INTRODUCTION
Conflicts are very rampant among people. Conflicts are
an everyday phenomenon within a nation as well as between and among comity of
nations. Conflicts have assumed epidemic proportions and an impediment to
development. However, it is observed that Africa is the most conflict ridden
region of the world. Consequently, since independence in 1960, Nigeria’s
interest as commitment to world peace has put her in the forefront to troop
contributing nations to support UN, OAU (now AU) and Ecowas-Led
Peacekeeping Operations.
At the outset of her independence,
Nigeria provided UN peacekeeping to Congo (ONUC) between 1960 and 1964. Ever
since, she has been an active participant in the UN peacekeeping mission,
deploying military contingents, unarmed military observers, military staff
officers, formed police units, military and civilian personnel deployed in UN
peacekeeping operations and the African Union Mission. Nigeria has also played
pivotal roles in other non-UN missions in Africa, being an influential power in
West Africa. Nigeria has been a major provider of military and other resources
for ECOWAS peacekeeping operations in its various missions.
For the active support service and
participation in international peacekeeping, Nigeria has been rightly singled
out for praise at the highest levels of the UN. However, it must be noted that
the human, material and financial losses incurred in these involvements have
been enormous. The huge resources expended on the operations at the detriment
of the country’s domestic need cannot be overemphasized. With this promise and
many more, Nigeria is yet to optimize its longstanding contributions to
peacekeeping globally. In essence, the enormous contributions of Nigeria to
global peacekeeping notwithstanding, most people still find it difficult to
acknowledge and appreciate the impact Nigeria has made in these operations.
This paper will therefore extend the frontier of knowledge in Nigeria’s
peacekeeping operations for better understanding/ appreciation and foresee
strategic framework for future peacekeeping operations using or focusing on
Nigeria in Congo international peacekeeping Operations.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
At Independence, Nigeria’s elite opined that
peacekeeping was part of the price to pay to be among the nations who make the
rules. This belief was unanimously expressed in the country’s mission to
spearhead the rebirth and all around development of Africa. To a certain extent
the contributions of Nigeria to international peacekeeping operations cannot be
over emphasized since her independence in 1960. Nigeria became a prominent
actor both within and outside the international system. Nigeria by all
standards is committed to regional peace and global security, despite the fact
that the world is conflictually structured as a
result of high technological advancement particularly from the Western world.
It is however, disheartening to observe that Nigeria’s participation in the
peacekeeping operations ever since is yet to yield the benefit to the nation.
One major area which needs to be addressed is the issue of Nigerian citizens
abroad. One can cite many instances where Nigerian citizens have been subjected
to degrading treatments or even violent attacks, sometimes leading to death.
Some of the countries where these incidents occurred have benefited in one way
or the other from Nigeria’s international peacekeeping operations either
through the UN platform or otherwise. Another area which needs to be addressed
is the domestic problems confronting Nigeria in terms of security challenges of
Boko Haram, Fulani Herdsmen and Farmer’s conflict,
Kidnapping and so on. Nigeria cannot continue to be weak inside and project the
image of a strong and virile nation abroad as it were. These among many others
motivate the need for this study.
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The goal of this study is to assess Nigeria in Congo
International peacekeeping Operations. Specifically, the objectives of the
study include the following:
1.
To examine Nigeria’s Participation
2.
To assess challenges of Nigeria’s
participation in peacekeeping Operations
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.
To what extent was Nigeria’s
participation in peacekeeping in Congo?
2.
What are the challenges of Nigeria’s
participation in peacekeeping Operations?
METHODOLOGY
The research methodology adopted in the study is the
systematic qualitative technique. The study relied on secondary source of data
where data for the analysis were sourced from newspapers, relevant books,
Journals, publications and the internet.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
The concepts of conflicts and peacekeeping are the main
concerns of this paper hence, some scholarly works are reviewed. Conflict is
used in two senses. It refers to an incompatibility in a multi-party or
multi-issue situation, in other words, a state of affairs in which two or more
irreconcilable views or options are posited towards the solution of a
particular problem. In the second sense, conflict refers to the violent
expression of this incompatibility of irreconcilability. Even though the two
conceptions overlap, it is in the later sense that the term conflict is used
within the context of this work.
