Why women’s voice should be heard, By Sam Akpe

It started with visible empty seats. Then, suddenly, the rotunda of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — designed for elite class activities — got thronged with quality audience. It was a well-planned, well-attended, and brilliantly executed event, with a theme that spoke to the moment.

The audience comprised ambassadors, top government representatives, technocrats, seasoned policy makers, tested security experts, confirmed women leaders, development specialists, civil society groups, young leaders, partners, and representatives of everyone connected to the issues that formed the centre of discourse.

Coordinating the events, with her trademark diplomatic finesse, was the ever-elegant veteran broadcast journalist, author, mentor, and event compere extraordinaire, Mrs Eugenia Abu. She did what only Eugenia can do — from the introduction of guests to a full grasp of the issues that summoned them.

Noisy, active politicians seemed to have been deliberately excluded. A select few who were invited conveniently sent representatives. This created rooms for exclusive focus on key security and development issues, instead of politics disguised as patriotism.

Hosted by a non-governmental organisation: I Teach Africa, the summit was themed: Empowering Her for Governance: Advancing Women’s Leadership for Inclusive Governance and Security.

It aimed at discussing the importance of inclusive governance and women’s meaningful participation in leadership, peace, security, and national development.

With well-applauded keynote addresses, panel discussions, leadership conversations, stakeholder engagement, and strategic perspectives on strengthening inclusive governance and building more resilient and secure communities, it drew some conclusions on vital issues concerning security.

Host of the conference, Mrs Ebi Elezieanya drew impressive applause in her opening remarks. She said armed conflicts anywhere affect women and girls differently, stressing the imperativeness of participation of women in security decision-making, and their inclusion in conflict prevention strategies.

Citing certain international agreements, she observed that women inclusion in security policy-making is not simply a gender issue, but an absolute incontrovertible necessity, because while security protects a nation, inclusion gives every citizen a reason to defend the nation.

Two heart-wrenching documentaries on how terror activities affect women and children were shown. Tears rolled down several cheeks as the visuals and sounds of the well-scripted and beautifully delivered audio wrapped the hall in total silence, with the caption: The Woman’s Voice Must Be Heard.

In an explosive speech, Dr Otive Igbuzor informed the audience that the issue of national security is fully connected to sustainable stability which on its own cannot be achieved without inclusive governance, which would also remain a mirage without transformational leadership.

His view was that national security cannot be guaranteed where a large section of the population, especially women, young persons, the disabled, the poor and the marginalised, are excluded from the political and economic decision-making process.

In all, he noted that inclusion is a development imperative, because it determines whose voice is heard, adding that security embodies inclusion, good governance, development, credible elections, and strong institutions.

The highly cerebral retired national security expert whose life-time involvement in ensuring a conflict-free Niger Delta and Nigeria at large has been archived, His Majesty, Dr Ferdinand Ikwang — the Mkpisong Ekid Afid — was a part of the panel discussion.

Ikwang said, in response to a question, that the starting point for any national security discourse is the community where everybody grew up, and that avoidable negligence of institutional memory has been the reason for failures in security architecture in Nigeria.

In a presentation entitled, “Inclusion as Security: the Niger Delta Model and the Imperative of Empowering the Nigerian Women,” Chief Ndutime Alaibe told the audience that his experience in the Niger Delta has taught him one belief: People are more likely to protect a system in which they have meaningful stakes.

He revealed that over the years, Nigeria has seen and treated the Niger Delta substantially as a security problem, but a better understanding has revealed that beneath the security drawbacks were questions of development, justice; and a profound crisis of belonging.

His conclusion, arising from this realisation, was that inclusion is not merely a social policy, but a national security policy. He explained that for too long, Nigeria’s understanding of security has been dominated by the instruments of safety such as soldiers, police officers, intelligence agencies, weapons, checkpoints, and surveillance.

‘Timi confirmed that while these remain necessary because any responsible state must possess the capacity to enforce its laws, defend its territory and protect its citizens, sustainable security goes beyond absence of violence to include the presence of conditions that make violence less attractive, less legitimate and less sustainable.

He said this boils down to: Justice — where citizens believe in fair treatment; then opportunity — which connotes that gains such as jobs, businesses, education, and hope, are derived from stability; and belonging — which implies that citizens see themselves as participants and not spectators outside the national project.

‘Timi was categorical that where these variables are absent, security institutions would be repeatedly asked to manage the consequences, but where they are present, citizens themselves would become stakeholders in stability.

As someone who has repeatedly been involved in the management of security issues in the Niger Delta, ‘Timi recalled that for decades, communities have watched enormous wealth leave their environment while many remained without adequate roads, electricity, clean water, employment opportunities and environmental remediation.

He said young people have seen sophisticated industrial infrastructure criss-cross their ancestral lands while struggling to see any meaningful pathway for themselves in the prosperity which their land represents, and that the widening gap between what they see and what they can access most times ignited violence based on frustration.

Whenever this happened, he said the Nigerian state always responded with security operations. However, could that be the solution? This is what ‘Timi thinks: “force can contain violence. It cannot, by itself, resolve the grievance that produces violence.”

