has witnessed a variety of threats to her security, with a different type of threat having the upper hand at various stages of her history. For example, the 1990s were characterized by militancy in the oil-producing Niger delta region of the country. This was propagated by ethnic minorities in the Niger delta who were protesting the impact of oil exploration activities by foreign oil corporations on their environment.
Currently, however, the country is faced with a variety of other political, religious and ethnic conflicts in addition to violent insurgencies, terrorism and armed banditry. These manifest as kidnappings, assassinations, armed robberies and wanton destruction of people’s homes and property, thus creating a general feeling of fear and insecurity in the country.
There is also the problem of sea piracy in the Gulf of Guinea which is the main theme of today’s event. The activities of these armed criminal gangs, which specialize in stealing oil cargo, first attracted international attention in 2011, while its nefarious activities reached its peak in 2012. In that year alone, it was reported that over 966 vessels were attacked in the Gulf of Guinea by pirates. The frequency continues to by the year, thus making the security in the Gulf States, including Nigeria, increase more precarious.
It may not be an exaggeration to say that the current wave of insecurity in the land is one of the worst in recent history. Truth to tell, in the last ten years, the country has never had it this bad in terms of security challenges or insecurity.
The direct consequence is that Nigeria that was once perceived as a peaceful place for residence and business by foreigners is now listed among the dangerous place to visit in the travel advisories of many countries. How did we get to this sorry State of affairs in our security trajectory?
THE EVOLUTION OF INSECURITY IN NIGERIA
The activities of the Niger Delta militants, which specialized in the destruction of oil installations and infrastructure in addition to the kidnapping of expatriates, can be considered the first case of serious non-state aggression against the Nigerian state. Although their activities which started in the 1990s were restricted to the South-Southern part of the country they succeeded in bringing the Nigerian economy to its knees. It took the introduction of the amnesty programme of the Federal government under the leadership of late Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua and later, Dr. Goodluck Ebere Jonathan, to bring the worrying situation under control.
At the turn of the 21st century, specifically in 2002, the terrorist group known popularly as Boko Haram announced their existence in Nigeria. This group of self-proclaimed Islamic extremists, launched their first attack on multiple police stations in Yobe State in 2003. It immediately turned out to be easily the biggest security challenge faced by the Nigerian state since independence, apart from the civil war. By 2009, their activities had spread from Bauchi to Borno, Kano and Yobe States in North-Eastern Nigeria.
They gained international recognition in 2011 when they launched a car bomb attack on the United Nations compound in Abuja, killing 23 people and injuring over 70 others. The abduction of about 300 school girls from a boarding school in Chibok in Borno State was a major embarrassment to the country and a reflection of the increasing audacity of the terrorist group. The inability of the government of the day to halt the abduction or to mount an immediate rescue operation was a low point in the history of the country.
To make matters worse for our national pride, the group has been linked to countless cases of killings, kidnappings, destruction of houses and even making more daring attempts to take and hold hostages. A recent attack on September 2020 on the convoy of the governor of Born State, in which scores of security personnel were wounded, is another reminder that Boko Haram, remains a lethal force and threat, in the country. The group resides in the Sambisa forests in Borno and Adamawa States, but they are now extending their acts of terrorism to other parts of the country, especially the north western states of Kastina, Zamfara, Kano and Kaduna.
They are also active in Chad, Niger and northern Cameroun, hence the name Islamic State’s West Africa Province. One school of thought also holds the group responsible for some of the cases of kidnapping, cattle rustling and assassinations reported in some other parts of the country.
The recent emergence of armed bandits of unclear identity and mission operating mostly in Zamfara State in North – West Nigeria is a mystery in the country yet to be unraveled. Their operations started like mere skirmishes between herders and farmers. It has now blossomed into a full scale armed violence. The modus operandi of these armed bandits, which have now extended to parts of neighbouring Katsina State, include, cattle rustling, abduction, abuse, robbing and killing of innocent people etc. The casualty figures ascribed to these groups are alarming and so is the impact in the economy of Zamfara state.