The term conflict is derived
etymologically from latin
verb confligere (to clash, engage in a
fight). It refers to a confrontation between individuals or a group resulting
from opposite or incompatible ends or means. Alex Schmid
(2002) further added that, conflict as an antagonistic situation or adversarial
process between at least two individuals or collective actors over means or
ends such as: resources, power, status, values, goals, relations or interest.
To him, the range of outcomes includes victory, defeat, domination, surrender,
neutralization, conversion, coercion, injury or destruction and elimination of
opposite party, or alternatively the solution, settlement or transformation of
conflict issue. According to Diller (1997:6) conflict is any form of
confrontation between two or more parties resulting from a situation where
(these) two or more independent groups or system of actions have incompatible
goals. Danrendorf (1959:135) sees conflict as ‘A contest
competition, dispute and tensions as well as manifest clashes between social
forces’, Boulding (1978:5)… is a situation of
competition in which the parties are aware of the incompatibility of the
potential future position and in which the aims of the group or individuals
involved are not only obtain the desired values but to neutralize, injure or
eliminate rivals’.
The term ‘peacekeeping” involve the
deployment of military and police, and frequently civilian personnel to assist
in the implementation of agreements reached between governments or parties who
have been engaged in conflict. Peacekeeping presumes cooperation and its method
are inherently peaceful.
Agwu (2007) indicated that peacekeeping
consists essentially of observer mission and lightly armed forces monitoring
ceasefire, operating in an essentially static mode with the consent of the
parties involved. In its traditional sense, peacekeeping means conflict
containment and it adopted the form of neutral outside assistance to medicate
and encourage belligerent parties to disengage (Dokubo,
2005:253). Peacekeeping in this context, is a technique that expands the
possibilities for both the prevention of conflict and the making of peace.
Hence peacekeeping as a third contingency approach to conflict management,
according to Bassey is “one of the novel techniques’
of “Conflict Diplomacy” which has gained wide currency in the contemporary
international era. Demurento & Nikitin (1997:124) explained peacekeeping forces in their
own view as “Civilian and military personnel designated by the national
governments of the countries participating in the peace operation.’
These personnel are placed at the
disposal of the regional organization under whose mandate the given operation
is being conducted. Peacekeeping forces are made up of national contingents
under the regional command. Each national contingent is assigned either a zone
of responsibility or specific functional duties for Evans. (1993:11-12)
“Peacekeeping involves more than unarmed or lightly
armed military contingents being engaged in the monitoring, supervision and
verification of cease-fire, withdrawal, better zone and related agreement” (1993:11-12)
It has also been argued that
peacekeeping
requires a well- defined focus to ensure greater political sensitivity and
susceptibilities. This is because the interests of countries tend to affect the
perception and attitude of contingents in conflict situations. He reiterates
the need for an appropriate and well-defined legal framework for peacekeeping at
the regional levels. To achieve this goal, the issue of the theory of hegemonic
stability of states which assumes that:
“The world as a system requires a dominant leader for all its subsystems
to function smoothly and to be stable”, comes to the fore of peacekeeping
efforts therefore, will often be embarked upon in stabilizing peace and
security in areas adjudged to be replete with conflicts.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Nigeria first provided UN peacekeepers to Congo (ONUC)
from 1959 to 1964. Since then, Nigeria has been an active participant in UN
peacekeeping mission; deploying military contingents, unarmed military
observers, military staff officers, formed police units, police advisors and
civilian experts to over 25 UN missions. Nigeria is currently one of the
largest UN contributing countries with military and civilian personnel deployed
in ten UN peacekeeping operations and the African Union Mission in Somalia
(AMISIM). Nigeria has also played pivotal roles in other non-UN missions in
Africa. As the preponderant power in West Africa, Nigeria has been the main provider of
military and other resources for ECOWAS peace operations to the tune of US$ 8
billion in its various missions in Cote d’Ivoire. Guinea-Bissau,
Liberia, Mali and Sierra Leone. During the peak of the Liberian and
Sierra Leonean civil wars in the 1990s, Nigeria provided over 70% of ECOMOG’s
