How to tackle insecurity in Nigeria – Olu of Warri

How to tackle insecurity in Nigeria – Olu of Warri

Thursday, August 18, 2022 2:26 pm


Olu Atuwastse III of Warri

The Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III, who will mark his first anniversary on the throne on 21 August 2022, has argued that Nigeria is heavily unde-policed. He submitted ideas too on how to improve the security situation in the country.

In his interview with Thisday, the Olu said: “I have been here only one year, and you have monarchs who have been on the throne for 40, 50 years who had been answering these questions for all those decades. And I’m sure in each part of the country the response is slightly different, but there’s general insecurity in this country, that’s a fact and not a political statement. You can fly or drive to the northeast, north-west, south-west, south-south and so on and you will feel the tension of being on the road, it’s uniquely different and it’s there. At the same time, this country is under policed.

“ Unless if you want to simply empty the barracks of all soldiers and policemen and put them around the country, which is not their job description because maybe there aren’t enough funds to recruit new people and train them unless you want to do that, there will still be pockets all over the place, and so this is where you need to work hand in hand with the Traditional Rulers, who are usually, with the exception of men of the DSS, who make it their mission to go and collect information, traditional rulers will always get information without asking. There’s a saying ‘a king will hear the news twice’ unofficially and officially, because there is just that natural pathway that information will come to him. Once that information gets to him, if he’s able to now actively call the police commandant in collaboration with the youth structure on the ground, or if there’s some traditional vigilante structure on the ground, there will be quicker response.

He added: “I come from an oil-producing part of the country so let’s use illegal bunkering which is a criminal activity, there’s no way boys can come and bunker the line and the people there are clueless. It is impossible, somebody would have been walking by, heard something, somebody would have been told to keep quiet, the locals always know. So it’s the same thing when there’s a den of robbery activities, somebody in the locality knows and that local authority could easily come across that information without much pressing, whereas security operatives will have to press for that information and the locals may just say let me not say anything to avoid getting into trouble. So because there’s a natural trust between the grassroots and the monarchs they must be included in the security apparatus of this country, at least if you want to see a quicker response in curbing the problems.”

Below is the interview:

One year in office, what has it been like as Olu of Warri kingdom, and what are your plans for your people?

It’s like any other position of high authority, it’s a huge responsibility. It comes with several challenges because there’s never a dull moment. People constantly have needs and reasons to see you. Initially, it could’ve come off as overwhelming but the truth of the matter is that you have to make sure that you remain focused, you have to maintain balance there. It makes it easier going out to meet numerous responsibilities and expectations God helping you, giving you discernment, and wisdom, one can take it each day at a time.

The plans for the people could be ultimately summarized in, first of all elevating them in their minds, because if there isn’t that enlightenment, illumination, it does not matter what you bring to them. The way their mind is, they are still feeling downtrodden from decades of things not going the way they expected. There’s a risk that all your ground plans may not amount to much. It’s literally about ensuring that the foundations are properly set so that it’s easier when good things roll, it’s easier to gain adequate momentum and get to where we need to get to.

Two months ago, Your Majesty with your chiefs was in Canada to drive foreign direct investment to the Warri Kingdom and Niger Delta as a whole, how did it go?

Ultimately it came down to thinking outside the box, because of the way things have been traditionally, the status quo with communities in Nigeria looking for avenues in which they can be developed. We just thought that perhaps we could try something a bit unusual and let’s go and find other ethnic indigenous people like ourselves who face similar challenges, that we face. Rubbing minds together with the expectations that the process of rubbing minds together on common solutions could be procured and indeed we have gotten to that stage where those discussions and ideas that previously I don’t believe I’d ever come up, so it’s now gotten to a point where we are now trying to see how these discussions could become active realizations. It’s quite multilayered but that was the heart of the original approach.

Your coronation speech resonated with women around the world, how will you say your reign has shone the spotlight on women?

Yes, I think the best way to shed more light on that question is, that the world has changed tremendously. When you look at the 8000 recorded human histories, it has been very much male-dominated. We have achieved a lot in this male-dominated era. When you look at things all over the world today, it’s not just the progressive or liberal Western Hemisphere, even when you look at the other parts of the world, even here in Africa, women are rising.

I had given a speech back in October last year, in a program with the American embassy and there was an analogy I used there that I want to repeat now. I believe when God created both sexes, male and female, he created women to help the man, help him to achieve the best version of himself. Man in their wisdom went and limited or restricted women’s participation in the way they led the affairs of the world. It has gotten us this far, yes a lot has been achieved. I think that in the world today, it’s no longer about male domination, it’s really about what is in the brain, which is why we go to school. Young boys and girls go to school to learn, and for us to better ourselves we need to draw on as much brain power as we can from both sexes. Oftentimes there’s a tendency that men will keep doing things and suggesting things in a particular kind of way, perhaps because of the way they are genetically wired or socially trained to. And women also can approach it in their unique way. To get the best is to consider both approaches, close our eyes on whether it’s a man or woman and take things for the quality that they are, I think that is the best approach. There are a lot of ideas that will take the world to the next level that are deposited in women and we should open the door and invite them to be active participants in that human discourse.

What are your thoughts on the recent development of the female athletes who have done the nation proud on the global stage?