As already observed, the motive behind this relatively new form of violence has remained the subject of varying speculations. While some relate it to the impact of climate change and reducing rainfall on availability of vegetation for grazing, others blame it on the failure of the local government to address issues of poverty and unemployment. A possible link has also been made to the fact that the gold deposits found in Zamfara may have provoked the attacks.
The activities of these and related groups have made the Abuja-Kaduna highway and other routes a nightmare for travellers. Many now prefer to travel by rail or air where possible.
All said, a discussion on insecurity in Nigeria would be incomplete without reference to the perennial conflict between Fulani herdsmen and farmers. This clash has assumed a new dimension and remains a potent threat to the security of the country. The occurrence of such clashes in areas of the country where such clashes were never witnessed before is a new cause for worry. One school of thought attributes the increased frequency and lethality of such clashes to the infiltration of herders from other West African countries, such as Mali and Niger Republic. This could only have been made possible by our porous borders.
There is clear evidence that the macro consequences of these violent activities on food security in the country are already being felt across the land.
Aside from these conventional threats to national security, new and sophisticated threats are now on the ascendancy.
MODERN THREATS TO NATIONAL SECURITY
There are also new forms of threat to national security which deserve mention and serious attention. A good example is the threat of cyber terrorism. This form of terrorism refers to the deliberate use of information technology, especially the internet to threaten, cause destruction, disruption or loss of lives for the purpose of seeking political or ideological gains.
The anonymity of cyber attacks makes it attractive to some people who launch cyber attacks on vital government computer systems from the comfort of their homes. The aim could be to steal confidential information, destroy vital records or just disrupt or interfere with governance generally.
Cyber attacks or internet fraud can also be used to defraud banks, organizations or individuals. Whatever it is called, cyber induced criminality is clearly a major source of threat to national security.
At this point let us examine the factors contributing to Insecurity in the Country or what I prefer to describe as the Anatomy of Insecurity in Nigeria.
ANATOMY OF INSECURITY IN NIGERIA
Various attempts have been made to chronicle the predisposing factors to current upsurge in aspects of insecurity in the country. They include such catalysts as ethnicity, religious difference, illiteracy, unemployment and poverty. Others are the perennial problem of porous borders, the capability of our security outfits and global terrorism trend.
Ethnicity and Religious Differences:
It is common knowledge that Nigeria is a multi-ethnic country and a multi-religious nation. It is worth noting these ethnic and religious differences have always existed without the current threat to insecurity. In addition, many other African countries with similar ethnic and religious differences, including those with much higher ethnic fractionization index like Papua New Guinea (I.00), Tanzania (0.953) Uganda (0.93) than Nigeria (0,803), such as Ghana, Cameroun China and South-Africa, Norway and Germany (in Europe) are known to co-exist without conflict of the type we have.
The current forms of crime and violence along these lines suggest that some people are fanning these ambers for some personal, and possible, political gains. These could be politicians and regional warlords who stand to gain politically or economically from the confusion.
A school of thought also points to the possibility of politically motivated sabotage as a possible exploration for some of the conflicts being experienced along these lines.
High rate of Illiteracy, Unemployment and Poverty:
Scholars have also identified illiteracy as a major problem. Non -literate people are easier to indoctrinate. Thus, turning them into willing tools in the hands of extremists and terrorists becomes even easier. The non-literate ones are also less likely to be gainfully employed and are more likely to live in poverty. This mix of illiteracy, unemployment and poverty has variously been described as a ticking time bomb when viewed in terms of the consequence for the security of the country. It is a settled truism that the desperation to survive pushes people into various forms of crime and violence.