military and civilian personnel, as well as logistical support. In 2003, it
deployed 1,500 troops to the ECOWAS Mission in Liberia (ECOMIL), and a medical and
signals team to the ECOWAS Mission in Cote d’Ivoire in 2003 (ECOMICI). In 2004,
1,500 Nigerian troops were deployed in Darfur as part of the AU mission in
Sudan (AMIS). Recently, Nigeria also provided 1,200 troops to the African-led
international Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) and 200 police officers to
AMISOM. Nigeria deployed the first set of individual police officers (IPOS) in
Africa in ONUC in 1960 while the pioneer formed Police Unit (FPU) of 120
officers was deployed in Liberia in 2004
Peacekeeping is essentially a
third-party supervised tool that enables a peaceful settlement to be
negotiated. Used in isolation, or where other modes of conflict management were
ineffective, peacekeeping only freezes the status quo but does not resolve the
dispute. The security challenges are increasingly diverse, differentiated and
fragmented. It is more evident that developing a conflict resolution mechanism
that will contain and manage conflict as well as its violent effects is more
paramount. However, the increasing dispersion and regionalization of threats
are not confined to Africa alone. Many of the security challenges are generated
within individual societies, spread across borders to their surrounding
environment, and exacerbated by unhealthy regional dynamics. In the western
hemisphere, narcotics syndicates originate on one side of the world but target
and exploit vulnerable societies on the other side. To dig further, the current
security threats encompass challenges to human security and a whole series of
social and environment degradation along with traditional military security
challenges. And they occur in a time of bewildering connectivity and advancing
political complexity as the world becomes increasingly and simultaneously
interlinked and multi-centric. During the cold war, there was little official
interest in conflict management, that is, the use of non-military means such as
mediation, “good offices” or pre-emptive diplomatic engagement to promote
negotiated alternatives to violence and political upheaval. Although nuclear
deterrence was underpinned by diplomacy and the credible threat to use the
force, conflict management was generally viewed in one – dimensional term.
The dominant powers in a Bipolar
international system sought to manage “Their conflict in order to
avoid a loss of face or strategic setbacks and to prevent their conflict from
escalating….out of control” (Diebel, 2007). However,
they had little interest in using the tools of negotiation, mediation and
preventive statecraft more broadly to promote durable settlements,
institution-building, good governance, development and the promotion of the
rule of law; in history moments of geopolitical change often produce new
institutions as a response to that change.
The question is whether the world
needs another institutional approach to conflict management and security? Would
a new institution is capable of responding to the complex challenges of present
day conflict? Do we understand the nature of the challenge well enough to
design a capable institution? there may be growing recognition that local,
regional and global security are linked and that national security is connected
to preventing or managing conflicts, the exact nature of these links remain
obscure. Also obscure is the rod ahead as far as reform and innovation in
global institutions are concerned. There are three reasons for this: first,
there are huge political hurdles to real reform, as the example of the UN
security Council makes clear; second, security has become divisible, making
quest for consensus and coherence elusive; and third, many actors prefer that
current institutional endowment remain weak and imperfect instead of looking to
a new institution or a new set of responsibilities for an existing institution,
we need to recognize that this new collaborative patterns of behaviour are
becoming apparent in the conflict management field. In these new
patterns, approaches which depend on only one country or institution have been
replaced by a growing network if formal and informal institutional arrangements
operate across national, sub regional boundaries. These arrangements occur for
a variety of reasons – some are encouraging others while some are not - and the
results appear to vary widely.
Conflict mitigation and resolution has
thus become the dominant governance activity in almost every part of Africa.
Many of these conflicts seem intractable; conflict mitigation and resolution
initiatives are at best yielding model success. Even so, such successes
typically provide peace in short term but hardly lay the foundation of
reconstitution of order and the attainment of sustainable peace.
