{"id":66733,"date":"2023-09-27T21:53:54","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T21:53:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=66733"},"modified":"2023-09-27T21:53:54","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T21:53:54","slug":"why-nothing-meaningful-will-come-out-of-the-south-east-governors-security-and-economic-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=66733","title":{"rendered":"Why nothing meaningful will come out of the South-East governors \u2019 \u201cSecurity And Economic Summit\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why Nothing Meaningful Will Come Out Of The South-East Govs\u2019 \u201cSecurity And Economic Summit\u201d<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

By Emeka Umeagbalasi, <\/b>Chinwe Umeche, <\/b>and <\/b>Obianuju Joy Igboeli<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2026outcome of the Nov 11, 2023 Imo Governorship Election as a litmus test for addressing South-East insecurity<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026challenging South-East Govs to publicly condemn armed Jihadist Herdsmen and their atrocities in the Region<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026challenging South-East Govs to insist on making inputs in the posting of senior security chiefs, others to S\/East<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026challenging South-East Govs to publicly condemn military and police roadblock extortions and brutalities in S\/E<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026old order reliance on gun-culture security must give way to \u2018human security\u2019 and its seven dimensions in S\/E<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026<\/b><\/span>for successful development in the Region, those behind killings and burnings outside the law must be uprooted<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026UN investigations and its referral to ICC the best way to tracking down those killing and burning in South-East<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Several research and investigative reports by\u00a0<\/span>Intersociety\u00a0<\/b><\/span>on insecurity and other unsafe conditions and those fanning them in the South-East have clearly indicated that nothing meaningful is most likely to come out of the South-East Governors\u2019 \u201cSecurity and Economic Summit\u201d fixed for Sept 28, 2023 in Owerri, Imo State. The choice of Owerri and the Chief Host of the \u201cSummit\u201d is also integrity and morally questionable.\u00a0 Like that of 2021 that culminated to launching of the \u201cEbubeagu Security Arrangement\u201d in April 202 which turned to be \u201cfriendly to the South-East enemies\u201d and \u201cunfriendly to the defenseless citizens and properties of the Region\u201d; the outcome of the \u201c2023 South-East Governors\u2019 Security and Economic Summit\u201d will most likely \u00a0end up being a mere \u2018talk-show\u2019 or \u2018grammar blowing arena\u2019 or \u2018an effort in futility and another wasting of public funds\u2019. The above position of ours (<\/span>International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law)<\/b><\/span>\u00a0is derived from several observations contained in our 33-Page Report on Imo Mass Atrocities, dated May 21, 2023 (https:\/\/intersociety-ng.org\/armed-state-actors-and-armed-non-state-actors-killed-1600-unarmed-citizens-in-29-months-in-imo-state\/) and another\u00a015-Page Report of ours: \u201cWho Is Killing Who Outside The Law In Igbo Land\u201d, dated August 28, 2023 (https:\/\/intersociety-ng.org\/who-is-killing-who-outside-the-law-in-igbo-land\/)<\/span><\/p>\n

South-East Inches Away From Collapsing Into Hobbesian \u201cState Of Nature\u201d<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Apart from the fact that no meaningful economic growth and development will take place under an atmosphere of grisly and egregious insecurity and other unsafe conditions as in the case of the present South-East particularly Imo State; there are no semblances of accountable governance. The fundamental essences of limited Government (services to the people) in the Region have been disappeared. As a matter of fact, the Region is inches away from collapsing into \u2018the Hobbesian State of Nature\u2019 \u201cwhere life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short\u201d (See the \u2018Leviathan 1660\u2019). That is to say that in the South-East, all the fundamental essences of Limited Governance have been uprooted and services meant to be rendered to the original owners of the civil limited government and governance bastardized and pushed back to them. The South-East peoples\u2019 self-development ingenuities have also been bastardized and uprooted by those in charge of their public governances.<\/span><\/p>\n

South-East Still Under The Clutches Of Primitive Security And Development<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Apart from public governances having been reduced to squander-mania, sycophancy, propaganda, falsehood, corruption and brigandage at individual State level; there are no iotas of \u2018collective or joint regional development plans or policies and actions by the South-East Governors\u2019. Such ambitious regional development would have seen the construction of the likes of the \u201cSouth-East Mega Expressway\u201d with capacity of linking all the five South-East States and exits and entrances into and out of the Region connected thereto.\u00a0<\/span>It is saddening and mocking that the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen know the shortest routes connecting the five South-East States than the five South-East Governors since 2015.<\/u><\/span>\u00a0The Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen have for long remotely identified shortest bush and footpath routes through which they abduct, hold captive and move their South-East non Muslim captives around the five South-East States in less than four days and return their captives to the South-East Triangle where Enugu, Abia, Imo and Anambra meet from where they are killed or raped alive or raped to death (if non menopausal women); or extorted and left alive with bruises or in a state of half dead. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

