THIS IS TRULY NIGERIAN..GOOD PEOPLE, GREAT NATION
Law experts have advocated a major overhaul of the composition of the United Nations (UN) to allow an even of all continents in its Security Council.
They canvassed the need for countries’ players in international politics to be well-schooled in international diplomacy and politics.
This, they argue, will allow proper articulation of continental and individual country’s views by their representatives in UN’s gatherings and other international fora.
A former Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice in Plateau State, Prof Clement Dakas and the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), Prof Epiphany Azinge (SAN), canvassed these positions while speaking with The Nation during the week.
Dakas argued that the power dynamics of the UN reflects post-World War II realities. He also argued that such state of affair was unacceptable over 65 years after the emergence of the UN.
“We cannot continue to have simply five permanent members, namely: the United States of America (USA) the United Kingdom (UK), France, Russia and China.
“It is important that the United Nations as a global institution is a representation of all the nations of the world, particularly in terms of the power dynamics, which in the contest of the UN is located primarily in the Security Council.
“I support the case for a reform of the UN system and that is why a training course like this is very critical because it builds capacity of our policy makers particularly because of Nigeria’s quest for permanent membership of an enlarged UN Security Council.
“And the UN is a body that is open to peace loving states, the primary mandate of the UN Security Council is the maintenance of the international peace and security and Nigeria’s credential in that respect is almost impeccable having regard to the contributions of Nigeria in the contest of peace keeping, whether in terms of personnel or in terms of financial contributions.
“That is something we need to leverage on in order to enhance Nigeria’s chances. But it also means that given our size and so on, we can also deploy our size in which one out of every five African is a Nigerian.
“It is something, which we can constructively and productively deploy outside and also be a giant in the sun as same would say.
“It also means that when you have to contest with countries such as South Africa, Senegal or Egypt, it reinforces the need for us to put our own house in order, there is also the need to deepen and expand our democratic enterprise.
“We need to improve on the scope of human rights in this country and we need to tackle the monster of corruption and address the state of the well-being of the generality of Nigerians.
“This is because our foreign policy is often the function of the internal dynamics of this country and if we put our house in order, constitute a crack team that will push Nigeria, case, I believe that we will stand a chance.
“But we don’t expect this to be some kind of manner from heaven. We don’t expect those who already hold power, to be a father Christmas.
“It is going to be a struggle. It is going to be a hard one and is one in which we need to ensure that this is not just job for the boys. We need to get our best in terms of expertise and in terms of those who have the expertise to anchor Nigeria’s case. I believe that if we get it right, we shall take our pride of place.
On the quality of Nigerian delegation at international conferences, Dakas said: “We don’t compare our representation at international conferences with that of the United States of America (US). The US will always overwhelm you with its quality of expertise.
“It is not that we don’t have talented people in this country. Nigerians are among some of the most brilliant in the world, but I often refer to our weapons of mass destruction you would make representation on the basis of religion, on the basis of ethnicity, that is not going to take us anywhere.
“And if you don’t use objective criteria, then you’re not going anywhere. If people don’t use objective criteria and they get away with it, then a culture of impunity sets in and people are not held accountable.
“It is not job for the boys. For instance, foot- ball. Nigerians are passionate about football and nobody says, oh! This person is from the north, this person is from the south. We look for people who would score goals and I think that we need to learn from that experience.
“We must be very passionate about this country sufficiently enough to use objective criteria and aim for results, that when people claim the consequences, we put an end to this culture of impunity.
“Until we do that, we shall keep having it as job for boys or as some people say, we don’t send our first 11, we keep sending our second 11 to international conferences.
“But we can’t continue like that because Nigeria has great talents and all we need to do is to leverage on that, send experts that can make impacts at international conferences.
On how to deploy the currency of power to our advantage, he observed: “There are different currencies of power, which could be military, economic, technological or demographic.
“Frankly, it depends on the yardstick or analysis, look and this in terms of one African country to another. There is a sense in which we are not doing too badly but if you look at this in a global scale, the military power, certainly we are not there, economic power, we are certainly not there, technological power, we are not there.
“But if it is demographic, relative to China or India, we’re not there but at least on the African Continent one out of every five or six Africans is a Nigerian.
‘’Poverty is bad. We cannot celebrate poverty but there is a sense in which we can constructively engage poverty in terms of our relations with the industrialised world.
“We need the expertise. We need to send people who understand what our national interest is; in that context this country. If you take a typical Nigerian civil servant or a policy maker, there is the possibility that this person does not even understand what our national interest is if you don’t understand our what our national interest is, then you’ll go to international conferences and defer to people on the basis of friendship or on the basis of other considerations other than the fundamental dynamics of power and the national interest.
“Thankfully, we have the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPS) we need to craft, reconstruct and fully disseminate this notion of what our national interest is as a country so that our people whenever they are, in our various diplomatic missions, various international conferences they anchor and articulate our vital national interest and pursue it.”