HThe recurrence and re-escalation of
conflicts in various parts of the world, most especially in the developing
states, has indeed made the word…sustainable peace” an illusion. A lot
can be said on the havoc wrecked by these conflicts on the people and the
devastating effects on the natural environment and even on the economic
strength of the state involved. Regrettably, all efforts made to put an end to
wars, conflict around the globe yield little or no significant results since
conflict recur and the proclivity conflict remained undefeatable (Adegbite et al, 2005:2). Be that as it may, the place of
Africa in the New Millennium is characterized by recurring instability,
inter/intra- state wars, insecurity, political and economic problems. The
intensity and destructiveness of Africa’s conflicts accelerated tremendously,
posing complex challenges to the peaceful resolution of conflict in particular
and the advancement of peaceful co-existence between groups in general (Adar,
2004:247). Put differently, most visible manifestations of the problems facing
the continent is the invidious and intractable
proliferation of conflict. Africa continued to witness protracted civil wars
which have taken the centre stage in the political
lives of the continent, with attendant devastating consequence for peace,
security and sustainable development. Undoubtedly, if the idea and practice of
searching for peace are as old as humanity, then it follows that the history of
wars and conflicts, which are its harbingers, is older (Onoja,
1996).
Africa is the most conflict-ridden
region of the world and the only region in which the number of armed conflicts
is on the increase. Conflicts have assumed epidemic proportions and an
impediment to development. A few facts may help to illustrate the immensity and
destructiveness posed by these conflicts. By 1966, average percentage of war
related deaths in the world were in Africa. As a result, Africa accounted for
over 8 million of the twenty-two million refugees Worldwide (World Refugee
Survey, 1998). During the 1980s, Africa witnessed nine wars, numerous other
instances of large-scale violent conflicts and a kaleidoscope of coups, riots and
demonstrations. These hostilities exacted a great toll on Africa in terms of
the destruction of human life, cultural damage, economic disruption, and lost
investment opportunities. Indeed, it is difficult to foresee significant
economic and social development over wide stretches of Africa until the burden
of violent conflicts is eased. Of the nine wars, Sudan, Ethiopia, Angola,
Mozambique and Uganda – were major, with death totals, including civilian
deaths, ranging from 60,000 to 100,000 commonly reported in Angola, and three
million in Sudan. In these large wars, the overwhelming majority of victims
were civilians, including countless children, who were deprived of food,
shelter, and access to healthcare because of the war. Three other wars, in
Namibia, western Sahara and Chad, probably resulted in deaths numbering in the
civilian toll was not as much as those above, Little is known about the
situation in Northern Somalia. Although the flight of 350,000 refugees to
Ethiopia suggests that substantial fighting has taken place (Africa Watch
Committee, Somalia, 1990). A human rights organization estimates that 50,000 to
60,000 civilians have been killed in the above mentioned conflicts.
Post-colonial governance
institutions in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have been shaped by their
domestic and external contexts and circumstances. Among the constituent
factors, four seem critical: these include the nature of the colonial
experience initially helped to shape governance structures, other elements have
become important since the attainment of independence. The degree of success in
aligning and reconciling interests among various elites and the
predispositions, orientations and leadership strategies employed by the leaders
have elicited domestic and external responses that have not always ensured
peace and advanced development.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The study considered the, liberal peace theory.
Indeed, in an attempt to construct zones of stable peace (Boulding
1978), both the theory and practice of peace operations are informed by an
often unspoken commitment to the liberal peace (Roland 1997, 2002, 2004).At the
interstate level, liberal peace is based on the observation that democratic
states do not wage war on other states they regard as being democratic. This is
not to argue that democracies do not wage war at all or that they are less
warlike in their relations with non- democracies; only that democracies tend
not to fight each other. In addition, liberal democracies are said to be the
least likely states to descend into civil war or anarchy. Exponents of this
theory generally present reasons to explain that might be. First, through their
legislatures and judiciaries, democratic systems impose powerful institutional
constraints on decision-makers, inhibiting their opportunities for waging war
rashly. These inhibitions are further strengthened by the plethora of regional
institutions (such as the ECOWAS) to which liberal democratic states are tied.