Dispute over land and other resources:
One of the major forms of violence in the country is the so-called herdsmen – farmers clash. Many believe that the destruction of farmlands by nomadic herdsmen in search of green pasture for their cattle has been central to the clashes, the recent upsurge in the clashes has been linked to the drying up of vast areas of Lake Chad. This is believed to have forced the herdsmen to migrate southwards in huge numbers with attendant consequences for the peace and stability of the country.
Natural Disasters
Natural disaster such as flooding, erosion and desertifications are also new threats to National Security. When an entire village or community is sacked by flood, erosion or desertification, many are rendered homeless and jobless, depending on the scale of the disaster. The bottom line however is that those displaced add to the army of the poor, hungry and jobless population, who may device other violent means of livelihood.
The Challenge of governance; Corruption and Accountability
Corruption is partly responsible for the poor state of the economy. It accounts for the poor state of infrastructure such as power and state of our refineries, which have caused the collapse of our industries, leading to massive retrenchments and lack of employment opportunities for teaming youths. It also explains to some extent the inability of our security agencies to rise to the challenge posed by the terrorists, armed bandits and other forms criminals. It also accounts for the inability to bring corrupt officials to book and has a direct bearing on inequality and poverty amongst the citizens.
However kudos must go to the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, which has shown incredible capacity and courage to fight corruption.
Rise in global terrorism and porous borders:
A rise in terrorist activities following uprisings in North Africa, including events in Libya since the death of Ghaddafi, has led to the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Africa. The porous nature of Nigerian borders has made it possible for these arms and their bearers to enter the country, thus contributing to the rising incidents of violent crime in northern Nigeria.
The Linkage Chain of National Insecurity
A clear picture of how the various forms of insecurity are linked can be painted thus: The desertification of the Chad Basin, (environmental insecurity) has caused the massive southward migration of Fulani cattle herders in search of greener pasture for their cattle. This often leads to social tensions, including clashes with farmers whose crops are destroyed by cattle (herders-farmers and tribal conflicts). As a result, food production is affected (food security). Farmers whose crops are destroyed are left unemployed and poor (poverty and unemployment). These unemployed citizens may resort to criminal activities for survival, including joining armed gangs who engage in robberies and kidnaps (violent conflict). The associated violence discourages investments by both locals and foreigners. (Economic insecurity).
Graphic illustration of the insecurity chain
What is Sustainable National Development?
The term national development is a comprehensive term which covers all aspects of the citizen and the nation. National development, therefore, includes the growth in form of improvement and expansion of education, agriculture, industries and infrastructure, as well as the social, economic, political, security, cultural and religious institutions. Simply put, national development refers to a balanced and desirable improvement in virtually all aspects of a nation, notably in terms of economic, political, scientific, educational, social and material terms.
The parameters for measuring national development include the following:
1. A growing economy.
2. Developed human capital
3. Increased agricultural output
4. Improved industrial production
5. Increased access to good education
6. Increasingly addressing the sundry needs of disadvantaged groups in the population.
Sustainable development on its part is the idea that human societies must live and develop without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The ultimate goal of sustainable development is to meet the needs of today, without compromising the needs of tomorrow. Although the concept of sustainable development was first raised in the 70s, it was widely disseminated in the 80s. The aim is to strike a balance between our economic, social and environmental needs in a way that allows prosperity for future generations. The four main objectives of sustainable development include social progress and equality, environmental protection, conservation of natural resources and stable economic growth.
To dovetail the discussion on national security into national development, it is necessary to highlight the obstacles to national development. They include poor economic indexes, unemployment, illiteracy and overpopulation. A number of indicators have evolved for use in measuring and comparing the stages of development between countries. These indicators are gross domestic product (GNP), gross national product (GNP), GNP per capita, birth and death rates, the human development index (HDI), infant mortality rate, literacy rate and life expectancy. The human development index which is a composite measure of development based on education, life expectancy and per capita income is increasingly accepted as a better measure of development than GDP, which is often used. A 2019 data from UNDP confirms that the HDI of Nigeria, which is 158 out of 189 countries, is quite low. It has however been on the rise since 2010, rising from 0.484 in 2010 to 0.534 in 2018. Another worrying statistics about the Nigerian development is that which reports the level of inequality and poverty in the country. For example, about 32.7% of the wealth of the Gross National Income is in the hands of the richest 10% while 15.1% is held by the poorest 40% of the population. Recent data also places the poverty rate in the country at 51.4%. This amounts to over 98 million citizens living in penury.