This implies, in his words, that a checkpoint cannot create employment, a gunboat cannot create political belonging, a military operation cannot substitute development, and intelligence gathering cannot permanently compensate a community that has lost confidence in the system.

Accordingly, “the lesson was not that security operations were unnecessary. The lesson was that security without political, developmental and economic inclusion could never be sufficient.”

As he spoke, certain initiatives introduced to control this awkward situation came to mind. They included the framework called the Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan, dreamt to provide a comprehensive development charter for the region.

Then, the Presidential Amnesty Programme which introduced disarmament, demobilisation, rehabilitation and reintegration as an alternative to endless military confrontation; and the Nigerian Content framework which significantly opened more space for Nigerian businesses, professionals and workers within the oil and gas value chain.

Also, in the inclusion package has been the Petroleum Industry Act which created Host Communities Development Trusts, in formal recognition of the fact that communities hosting petroleum operations must have an institutional stake in development.

The community-embedded pipeline surveillance, working alongside soldiers, intelligence agencies, regulators and operators, is another initiative that has demonstrated the value of local knowledge and community participation in protecting critical national assets.

‘Timi noted that though these initiatives were different and imperfect, a common principle runs through them: “Move people from the margins of the economy into the architecture of the economy. That is stake-holding.”

He continued: “When communities participate in protecting national assets, local knowledge becomes national intelligence; employment becomes a security instrument; and infrastructure protection becomes a shared interest.

“This is what I mean by inclusion as security. Not the abandonment of the state. Not the privatisation of national security. But the intelligent integration of communities into the security and economic architecture of the state.”

Then he moved from the general inclusion to the specific. ‘Timi said one of the clearest weaknesses of the Niger Delta peace architecture was the insufficient inclusion of women — the same women who have been the most victimised gender whenever there was environmental crisis or security conflict.

The technocrat reminded the audience that women have variously suffered from environmental degradation, lost livelihoods, lost husbands, sons and family members, sustained households during periods of instability, and participated in community advocacy and grassroots peacebuilding.

He said, “Yet when formal structures of negotiation, disarmament and reintegration emerged, women were overwhelmingly on the margins. Now, we must acknowledge an obvious fact: Niger Delta women were not generally the ones who took up arms against the state, so one would naturally expect fewer women in a disarmament programme. But that is precisely the point.

“We defined peace too narrowly around those who carried weapons, rather than around all those who carried the consequences of the conflict — and all those who could help sustain the peace.

“That is a lesson we must not forget. And the problem extends far beyond the Niger Delta. Women constitute approximately half of Nigeria’s population, yet they occupy only about four per cent of the seats in our National Assembly. Nigeria is yet to elect a woman as Governor of any of its 36 States.

“This is not simply a women’s issue. It is a national capacity issue. It is a democratic legitimacy issue, and yes, it is a national security issue, because no country can sustainably secure itself while systematically underutilising the intelligence, experience, economic capacity and leadership potential of approximately half its population.”

Suddenly, ‘Timi waxed spiritual. He cited the Holy Book. First, he cited Galatians 3:28 which says “there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Then Acts 2:17 where we are reminded that “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.” The hall erupted in applause.

Then the preacher declared: “The message is profound: talent, capacity, calling and responsibility are not the exclusive preserve of one gender. So, we must change the language. Women must not appear in our national security framework merely as victims to be protected.

“They must be recognised as agents of security — as intelligence professionals, police officers, military officers, mediators, community leaders, entrepreneurs, legislators, policymakers, negotiators and peacebuilders.”

He went ahead to dwell on women economic inclusion, political inclusion, security-sector inclusion, and inclusion in the community peace architecture, adding that women-led organisations, traditional institutions, youth organisations and community networks should be integrated into early-warning systems, mediation structures and local security dialogue.

His thinking is that the woman in a rural community who detects the early signs of radicalisation may be contributing as much to national security as the analyst sitting before multiple screens in a command centre, and that Nigeria’s security architecture must learn to connect the two.

His conclusion pulled the hall to its feet in approval. He said every constituency represented at the summit had a lever to pull. Government must, “make gender-responsive budgeting measurable. Let appropriations demonstrate our priorities more loudly than communiqués.”

To the National Assembly, he advised, “history has again placed the question of women’s representation before you. Let this generation be remembered for opening the door” while the security agencies should, “move beyond recruitment numbers. Build deliberate pathways into command and strategic leadership.”

He told the industry operators to “apply the discipline of Nigerian Content to women’s participation — in procurement, contracting, employment, technical training and executive leadership,” while development partners and civil society must “help us measure what works,” because inclusion without measurement and economic power is mere rhetoric and tokenism.

The take home from the summit as captured by ‘Timi was that when citizens are given justice, they build faith in the system. When given opportunity, they acquire a stake in the system. If given a sense of belonging, they acquire a reason to defend the system.

Ultimately, the most secured Nigeria will not simply be the Nigeria with the strongest security forces. It will be the Nigeria in which the greatest number of its citizens believe that the country belongs to them—and that they belong to the country.

The concern of participants at the summit was mainly whether government would listen, consider, and implement the ground-breaking suggestions put forward by experts on the burning issues of development, national security, and inclusion.