Democracy prevents civil war primarily because it guarantees basic human rights
and offers non-violent avenues for the resolution of political disputes. The
second explanation of liberal peace is normative and holds that democratic
states do not fight each other because they recognize one another’s inherent
legitimacy (ibid) and have shared interest in the protection of international
trade which is ill-served by war. Within states, the legitimacy associated with
democracy makes it very difficult to mobilize arms against the prevailing
order, reducing the likelihood of civil wars. In arguing that peace operations
are informed by liberal peace theory, we mean by and large that peace
operations have tried to create stable peace by promoting and defending the
principles that underpin liberal peace. This is most apparent in those peace
operations that seek to build peace within states which are increasingly
becoming the norm. These operations try to build stable peace by enabling the
creation of democratic societies and liberal free market economies. They are
often supported in this endeavour by Western NGOs
(Richmond 2003:1). There is also, however, a broad consensus that fostering
Liberal peace can contribute to reducing violent conflicts between states.
Liberal peace is one of the dominant
theories that underpin contemporary peace operations, its application remains
controversial. China and many states in the global South, for example, argue
that peace operations should be limited to assisting states and other actors to
resolve their differences and should not be used to impose a particular
ideology (Morphet 2002). From this perspective,
stable peace can only be built on the maintenance of peace between states and
this requires respect for the sanctity of national sovereignty. Because of
these concerns, overt support from the UN for a broad liberal agenda in its
peace operations has been limited to one of three situations. In 1997 it
likewise found that the overthrow of the elected government of Sierra Leone was
a threat to peace, demanded that it be restored, and welcomed an ECOWAS
intervention that did just that. Finally the UN and other actors have sometimes
attempted to create liberal peace in places where the state has failed to exert
effective authority, such as Bosnia after 1995 and Kosovo and Timor-Leste after
1999. There are other problems with the logic of liberal peace besides these
political problems. Roland Paris (2004) found that the rapid democratization
and marketization of post–war societies could have destabilizing effects and
undermine the chances of long-term stable peace. Others deny liberal
peacekeeping basic empirical assumption by pointing to wars between or within
democracies or arguing that the data set remains too small to draw statically
relevant conclusions. Echoing realist sentiments expressed by E.H Carr (1939]
1995) in the late 1930s, a third group of critics argue that the values
underpinning liberal peace are not universal or causally connected to peace but
reflect the ideological preferences of the world’s most powerful actors.
NIGERIA’S PARTICIPATION IN PEACEKEEPING IN CONGO
Nigeria gained its independence on October 1, 1960 and
joined the United Nations on October 7, 1960. Within this period Congo (now Zaira) was in crisis. Congo was a former Belgium colony and
became independent on June 30, 1960 five days later, the Force Publique mutinied against their Belgian officers and
Belgium sent her troops to the Congo on the pretext of protecting and
evaluating Europeans in the African state. On 14 July, the UN Security Council
called on Belgium to withdraw her troops from Congo and also authorized the UN
secretary General to provide the government of Congo with necessary military
assistance and support until the country’s security forces could meet their
task fully.
The UN called on Nigeria to help by
contributing troops even before her independence. By the end of November, 1,350
Nigerian soldiers were in Congo. For 4 years (1960- 1964), Nigerian soldiers
who served in some of the most difficult areas strived along with other UN
forces to execute their assignment which included:
i. Assisting the Congolese government to
restore and maintain the political independence and territorial integrity of
the Congo
ii. Assisting
the Congolese government maintain law and order in the country
iii. Putting into effect a wide and long
term programme of training and technical assistance.
The UN forces brought peace and security back to the Congo to the extent that
the parliament reconvened in years of dedicated efforts in the service of
mankind in search of international peace and security. As (1986) has noted,
while in the Congo, the Nigerian troops were commended for their courage and
gallantry. The United Nations decorated Major Adekunle
Fajuyi for setting a good example of courage and
gallantry, and for displaying high sense of leadership responsibility, military
skills and ability.
The troops brought Nigeria great honour
and pride as a result of their wonderful performance. Ironsi
was appointed the Commander of the UN force in Congo in 1964. Nigerian
contingents were also sent to Tanganyinka (now
Tanzania) in 1964 under the auspices of the organization for Africa Unity (OAU)
now African Union (AU).