Azinge argued that the non-auditing of courses like Basic Introduction to International Law and Diplomacy at the under graduate level in the Universities and possibly, a Masters in International Law and Diplomacy, by many diplomats and officers of Foreign Affairs offices has created big gap among the Nigerians officials who attend the Sixth Committee meetings of the UN.
“Being that the diplomatic manoeuvres that attend to such meetings of the sixth committee are such that you must be a very well groomed and skilled personality to be able to comprehend and appreciate the intricacies of the maneuverings going on at the UN General Assembly.
“Recently, we felt as an institute that the time has come for us to assist, to build capacity in that area to voluntarily prepare people who are suck as to be called upon to participate in the proceedings and processes of the UN, to be specially groomed by the institute and its faculty to a level that they can compete favourably both in terms of the knowledge of the Law and the diplomatic maneuvering that is attendant to the proceedings of UN.
“Hence two years ago, we mounted the maiden edition of the programme. Now we are building on that and we are trying to even raise the bar more by virtue of involving much more experienced faculty members who have been privileged in their own time to participate in some of the UN proceeding so, we now put at the disposal of the participants their wealth of knowledge and experience.
“I believe that this will help Nigeria because we have lost seemingly in the past more out of ignorance than incapacity or incompetence on our part. At a point Nigeria is struggling to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council, it would appear that the issue we are trying to bring to the fore cannot come at a much more auspicious moment than now.
“This is because in terms of number, we may have a claim, but in terms of sophistry exposure and networking, nobody can simply write out South Africa.
“Now if we have to tilt in favour of South Africa why, because apart from isolated cases of Nigerians like the Ibrahim Suhu Gambaris, the Joy Ogwus of this world that have played significant role in making meaningful contributions toward the UN there is certainly lack of capacity and competence at the other level and that is not what we can take before the UN and imagine that we can make headway.
“Now that we are thinking of building up, building up so that we can have a reservoir of supporting staff that can also help in many ways.Preparation of relevant documentations, preparation of memorandum of understanding, preparations of treaties and protocols.
“Because in all these, the issue of treaty making cannot be discountenanced. Though we normally run out of steam because most of the time, we find that most of the treaties we enter into and even the MOUs that we sign are such that are tilted more against the interest of Nigeria than in its favour.
“What this means in effect is that most of these people who are involved, with the greatest respect may not have the basic knowledge, the skill and the competence to enter into such treaties or to draft the treaties as the case may be.
“So, at the back of our mind, we are trying to do something that will be in national interest and in public interest, but more particularly something that will position Nigeria effectively to take our rightful place in the comity of nation that is the UN,” Azinge added.
Law experts have advocated a major overhaul of the composition of the United Nations (UN) to allow an even of all continents in its Security Council.
They canvassed the need for countries’ players in international politics to be well-schooled in international diplomacy and politics.
This, they argue, will allow proper articulation of continental and individual country’s views by their representatives in UN’s gatherings and other international fora.
A former Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice in Plateau State, Prof Clement Dakas and the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), Prof Epiphany Azinge (SAN), canvassed these positions while speaking with The Nation during the week.
Dakas argued that the power dynamics of the UN reflects post-World War II realities. He also argued that such state of affair was unacceptable over 65 years after the emergence of the UN.
“We cannot continue to have simply five permanent members, namely: the United States of America (USA) the United Kingdom (UK), France, Russia and China.
“It is important that the United Nations as a global institution is a representation of all the nations of the world, particularly in terms of the power dynamics, which in the contest of the UN is located primarily in the Security Council.
“I support the case for a reform of the UN system and that is why a training course like this is very critical because it builds capacity of our policy makers particularly because of Nigeria’s quest for permanent membership of an enlarged UN Security Council.
“And the UN is a body that is open to peace loving states, the primary mandate of the UN Security Council is the maintenance of the international peace and security and Nigeria’s credential in that respect is almost impeccable having regard to the contributions of Nigeria in the contest of peace keeping, whether in terms of personnel or in terms of financial contributions.
“That is something we need to leverage on in order to enhance Nigeria’s chances. But it also means that given our size and so on, we can also deploy our size in which one out of every five African is a Nigerian.
“It is something, which we can constructively and productively deploy outside and also be a giant in the sun as same would say.
“It also means that when you have to contest with countries such as South Africa, Senegal or Egypt, it reinforces the need for us to put our own house in order, there is also the need to deepen and expand our democratic enterprise.
“We need to improve on the scope of human rights in this country and we need to tackle the monster of corruption and address the state of the well-being of the generality of Nigerians.
“This is because our foreign policy is often the function of the internal dynamics of this country and if we put our house in order, constitute a crack team that will push Nigeria, case, I believe that we will stand a chance.
“But we don’t expect this to be some kind of manner from heaven. We don’t expect those who already hold power, to be a father Christmas.
“It is going to be a struggle. It is going to be a hard one and is one in which we need to ensure that this is not just job for the boys. We need to get our best in terms of expertise and in terms of those who have the expertise to anchor Nigeria’s case. I believe that if we get it right, we shall take our pride of place.