S\/East Marred By Zero Visionary Projects, Direct Labor And Foreign Direct Investments<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

The elusive joint South-East mega projects include shortening and reducing the distance between traveling from Awka to Enugu\u2019s Ninth Mile\/Capital City to less 20 kilometers with a new dual carriageway between Amansea\/Ebenebe and Olo\/Eke (Nigerian Breweries\/Ninth Mile); or shortening the route between South-East State of Anambra and Rivers Wharf (less than 2 hours journey) through a Bridge and dualization of Atani-Ogwuikpere Road to link Ogbaru and Ndoni in Rivers State; or shortening the route between the South-East State of Anambra and Kogi\/FCT with a dualized Road Anam River Bridge and Kogi\/FCT; or a railway project linking the five South-East States with a major terminal at the South-East Triangle; or a \u201cSouth-East Unity International Airport\u201d to be cited or located around the South-East Triangle where Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Abia and Ebonyi meet.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the level of self-development ingenuities in the South-East Region or Igbo Land, the South-East Governors, individually and collectively, are long expected to have undertaken millennium projects such as flyovers and underground roadway and railway tunnel projects, towers, botanic gardens and forest reserves, state-of-art amusement parks, stadia, seaports, freedom squares, mega markets, artisans\u2019 corners and skill acquisition centers with free interest loans. Others are the likes of unity hospitals, unity schools including a state-of-art South-East University and unity water schemes including dams and lakes with state-of-art hotels and recreational facilities attached. In ensuring all of the above, possible defense of \u201clack of available public funds\u201d is indefensible because the Governors have been wasting billions on frivolities and irrelevancies including wasteful lifestyles and maddening acquisition of moveable and immoveable private properties. The billions wasted on \u201cmonthly security votes\u201d for six months by the Govs, for instance, can build a \u201cUnity Expressway\u201d linking the five South-East States.<\/span><\/p>\n

Direct Labor Construction Of \u201cThe Great People\u2019s Hall Of China\u201d As A Case In Point<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Republic of China was so broke in the 1950s yet it was able to construct and complete \u201cThe Great Hall of the People\u201d through direct labor guided by building designing and construction experts including architects and civil engineers. The decision to build the \u201cWorld Largest Parliamentary Building\u201d was made by the China\u2019s \u201cpolitburo\u201d in August 1958 and the project was completed in ten months (June 1959), involving 7,785 assembled workers.\u00a0 The \u201cGreat People\u2019s Hall\u201d was opened in Sept 1959 and used for the country\u2019s 10th\u00a0Revolutionary Anniversary (1949-1959). The \u201cGreat People\u2019s Hall\u201d was also one of the China\u2019s \u201c10 Great Constructions\u201d for its 10th\u00a0Revolutionary Anniversary; with a slogan: \u201cthe People are the Masters of the Country\u201d. The \u201cGreat People\u2019s Hall of China\u201d also marked the turning point in the country\u2019s development strides till date.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

S\/E Eluded By FDIs, Public-Private-Partnership And Counterpart Funding<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Today, \u201cpaucity of public funds for critical infrastructural development\u201d is no longer a legitimate defense for publicly elected and appointed executives. Such defense is dead on arrival because \u2018direct foreign investments (FDIs)\u2019, \u2018public-private-partnership (PPPs)\u2019 and \u2018Counterpart Funding\u2019 are modern development mechanisms used by serious minded democratic leaders at national and sub-national institutional levels to drive their economic growth and development. Under the present South-East Governors, innovative and visionary developments are at the lowest ebb. Despite the hyper increases in human population and motorization, for instance, the Region is still battling with road networks carved out or paved in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. It is not only that the kilometers of road networks in the Region (Trunk A, B and C) are grossly inadequate when compared to the size of the population and number of automobiles, motorbikes, tri-cycles and bicycles making use of them but also deeply saddening is the fact that average of 65% of Trunk B roads, 90% of Trunk C roads and 80% of Trunk A roads in the Region have failed and become death traps for passengers. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

South-East Governors\u2019 Old Order Approaches To Security Matters In The Region<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