Between National Security and Sustainable National Development:
The relationship between security and national development has been of interest to countless scholars of development studies for decades. The consensus is that security and development are so intertwined that it is almost impossible to achieve one without achieving the other. Thus, there is a common saying that “there can be no development without peace and security”. This implies that peace and security are the sine qua none for development. Interestingly, a school of thought opines that the reverse is also true. Their argument, which I totally subscribe to, is that there can hardly be peace and security in the absence of real development. This implies that peace and security can be listed as the benefits of real development resulting from good governance. This viewpoint is supported by the statistics that twenty of the poorest countries of the world are engaged in one form of conflict or the other. Closely related to this is the widely held belief that the poorer a country, the more likely it is to be involved in armed conflict.
From the foregoing, it is easy to see that national security is a premise for national economic growth and development. In today’s globalized economy, foreign investment has been identified as a major driver of economic development, and only peaceful and safe countries can attract foreign investors. In addition, local business owners are freer to operate and grow the economy in an atmosphere of peace and security.
A very clear example of how insecurity can hurt the economy of a nation can be drawn from the impact of militancy in the Niger delta on the Nigerian economy. At the height of militancy, the daily oil output reduced from 2.2 million barrels to as low as 990,000 barrels, with serious consequences for the national economy. This consequent reduction on the foreign exchange earnings of a country like ours, which depends mostly on oil export for her foreign exchange, was a major contributory factor to the economic recession faced by the country at the time.
In addition to this, the cost of providing additional security in the oil installations in the Niger Delta accounts partly for why the cost of producing crude oil in Nigeria is one of the highest in the world. The direct implication of this is a reduction in the profit accruable from the sale of Nigerian oil in the international oil market.
There is also the case of Plateau State, which was once a haven for foreigners and had a booming economy that was boosted by agriculture and agro-based industries. The ethno–religious crises which reared its ugly head in that state in 2001 has continued to dent the economic prospects of this state. In truth, there are many examples to give, but I will restrict my examples to these two so that we can move into the next issue, which is how to tackle the security challenges in the country.
Addressing the Security Problems in Nigeria:
Although the security challenges currently confronting the Nigerian nation have a lot in common with insecurity in other parts of the world, they have some peculiarities. Addressing these peculiarities offers us the best solution to the challenge of insecurity we face currently. Although it is the primary responsibility of government to ensure the security of the nation state, there is a role for everyone to play, if we must achieve the peace and tranquility we all desire and deserve.
Interestingly, a good number of the current causes of insecurity, such as illiteracy, poverty, unemployment, inequality and corruption, are issues of development and governance. Thus, it is important to address the inadequacies of our security outfits in terms of number of personnel, training and equipment as well as addressing their welfare in the form of remuneration and insurance against injury and death. However, other catalysts of insecurity in the country also need to be addressed. Thus, good governance which seeks to provide good quality education deploys the commonwealth of the state in the provision of infrastructure for the economy to thrive, creating opportunities for people to get employed and escape from poverty, would have addressed some of the root causes of insecurity in the country.
Happily the federal government under President Muhammadu Buhari is tackling these issues head on and as you will see later, we are doing the same in Imo State.
Promoting National Security and Sustainable Development: The Imo State Experience
As you all know I have been in the saddle as governor of Imo State for less than one year. However, as a long – standing Senator, representing Imo West one of the largest and most diverse senatorial districts in the state, I have been in a position to know the main threats to the security of the state and how they relate to the development of the state. I am also mindful of the fact that my vision of freedom, security and shared prosperity can only be realized in an atmosphere of peace and safety.