On the quality of Nigerian delegation at international conferences, Dakas said: “We don’t compare our representation at international conferences with that of the United States of America (US). The US will always overwhelm you with its quality of expertise.
“It is not that we don’t have talented people in this country. Nigerians are among some of the most brilliant in the world, but I often refer to our weapons of mass destruction you would make representation on the basis of religion, on the basis of ethnicity, that is not going to take us anywhere.
“And if you don’t use objective criteria, then you’re not going anywhere. If people don’t use objective criteria and they get away with it, then a culture of impunity sets in and people are not held accountable.
“It is not job for the boys. For instance, foot- ball. Nigerians are passionate about football and nobody says, oh! This person is from the north, this person is from the south. We look for people who would score goals and I think that we need to learn from that experience.
“We must be very passionate about this country sufficiently enough to use objective criteria and aim for results, that when people claim the consequences, we put an end to this culture of impunity.
“Until we do that, we shall keep having it as job for boys or as some people say, we don’t send our first 11, we keep sending our second 11 to international conferences.
“But we can’t continue like that because Nigeria has great talents and all we need to do is to leverage on that, send experts that can make impacts at international conferences.
On how to deploy the currency of power to our advantage, he observed: “There are different currencies of power, which could be military, economic, technological or demographic.
“Frankly, it depends on the yardstick or analysis, look and this in terms of one African country to another. There is a sense in which we are not doing too badly but if you look at this in a global scale, the military power, certainly we are not there, economic power, we are certainly not there, technological power, we are not there.
“But if it is demographic, relative to China or India, we’re not there but at least on the African Continent one out of every five or six Africans is a Nigerian.
‘’Poverty is bad. We cannot celebrate poverty but there is a sense in which we can constructively engage poverty in terms of our relations with the industrialised world.
“We need the expertise. We need to send people who understand what our national interest is; in that context this country. If you take a typical Nigerian civil servant or a policy maker, there is the possibility that this person does not even understand what our national interest is if you don’t understand our what our national interest is, then you’ll go to international conferences and defer to people on the basis of friendship or on the basis of other considerations other than the fundamental dynamics of power and the national interest.
“Thankfully, we have the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPS) we need to craft, reconstruct and fully disseminate this notion of what our national interest is as a country so that our people whenever they are, in our various diplomatic missions, various international conferences they anchor and articulate our vital national interest and pursue it.”
Azinge argued that the non-auditing of courses like Basic Introduction to International Law and Diplomacy at the under graduate level in the Universities and possibly, a Masters in International Law and Diplomacy, by many diplomats and officers of Foreign Affairs offices has created big gap among the Nigerians officials who attend the Sixth Committee meetings of the UN.
“Being that the diplomatic manoeuvres that attend to such meetings of the sixth committee are such that you must be a very well groomed and skilled personality to be able to comprehend and appreciate the intricacies of the maneuverings going on at the UN General Assembly.
“Recently, we felt as an institute that the time has come for us to assist, to build capacity in that area to voluntarily prepare people who are suck as to be called upon to participate in the proceedings and processes of the UN, to be specially groomed by the institute and its faculty to a level that they can compete favourably both in terms of the knowledge of the Law and the diplomatic maneuvering that is attendant to the proceedings of UN.
“Hence two years ago, we mounted the maiden edition of the programme. Now we are building on that and we are trying to even raise the bar more by virtue of involving much more experienced faculty members who have been privileged in their own time to participate in some of the UN proceeding so, we now put at the disposal of the participants their wealth of knowledge and experience.
“I believe that this will help Nigeria because we have lost seemingly in the past more out of ignorance than incapacity or incompetence on our part. At a point Nigeria is struggling to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council, it would appear that the issue we are trying to bring to the fore cannot come at a much more auspicious moment than now.
“This is because in terms of number, we may have a claim, but in terms of sophistry exposure and networking, nobody can simply write out South Africa.
“Now if we have to tilt in favour of South Africa why, because apart from isolated cases of Nigerians like the Ibrahim Suhu Gambaris, the Joy Ogwus of this world that have played significant role in making meaningful contributions toward the UN there is certainly lack of capacity and competence at the other level and that is not what we can take before the UN and imagine that we can make headway.
“Now that we are thinking of building up, building up so that we can have a reservoir of supporting staff that can also help in many ways.Preparation of relevant documentations, preparation of memorandum of understanding, preparations of treaties and protocols.
“Because in all these, the issue of treaty making cannot be discountenanced. Though we normally run out of steam because most of the time, we find that most of the treaties we enter into and even the MOUs that we sign are such that are tilted more against the interest of Nigeria than in its favour.
“What this means in effect is that most of these people who are involved, with the greatest respect may not have the basic knowledge, the skill and the competence to enter into such treaties or to draft the treaties as the case may be.
“So, at the back of our mind, we are trying to do something that will be in national interest and in public interest, but more particularly something that will position Nigeria effectively to take our rightful place in the comity of nation that is the UN,” Azinge added.
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