Nigeria’s participation in
peacekeeping operation at this infant stage of her independence could be
attributed to its bid to make her a force to be reckoned with in the region and
internationally. However, this initiative has generated a lot of criticisms and
controversies at the time even though it laid a solid foundation that all
successive governments could build on. Nigeria’s Armed Forces had continued to
play a major role in the achievement of the national security and foreign
policy objectives. Apart from being the most populous and leading black nation
in the world, Nigeria is blessed with great human and natural resources. The UN
has indeed relied so much on Nigeria through the use of her military as
peacekeepers in the organization’s quest for global peace and security.
However, Nigeria’s participation in international peacekeeping has not been
without challenges.
CHALLENGES OF NIGERIA’S PARTICIPATION IN PEACEKEEPING
OPERATIONS
UN, AU and ECOWAS platforms has brought out some
lapses and challenges. Notably among them are: manpower, training and doctrine,
logistics, mandate, administration, inadequate information management, language
barrier and funding among others.
MANPOWER: The challenge of manpower especially
in the Nigerian Army has become conspicuous in recent times. This is worsened
by the current security challenges (terrorism) facing this country resulting in
most troops being deployed on internal security operations within the country.
Troops had to be drawn from different units across the country to form up a
complete battalion with the required strength that meets the UN standards for
deployment to the mission area. These individuals were deployed without
pre-Induction training. Obviously personnel of such adhoc
units that are filled at the last minute for a peacekeeping arrive in the
mission area without adequate knowledge of each other’s capabilities and
deficiencies. This also creates problem of command and control. Standardization
of National News Agency NNA units in terms of manpower would be a positive step
towards equipping the News Agency for effective participation in peacekeeping.
This could be achieved if all postings and marrying up of units for
peacekeeping are concluded 6 months prior to deployment. This would also ensure
cohesion among the units’ personnel thus promoting spirit de corps (Ahmed,
2010)
TRAINING AND DOCTRINE: Another major problem identified is
that of training and doctrine associated with peacekeeping. Different countries
have different training doctrines for the training of its personnel. The NA is
faced with the problem off training doctrine for peacekeeping. This problem had
manifested itself in various operations. In the case of ECOMOG, Anglophone
oriented troops were operating alongside francophone troops which further
compounded this problem. The armed forces of Nigeria should come up with a
suitable doctrine for peacekeeping. This would impact on all aspects
(organization, training, leader development, material, and selection of
soldiers) of the Armed Forces of Nigeria preparations for and conducting peace
support operations.
LOGISTICS: Logistic problems are another set of
hindrance impacting on Nigeria’s participation in Peacekeeping. In the face of
non-availability of centralized logistical support for ECOWAS sub Regional
peacekeeping, participating countries suffered shortfalls in lift and other
logistical Capabilities. As a result most of them relied on Nigeria which was
itself logistically hard pressed. There is the need to have adequate logistical
support before embarking on peacekeeping operations. The nature of logistical
challenges faced by Nigerian troops deployed on peacekeeping has included: lack of sufficient quantity of vehicles, lack
of adequate medical facilities, insufficient communication equipment and
individual soldier kitting” The successful accomplishment of the tasks of
Nigerian contingents depends to a large extent on the availability of reliable
and efficient communication support. Communication is the vital tool required
to exercise command and control of the forces deployed in the mission area.
Problem of communication has included such relatively low cost and mundane
items as inadequate supply of batteries and lack of battery chargers. This
adversely affects command and control of units. This problem was also common
with the Nigerian contingent deployed with UNMIL. It is necessary to increase
the scale of equipment of the signal element supporting a Nigerian battalion in
peacekeeping to meet the UN’s requirements for battalion level communications
as outlined in the standard UN Memorandum of Understanding that the UN executes
with the troop contributing country.