Imo State may not have the kind of terrorism, ethno-religious conflicts and armed banditry as seen in the northern parts of the country, but we also have cases of kidnappings, cases of youth restiveness and tensions between communities. In addition, recent data from the National Bureau of Statistics has confirmed what I always knew about the high rate of youth unemployment in Imo State. Thus, my vision of good governance includes strategies for addressing the high rate of unemployment, poverty, inequality which I like to refer to as catalysts of insecurity.
I must admit that Imo State has a known history of insecurity induced by the social variables of inequality, poverty and unemployment, which ought to guide any responsible government on policy objectives. In the late 90s, a social revolution wrought in the state was induced by these factors.
Popularly known as the OTOKOTO revolution, indigent Imo people, in their righteous indignation, rose violently against a perceived corrupt bourgeois class who they saw as their oppressors who had questionable means of wealth. The revolution left in its trail wantom destruction of the properties of those suspected, rightly or wrongly, of being guilty of questionable accumulation of wealth. It took the prompt intervention of the military government then, through the constitution of a judicial commission of inquiry, to calm the nerves of the enraged, poor hapless Imo mob.
The historic lesson here is that poverty and its attendant social inequality is probably the biggest threat to national or state security in Nigeria. As students of history my administration is embarking on a good number of poverty alleviation and welfarist programmes to secure gainful employment for our youths and provide welfarist programmes for our workforce and the people in general.
To this end I have put in place a new ministry for entrepreneurship and skills acquisition to regularly provide training outlets for our youths in skills acquisition and entrepreneurship. So far we have trained over 10,000 youths, mostly graduates, in different skills and they will soon be provided with start up capital for their own enterprises, for self employment. Our target is to provide, through such schemes, self employment for over 200, 000 youths in the next three years.
We are also partnering with relevant economic stakeholders through our Imo State investment Agency, to inject investments in the area of small and medium enterprises (SME’s) in the State, for massive job creation.
Our desire to stem the tide of unemployment in the state, and its attendant social inequality, informed our immediate reactivation of ADAPALM in Ohaji/ Egbema local government area of the state which has been moribund for over 15 years. Today the oil mill is back on stream and produces 100 metric tons of first grade red oil per day. Close to 500 workers of the mill who were laid off have been recalled. With planned product diversification in the coming years, the oil mill will be able to employ 30,000 workers, soon enough.
To cushion hardship of the state workforce, we have provided official cars to all Permanent Secretaries who hitherto either came to work in their rickety private vehicles or by public transportation. In addition we have provided free transport services for all civil servants in the state. This also goes with free breakfast. We provided thirty (30) brand new Coster air-conditioned buses to convey Civil servants to and from work everyday, free of cost.
However before that we did the needful by cleansing the civil service of rancid decay. Before I assumed office, I was determined to do the right thing for the right reasons and for the benefit of Imo people. That right thing was, still is, stopping a gluttonous greedy few from institutionalizing payroll fraud or in the State. It was this backdrop that informed my insistence that in this modern internet age, government payments of any kind and volume must meet the standards of international best practices. With due intelligence, we scrutinized the payments system and have been able to plug loopholes, which criminally minded officials have hitherto exploited to siphon public funds.
Through this exercise, our administration detected close to 3000 fraudulent payroll entries of ghost workers and pensioners if you will. Hitherto the payroll manipulators would smuggle in as many names as they can into the payroll. But with my insistence on BVN, account number and phone numbers as well as tax IDs before salaries or pensions are paid, we have beaten them to it.