We watched it with so much pride, seeing those women represent Nigeria the way they did. It was quite timely, as we all know, things have not been so great for Nigerians. Not too much to boldly beat our hands on our chest to say this makes us proud, there has been a lot of being through and surviving, just getting by, being grateful to God. But what happened in Birmingham a couple of weeks ago during the Commonwealth Games, showed that even in most of what we are currently passing through there was something that made us come alive and say that we felt good. That made us be proud to be Nigerians, it’s not that our men didn’t give their best or didn’t compete, but the glory just happened to come through the women. If we had not invested in our women athletes we would’ve been denied that opportunity to have felt a set of pride as to what it is to still be grateful and happy to be Nigerian even in the midst of where we are today. And I think that should crossover into other spheres and I would dare say that going forward we would see women do exceptional things in the political space. Women are running riots in those elections in Kenya, and it’s a society very similar to ours and clearly, the very male-dominated space in Kenya, for whatever reason decided let’s give these women a chance and I expect great things come out of Kenya over the next political tenure.

In Nigeria we have few women chair the boards of banks, I believe by all accounts they are rendering very faithful stewardship. And that will further open the door, the next time there’s a qualified woman she won’t be overlooked, this will in turn inspire young women to know that I can get to the top of their career choice if I work hard.

Going into the 2023 general election, what advice will you give to the youth in the interest of the socio-economic development of Nigeria?

I don’t know specifically about socio-economics but I have been asked this question a couple of times. Speaking to the youth, I implore them to have a really strong sense of history, it’s very important we understand where we are coming from politically and the choices the generations before us made and how they contributed to us being where we are today. It’s very important to have a thorough view of the collection of those choices, and I think if they can do that, if they are fair to themselves, they will think differently in how they decide. I was at a program recently and I spoke on the Esau and Jacob syndrome, and it’s I want to eat what’s in my hand now because there’s no hope for tomorrow. And that attitude applies to long term decisions but they just take it like, let me collect this ten thousand Naira and vote this guy, so yes you have eaten something but the consequences of that decision more than likely you will cry about it. The same thing that happened to Esau in the Bible, he couldn’t think beyond today. And most of our youth, if you want to call it the frustration of what the Nigerian situation is today, looking at over 30% unemployment rate, so those who even went to school, looking back to why did I waste time and resources to go to school, those who didn’t go to school or learnt things that they are using to hack their way into success, is now making those who went to school feel “who did school help”. And it’s like even the yahoo situation is becoming over-saturated, yes international and local authorities are clamping down on them and it’s very hard for Nigerian youth to say you even want to travel because they will look at you and give you hard time. When you go to Dubai, or London, immediately you will be looked at with suspicion, simply because you were trying to make a way for yourself that was not necessarily the generally accepted right way. That also adds to the frustration of being a Nigerian youth. I think the way to begin to change that comes down to a reorientation of the mind and it’s easier said than done, because these people come from educational institutions where their minds were supposed to have been shaped in the right direction but even getting through that educational system involved a bit of corruption and so they now feel well “I don go school “ nobody should come and tell me how to live because it has now come down to pure survival, and to reorientate one’s mind is not about today’s survival, but the majority of them don’t want to listen to anything about tomorrow, it’s about today. It’s a serious problem. If they are not going to give themselves the space to slow down and think, not yielding quickly to the seed in your hand, but because they cannot imagine tomorrow, they think even if I successfully plant this thing I may not eat it, so let me eat it and die, not physical but mental death. So that’s the mindset that’s just governing our youths today and so it is to try to persuade them to give it a chance. Try planting this thing collectively and let’s see what the first harvest is like and let’s see whether it was worth waiting for the harvest. There needs to be some sort of demonstration, or assurance, I don’t have the specifics but they need to know it is worth getting an education and it is worth standing for what’s right. Because standing for what may not be the right thing seems to pay them off now, and it’s what goes into their stomach, not even their pockets, because of the situation that the country is in right now. So It’s really to appeal to them to say, let us be a bit more resilient, patient and let’s see how different the outcomes could be.

Given the worrisome security situation in the country, how do you think traditional rulers can help the federal government curb the insecurity bedevilling the nation?

This is an age-long question, I have been here only one year, and you have monarchs who have been on the throne for 40, 50 years who had been answering this question for all those decades. And I’m sure in each part of the country the response is slightly different, but there’s general insecurity in this country, that’s a fact and not a political statement. You can fly or drive to the northeast, north-west, south-west, south and so on and you will feel the tension of being on the road, it’s uniquely different and it’s there. At the same time, this country is under policed. Unless you want to simply empty the barracks of all soldiers and policemen and put them around the country, which is not their job description, because maybe there aren’t enough funds to recruit new people and train them, unless you want to do that, there will still be pockets all over the place, and so this is where you need to work hand in hand with the Traditional Rulers, who are usually, with the exception of men of the DSS, who make it their mission to go and collect information, traditional rulers will always get information without asking. There’s a saying ‘a king will hear the news twice’ unofficially and officially, because there is just that natural pathway that information will come to him. Once that information gets to him, if he’s able to now actively call the police commandant in collaboration with the youth structure on the ground, or if there’s some traditional vigilante structure on the ground, there will be quicker response. I come from an oil-producing part of the country so let’s use illegal bunkering which is a criminal activity, there’s no way boys can come and bunker the line and the people there are clueless. It is impossible, somebody would have been walking by, heard something, somebody would have been told to keep quiet, the locals always know. So it’s the same thing when there’s a den of robbery activities, somebody in the locality knows and that local authority could easily come across that information without much pressing, whereas security operatives will have to press for that information and the locals may just say let me not say anything to avoid getting into trouble. So because there’s a natural trust between the grassroots and the monarchs they must be included in the security apparatus of this country, at least if you want to see a quicker response in curbing the problems.

-Continue reading from the source: Thisday


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