MANDATE: Mandates are resolutions authorizing and defining a
peacekeeping operation. Peacekeeping should endeavor to have a clear and
unambiguous mandate including rules of engagement for the forces. The problem
of vague, unclear unrealistic and frequently changing mandates was encountered
during the Nigerian maiden peacekeeping venture in the Congo in the 1960s. The
same problem of an unclear mandate arose in Chad where the OAU peacekeepers
watched helplessly while rebel groups chased away the incumbent government of
President Goukoni Waddeye
from office. The ECOMOG operations in
Liberia and Sierra Leone 1990-1999 did see a needed change in mandate that
enabled appropriate force application.
LANGUAGE BARRIER: Language barrier is another major
problem posed to NA personnel in Peacekeeping for instance, in Chad (1979-1980
and 1982-1983) there was language barrier and the Nigerian military had to get
interpreters in order to communicate with the host nation and Peacekeepers from
non-English speaking countries. This same problem exists today in Dafur (UNAMID) AND
Mali (AFISMA), though at a lower level as some NA personnel had to learn French
and Arabic. Nigeria therefore needs to encourage more of its personnel to learn
French, Portuguese, Spanish and Arabic. Nigeria therefore needs to encourage
more of its personnel to learn French, Portuguese, Spanish and Arabic etc.
FUNDING: Nigeria suffered financially during the first
intervention in Liberia in 1990. It was always in search of financial support
from other ECOWAS members for the mission. Nigeria established an “endowment
fund” for the operation with an initial amount of 50 million dollars being
proposed. This fund received no contributions. Generally, assistance from other
sources was slow in coming. Eventually, ECOWAS member state that contributed
troops threatened to withdraw from the force from lack of funding, this
situation caused Nigeria to single-handedly provide substantial financial
support for further ECOMOG operations. This sinking of substantial financial
resources to restore peace in other countries while Nigeria’s social and
physical infrastructure was sorely in need of repair was difficult to
rationalize with the public at large. Most Nigerians feel the billions of
dollars spent for peacekeeping could have been better used to reduce Nigerian’s
foreign debt or better still, to alleviate poverty in the country where 70
percent of the populace survives on less than 1 US Dollar per day (Olofinmuagan 1995). Use of substantial sums of money to pay
for PSOs also helps to explain negative responses from Nigeria’s creditors when
mention is made of possible debt forgiveness. Any major future involvement by
Nigeria in peacekeeping would certainly be predicated on a firm commitment of financial
support from either the UN or other international organizations (Oni, 2002)
ADMINISTRATION: Nigeria’s participation in
peacekeeping also surfaced problems in the areas of administration like medical
care, medical evacuation, burial pay and allowance, misappropriation by selling
of troops’ raw food and units’ fuel. Soldiers in deployed units also complained
of lack of promotion opportunities and such things as not being able to observe
holidays. These shortcomings were largely attributed to poor unit and sub-unit
leadership. The poor quality of administration in deployed units has caused
significant embarrassment to the Nigerian Army and the country in general.
Commanders and troops must be adequately apprised of the danger of such
practices like illegally selling items in the mission area. The Nigerian
government and military need to look into all areas of administrative support
for deployed units.
CONCLUSION:
Since the attainment of her independence in 1960,
Nigeria has remained an active participant to both regional and UN peacekeeping operations. The country
has contributed a lot in terms of finance, logistics, troops and civilian
experts. Today, Nigeria remains one of the largest African troops and civilian
police contributors to UN missions.
Despite
its achievements, Nigeria has been under-appreciated prompting this article to
revisit the issue of peacekeeping operations in order to give Nigeria its right
of place in conflict management. Any serious assessment of Nigeria’s
participation in the peacekeeping operation will reveal that the country is yet
to reap the benefit of her contributions due to some problems. Such as the lack
of effective organization to coordinate peacekeeping operations, prevent
improper accounting and make effective use of reimbursements. Until these
issues are properly addressed, Nigerian peacekeepers will continue to suffer.
Besides, Nigeria is yet to optimize
its longstanding participation in peacekeeping internationally due to lack of
policy and institutional coherence at political strategies and to some extent,
operations levels.
Finally, it has been noted that
Nigeria has utilized international peacekeeping operation as a foreign policy
tool which has not yielded commensurate benefit to her.
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