Today, payments of wages, salaries and pensions in Imo State have automated. Today, to the glory of God, we have one of the best data centres in the country where the automation process of all government fiscal process are housed. It is important to emphasize that through the digitalization process, we have not only saved money for the state, but have stopped a few from living fat on the commonwealth of the many, which if unabated can ultimately lead to social tensions and a possible repeat of the Otokoto revolution.
On a wider level it should be noted that Imo State is at the epicenter of the south east and part of south-south. Our state is bordered by Anambra, Abia and Rivers states. It is right at the centre of the five south east states. The security implication here is that we are vulnerable to criminal incursion from the other south east states and Rivers state. Many times criminals from these states come to Imo State to carry out one criminal activity or another.
Our response has been to maintain steady liaison and a robust relationship with the security agencies, particularly the military, to checkmate these criminal incursions. Consequently we provided 100 state of the art patrol vans, under our operation Search And Flush security outfit, to a combined team of security agencies for regular policing of all the nooks and crannies of the state An emergency call center has also been provided to help our people inform the security agencies of suspected crime scenes.
We have taken practical steps to revamp the decayed infrastructural facilities we met in the set. Only seven months into our administration we commissioned seven strategic economic roads to improve the economic activities in the State. The roads include the popular Douglas Road, where major business offices and investments in the state are located, and Relief Market Road, which leads to the major market in the State, among others.
We also commenced the digging of a major balloon driven tunnel, across Chukwuma Nwoha Road to permanently arrest the perennial flooding of Owerri Capital City. This is in addition to other major road works on-going in the State.
To alleviate the suffering of the poor hapless Imo People, we immediately upon assumption of office, reactivated the Otamiri Water Works, which had been abandoned for over 20 years. Today public water supply has been restored to residents in the Capital City. This has lifted a heavy burden from the poor masses who used to groan under the heavy load of jerry cans of water which they regularly ferried across the streets of Owerri.
To ensure complete restoration of public water supply to all parts of the State, we recently signed an MOU, with The United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The MOU has one unambiguous objective: To deliver clean, potable water to as many of our households as possible and to ensure that excellent hygiene environment is available to promote their health as well.
We also signed an MOU with a multinational, world class road construction Company for the construction of two strategic economic roads in the state. The company has moved to site, to commence with the first leg of the MOU, which is the design of the roads. We expect that at the end, Julius Berger will deliver world class roads that will endure, add enormous value to the infrastructural capacity of the state, and most importantly, make life better for our people.
My administration also realizes that health is wealth and more importantly, that COVID 19 is a threat to our security and survival. Consequently, I have taken proactive measure to safeguard the health of our people. In the face of the dreaded Corona virus pandemic, we took immediate steps to prevent and control the spread of the virus in the State. We provided 30 ambulances, one for each LGA and three for the State capital. We also provided six well equipped isolation and treatment centres. Each of the ambulances is connected to the call centre. Any emergency development reported to the call centre is handled with dispatch.
I must add that in Imo State we have the most efficient, most proactive task force and health management team, that is addressing the issue of Covid 19 pandemic. The Committee is headed by Prof. Maurice Iwu working with a team of experts from the state ministry of health.
We have not relented in carrying out aggressive public awareness campaigns on safety protocols for Covid 19. We have used all available medium, electronic and print media, social and traditional media, to carry the message of safety measures to our people. It is to the glory of God that Imo State is one of the States with the lowest Covid 19 incidents.
Also realizing the near collapse of primary health facilities in the state, which will take a while to fix, my administration has taken the proactive and innovative step of providing 10 mobile clinics for primary health care delivery to the poor and vulnerable in the rural areas. The clinics are well equipped with a laboratory and testing kits, a pharmacy, and routine drugs for treatment of ailments. They are staffed and manned by well qualified medical personnel and are supervised by the Churchto ensure that the essential service of efficient health care delivery gets to the target audience.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, as earlier noted during our conceptual explications, natural disasters are no less threats to national security. In this respect i must add that Imo State is facing one of the biggest security threats from Ecological disasters, namely gully erosion and flooding. It is self evident that when more and more people are displaced from their homes and farmlands by natural disasters, poverty, hunger and inequality will thrive and consequently exacerbate existing insecurity situations.
