Tribune Nigeria and the Un Security Council seat · Friday, 08 November 2013 00:00 Beginning from January 2014, Nigeria will occupy a non-permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council for a period of two years. This is sequel to the country’s election for the fourth time since 1960 as a non-permanent member of the world’s highest decision making body. Nigeria’s candidature enjoyed widespread endorsement, enabling the country to garner 186 votes out of a maximum total of 193 votes. In this wise, the election must be regarded as a honour for Nigeria as well as a token of its increasing visibility in global affairs, notwithstanding the fact that it is battling with existential challenges. It will be recalled that Nigeria has consistently campaigned for the democratisation of the UN Security Council in order to make the institution more egalitarian and less wedded to the interests and dictations of a few powerful countries. Although Nigeria’s recent election falls short of full-blown democratisation of the UN, it does signal that it is only a matter of time before reforms that are long overdue are undertaken in the larger interest of humanity. Obviously, there is a relationship between Nigeria’s good neighbourliness and acclaimed conduct in international peacekeeping operations and its endorsement by the United Nations. As is well known, Nigeria has been dutifully involved in peacekeeping activities under the aegis of the UN since independence. It has also won kudos for the orderly behaviour of its military and paramilitary personnel in contrast to what tends to be the case at home. Its recent election to the UN Security Council seat is a recognition therefore of the role the country has been playing within the august body and without; not forgetting the fact that Nigeria’s own persisting, even if ailing, democratic government makes it an example of a sort that is worthy of emulation by many countries in the developing world. Although some may argue that there is no big deal about election to a non-permanent seat on the Security Council given the fact that a motley of small countries such as Rwanda and Chad have enjoyed the same status, the election creates an opportunity nonetheless for Nigeria to turn its visibility to influence, for example, by continuing to show leadership with respect to global peace and the reversal of the marginalisation of a large portion of humanity in global affairs. More importantly, however, Nigeria needs to redefine its role on the world stage by making the transition from ascribed status to actual power. This can be done when the country harnesses its domestic potential in order to achieve economic and military importance to which it is entitled by population, size and the plentitude of natural resources. For far too long, the country has existed as a potentially great power, but potentially great is not the same thing as effectually great. The gap between promise and manifestation will only be closed through a focused and disciplined leadership that can put an end to the haemorrhage of natural and material resources, to bedevilling insecurity and to the anomaly of a wonderfully resourced country vegetating at the lowest rungs of the international pecking order. The other dimension that needs to be broached with respect to the enhanced visibility brought about by Nigeria’s election to the Security Council seat is that of accumulating soft power. Soft power is more about brains than brawn and speaks to an intelligence-led revamping of a country’s image in the global community. It is indexed by the quality of a country’s export brands, the worth of its educational institutions as well as its reliability in day to day dealings. It is obvious that Nigeria continues to be disgracefully deficient in soft power to the extent that it is viewed as a cauldron of internal conflicts often teetering on the brink of violent dissolution. Needless to say that the relentless insurgencies in the northern part of the country, the crises-ridden Niger-Delta and the spate of violent robberies and kidnappings have deepened this quagmire. This has led to the irony and the poking of fun at a country becoming a member of the UN Security Council in a context where its own insecurity raises global concerns. The problem is not insurmountable, however. Hopefully, the forth-coming national conference if allowed to survive the desperate shenanigans of a raucous political class should offer a basis for re-imagining and revalidating Nigerian nationhood as well as dousing several of the vicious conflicts which continue to make the country a political tinderbox. All said and done, Nigeria’s election into a non-permanent Security Council seat should be seen constructively as evidence of global attention. It is now up to the country to maximize the opportunity by closing the deficits in its domestic and foreign policies as well as accelerating its journey to earned greatness in the comity of nations.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 10:04:47 +0000
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