THE TIMELY PEACE BUILDING CALL IN NIGERIA

THE TIMELY PEACE BUILDING CALL IN NIGERIA  

   

C(2018)                  CHIBU NDUBUISI              4/06/2018          WEEK 23

“Peace is like oxygen, when you don’t have it, it is all you can think about but when you do, you don’t appreciate your good fortune. Joseph Nye

“You can bomb the world in to pieces but you can’t bomb it in to peace” Michael Franti & Spearhead

 

Peace be upon you.

Peace building was popularized by former UN Secretary, General Boutros Boutros Ghali in his “Agenda for Peace” (1992), posited that peace building is seen as actions that identify and support structures which tend to strengthen and solidify peace in order to avoid a relapse into conflict. It is also a long term restorative measure of strengthening social relationship and resistance to violence caused by social injustice and weak governance structures

Okonkwo in the Classic novel “Things Fall Apart” violated the land during the “Week of Peace” observation in Umuofia village by engaging in domestic violence of battering his third and youngest wife Ojiugo who did not return home timely to make meal for him.

The “Week of Peace” is an annual ritual observed in Umuofia village, when a man does not say harsh words or harm his fellow human, but shows respect and honours our common humanity to one another and offer prayers to the gods to bless the land and prosper it. By breaching this custom and norm of Umuofia, the Chief Priest (Ezeani) who helps to maintain an ontological balance between the physical and spiritual realms visited Okonkwo to sanction him, spelling out conditions for restitution and restoration of the broken peace of the land. He told Okonkwo that he must bring One She Goat, One Hen, A length of Cloth and a hundred cowries for the ritual of cleansing the land. 

The illustration above aptly captures the “Era of Peace” which has been broken in Nigeria. Nigeria, more than ever, needs cleansing as observed in Umuofia. Some may even ask, if there has ever been any era of peace in Nigeria? We are going to answer the question by gauging the indices set out by The Institute of Economics and  Peace on what Peace is, and juxtapose it to the current scenario in Nigeria and why the theme, “Peace Building and Good Governance For Sustainable Development” was chosen for 2018 Democracy day celebration.

 

The Global Peace Index (Institute for Economics and Peace) “gauges global peace using three broad themes: the level of safety and security in society, the extent of domestic and international conflict and the degree of militarization. “

The 8 pillars of Positive peace according to the Institute are;

·         A well-functioning government.

·          Sound business environment.

·         Low levels of corruption.

·          High levels of human capital.

·          Equitable distribution of resources.

·         Acceptance of the rights of others.

·         Free flow of information.

·         Good relations with neighbours. 

The question now is that, with all these indices and parameters listed, where is Nigeria situated? The Companies and Allied Matter Act was just passed by the Parliament to promote ease of doing business but when it comes to respect of the right of other,it is is abysmally poor. Resources are not equitably distributed and that is why we have seen so much call for true Federalism, resource control and trying other forms of government representation since this presidential system isn’t working.

The work of the peace researcher, Johan Galtung on Positive and Negative peace, helps to lay bare the logic that peace is not just the absence of armed conflict and violence but is instead about the pursuit of social justice through equal opportunity, a fair distribution of power and material resources and an equal protection by and in the face of the rule of law. (https://www.prio.org/).

On June 14, 2017, the Nigeria Senate debated and passed a motion titled “The Need for National Unity and Peaceful Coexistence in Nigeria” sponsored by all the 109 Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the same Senate latter invited the Inspector General of The Nigerian Police Force in 2018, to inquire from him about the spate of insecurity in the Nation only for the Inspector General to decline the invitation and the Senate Chambers labeled him a “Threat to Democracy” because even one of their members was harassed by the police who were suppose to be our friends. They were no longer patient with the court process instituted against the Senator. Can the Inspector General of Police for this singular action be seen as a threat or a spoiler in Peace Building process in Nigeria? 

President Buhari visited Benue and told the whole world that he mandated the Inspector General to visit Benue after the killings in that part of the country only for the IG to disobey that order.

How do you identify a Peace Building Agent and A Peace Building Spoiler?

Who is Peace building Agent; Peace building agent are Nation States, International Organizations, Non-governmental Organization, Civil Societies, Academia, Religious groups  communities and Individuals who consistently put efforts towards ensuring that positive peace prevail.

Identifying spoilers in the Peace building process; the opponents of peace are known as spoilers. Spoilers are actors either internal or external. Spoilers are those who see peace building opportunities as avenue for self-enrichment, diverting resources and instigating disunity, these spoilers can be anybody from government, politicians, bureaucrats, traditional leaders etc. Hence, classifying the Inspector General as a threat to democracy is not totally misplaced because before disobeying the Senate House, the President of the Federal Republic already had expressed a reservation regarding the Inspector General penchant for disobeying orders and invitations.

Talia Hagerty a Research Fellow at the Institute of Economics and Peace advises that “Where a country’s score for Negative peace outperforms it scores for Positive peace, this is known as Peace Deficit, referring to the weakness apparent in the attitudes, institutions and structures that support the absence of violence”.

I had written earlier that a paradigm shift is needed in Nigeria towards peace education. “We need institutions were people are not trained to diminish others but to dignify them”, hence this call for Peace Building and Good Governance for Sustainable Development” at this time in Nigeria.

Now is the time to intensify the education for peace and work towards minimizing incidences of Negative peace. 

The “Make Peace Happen campaign” of the African Union poses a question to all of us and it is “what will you do to make peace happen”? My candid reply will come from Jonathan Sacks who posited that “what makes a civilization survive is not strength but how they respond to the weak, not by wealth but how they care for the poor, not by power but the concern for the powerless, what renders a culture invulnerable is the compassion it shows to the vulnerable”.

“Wars may be won by weapons but it takes ideas to win peace”. September 21^st every year is world peace day.  Like the “Week of Peace Observation in Umuofia, i will love us all to work towards celebrating not only “Peace One day” or “Peace One Week”  but "Peace a Life Time", a life time of peaceful living when people will always make space for others not like them in their beliefs, opinions, values and cultures.

Peace be to you..