I can categorically state in this respect that my government has been at the forefront of protecting the environment and relentlessly striving to save our people from the negative consequences of climate change. We have a full fledged Ministry of Environment that is charged with the responsibility of articulating adequate response to environmental challenges. Apart from ensuring adherence to all protocols in Environmental Impact Assessment of all projects, the Ministry is saddled with the responsibility of religiously following global environmental issues and responding appropriately where they affect the state.
Expectedly therefore ever before we got the alert that our state was on the danger list of those to be flooded this year, experts in the ministry had planned some programmes to mitigate its effects.
However, placed on a scale, flooding may appear to be the least worry of the state given that it is seasonal. The state is at the risk of being swallowed by gully erosion. As at the last count, Imo State has 300 active erosion sites which cut across the 27 local government areas of the state. About 100 of them, mainly in Ideato North, Ideato South, Njaba, Orlu and Owerri West, are deadly. Many homes and lives are in danger of being washed away. Unfortunately, the state does not have the financial muscle to tackle the erosion menace.
Indeed the issue of erosion was the first matter I raised in the Senate immediately I got to Abuja in 2011. Eight years on, I won’t say that much has been done to ameliorate the suffering of our people. I have approached the Presidency, and we are also talking with the Ecological Fund Managers. We have even appealed to the relevant international organizations, seeking assistance before Imo State is swallowed by erosion. Like I said, Imo state does not have the financial capacity to address this problem.
And this naturally brings me to the issue of activating effective actions for environmental sustainability and climate change actions in Nigeria. While the federal government can provide the guidelines and to a large extent the funding, the private sector also needs to key into finding a solution by chipping in something also by way of funding. On the other hand, the states should embark upon aggressive awareness through communication channels to educate the citizenry on what not to do to further degrade the environment. We are doing exactly that in Imo State. This aspect is not only necessary to forestall inimical practices but much needed to save lives, especially when such activities threaten the collective existence of the people and the security of the nation.
While adequate measures through planning are being undertaken by government to tackle the effects of climate change, funding remains a handicap particularly for the states.
My respected course participants and distinguished audience, it sounds crystal clear to me from the expository of this lecture that there are two major cures to national insecurity or better still two ways to promote National security and sustain development. They are Leadership and Patrotism. I can explain this further.
The first is through good governance which should be incorruptible, the type that President Muhommedu Buhari exemplifies. It is only through good and incorruptible governance that the resources of the state can be judiciously applied to provide education, employment and infrastructure for the people which will reduce social tension and in turn enhance security. It is also only honest transparent governance that can inspire the needed patriotic zeal in the citizenry for love of country and fellow citizens. Patriotism breeds love for country and love for country breeds love for fellow citizens and love for fellow citizens abhors violence and insurgency.
The other factor calls for serious soul search and repentance by the political class. If every political leader in the country can preach peaceful co-existence and tolerance, the long journey to a peaceful, secured Nigeria would be shortened drastically.
These factors harp on the same theme; to wit Leadership, Leadership and honest, transparent Leadership, which can inspire patriotism in the citizenry. That is the open code to the solution of our security challenges.
Yet it is not leadership alone, the citizens, all of us, the leader, the led, we all have roles to play for the sake of our Country.
Let me therefore end this lecture by leaving you as, food for thought, with the immortal words of two great men, Charles de Gaulle and Barak Obama:
“We the people recognize that we have responsibility, as well as rights, that our destinies are bound together, that a freedom which only asks what is in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity, or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who died in their defence” (end of quote) -Barak Obama.
And this….. “if we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under”( end of quota) -Charles de Gaulle.
Thank you again for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you.
Thank you all and God bless.
Sen. Hope Uzodimma
Governor