The old order and primitive approaches by South-East Governors to insecurity and other unsafe conditions have been responsible for escalation and worsening of security situations in the Region. The present South-East Govs have also been found to be so fearful that it looks as if they collectively or individually have skeletons in their cupboards or collective hidden agenda against their people. They are so afraid to publicly condemn the jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and their atrocities in the Region that it looks as if they are collectively or individually a party to the so called \u201cMACABAN\/Fulani Loyalty Agreement\u201d as possible preconditions for them to become Governors of their States. In our recent 15-Page Special Report, dated August 28, 2023 and titled: \u201cWho Is Killing Who Outside The Law In Igbo Land\u201d (https:\/\/intersociety-ng.org\/who-is-killing-who-outside-the-law-in-igbo-land\/), it was very difficult to exonerate them from the linkages and atrocities of armed non state criminal entities wrecking havoc in the Region since Jan 2021. The Govs are also vicariously responsible for grisly rights abuses and violations by the drafted security agents and their chiefs in the Region. These, they have been doing by refusing to openly condemn the killings and burnings outside the law and by allocating public funds to security chiefs in aid of such atrocious acts. It is deeply saddening to note that while serious minded elected and appointed public executives in economically and democratically advancing national and sub-national entities have long moved away from \u2018gun-culture\u2019 driven physical security to \u201chuman security and its seven key dimensions\u201d of economic security, health security, food security, environmental security, community security, personal security and physical security\u201d; the South-East Governors have remained stuck in \u201ccork-and-shoot\u201d security; squandering billons of funds belonging to taxpayers with little or nothing to show for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Highlighting The Concept Of \u2018Human Security\u2019 And Its Seven Key Dimensions For S\/E Govs<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

For the record, the modern concept of Human Security and its Seven Key Dimensions are expertly cited as follows:\u00a0<\/span>\u201cThe concept of security has for too long been interpreted narrowly: as security of the territory from external aggression, or as protection of national interests in foreign policy or as global security from the threat of a nuclear holocaust. It has been related more to nation-state than people\u2026.forgotten were the legitimate concerns of ordinary people\u2026.for many of them, security symbolized protection from the threat of disease, hunger, unemployment, crime, social conflict, political repression and environmental hazards\u201d\u00a0<\/i><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Source: UNDP Human Development Report; 1994: 22.<\/b><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201cSecurity is an all-encompassing condition in which individual citizens live in freedom, peace and safety; to participate fully in the process of governance; enjoy the protection of the fundamental human rights; have access to resources and the basic necessities of life; and inhabit an environment which is not detrimental to their health and well-being\u201d.<\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Source: South African Department of Defense 1996.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Seven Key Grounds For Finding Lasting Solutions To Insecurity In The South-East<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

The outcome of the Nov 11, 2023 Imo Governorship Election is a litmus test for addressing South-East insecurity<\/span><\/p>\n

Challenge is given to South-East Govs to publicly condemn armed Jihadist Herdsmen and their atrocities in S\/E<\/span><\/p>\n

South-East Govs must insist on making inputs in the posting of senior policy, spy police and military chiefs to S\/East<\/span><\/p>\n

South-East Govs must publicly condemn military and police roadblock extortions and brutalities on the roads in S\/E For successful development in the Region, those behind killings and burnings outside the law must be uprooted<\/span><\/p>\n

UN must investigate and make referrals to ICC to track down and prosecute state and non state actors involved<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0old order reliance on gun-culture security must give way to \u2018human security\u2019 and its seven dimensions in S\/E<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/span>
\n\u25aa\ufe0e By <\/span>Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chairman; <\/b><\/span>Chinwe Umeche, <\/b><\/span>Head, Democracy and Good Governance; and <\/b><\/span>Obianuju Joy Igboeli,<\/b><\/span>
\nHead, Civil Liberties and Rule of Law<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why Nothing Meaningful Will Come Out Of The South-East Govs\u2019 \u201cSecurity And Economic Summit\u201d By Emeka Umeagbalasi, Chinwe Umeche, and Obianuju Joy Igboeli \u2026outcome of the Nov 11, 2023 Imo Governorship Election as a litmus test for addressing South-East insecurity \u2026challenging South-East Govs to publicly condemn armed Jihadist Herdsmen and their atrocities in the Region […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":58318,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5782,5786],"tags":[6234,877,962],"class_list":["post-66733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-opinion","category-statement","tag-economic","tag-security","tag-south-east"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66733\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}