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Nigeria
and UN Security Council seat
Expectedly, President Olusegun
Obasanjo last week at the59th Session of the General Assembly of the United
Nations in New York, reiterated Nigeria�s commitment to take the African slot
at the United Nations Security Council due to be expanded soon. It would be
recalled that for several years, various disquisitions on global power-play
have broached the imperative for a mutation in the UN�s Security Council to
reflect continental hue. As a dominant force in Africa and a crescent factor in
world affairs, Nigeria, the 99th member of the UN, has been in the vanguard of
this change. The council presently has five permanent members : the Unites
States of America, Great Britain, France, Russia and China � all victorious Allies
of the Second World War with the awry possession of the Yalta formula known as
veto power. Ten other nations enjoy the fringe status of non-permanent
membership with a two-year tenure.
In 1997, the United States made a
surprise proposal to the United Nations for an enlargement of the Security
Council integral to the reform package under the aegis of Mr. Kofi Annan who
was then newly elected as the UN scribe. The new structure provides for a
permanent seat for Africa, Asia, Latin America, Japan and Germany. Seven years
after this laudable proposal, and given the eminence accorded members of the
Council and the power they radiate in world affairs, we cannot but endorse
Abuja�s renewed interest in the Council seat as was eloquently articulated by
President Obasanjo last week. Of equal interest to us is the curiosity shown by
a democratic South Africa and an Egypt friendly with nations that pull the levers
of international politics. This triangular interest from Africa has spawned a
skewed debate: which of these countries eminently qualifies to be initiated
into the Council?
Admittedly, Article 24 (1) of the
UN charter provides a seminal understanding of the role of the Council members
and by logical inference, qualification for membership of the global elite
club. �In order to ensure prompt and effective action by the UN, its members
confer on the Security Council, primary responsibility for the maintenance of
international peace and security�. If therefore the capacity to contribute to
global tranquility is the criterion on which to predicate membership of the
Council, then Nigeria towers above other continental claimants of the seat.
Consider: Nigeria�s permanent representatives at the UN chaired consecutively,
since the 1970s, the United Nations� Committee on Apartheid until South Africa
won majority rule in 1994. Nothing could more illustrate an overt recognition
of Nigeria�s role in Africa than this. Indeed, the UN has enjoyed Nigeria�s
contribution to its peace-keeping operations more than any other African
country. Its missions in the Congo in the 1960s, Lebanon, Somalia, Cambodia,
etc, bear eloquent attestation.
Also, Nigeria�s role in the
Liberian crisis that received global approbation, and her effort in restoring
democracy in Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau and Sao Tome and Principe, are too
recent to escape attention. But if Nigeria�s past credentials are flaunted to
justify its quest to belong to the Security Council, we are quick to posit that
international politics which will influence the expansion of the Council,
ironically, engages in dialogue more with the present than with the past, a
development that vitiated or endangered her chances only six years back when it
bore the insignia of a pariah state in the comity of nations. Fortunately,
Nigeria is no longer a destitute in these spheres in a world which has
increasingly become a communal phenomenon, sharing all cherished ethos of
democracy and human rights. What is more, Nigeria, in spite of a feeble
trilateral commission recently constituted by Brazil, South Africa and India,
still stands in bold relief as the natural representative of blacks across the
globe.
In fact, Nigeria has a huge and
incontestable potential in Africa in terms of landmass, wealth and influence,
and it is strategically located that it can be easily accessed from any part of
the continent. Arguably, South Africa is contending from a weak position. Sound
as her economy and technological capability are, its contribution to
international peace efforts is lamentably low. Interestingly, the UN Security
Council where the United States has overwhelming influence is the nexus of
power in the UN. And to think that she will be indifferent to the question of
who dines and wines with her is to indulge in delusion. Consequently, Nigeria�s
current partnership and shared diplomatic concerns with the United States since
the return of democratic civil governance in May 1999 cannot be ignored.
Our solidarity with Nigeria in her
bid for Africa�s permanent seat in the UN Security Council is therefore beyond
easy question. Paradoxically, such ambition cannot be achieved through wishful
thinking. The necessary conditions that will boost this aspiration must be adequately
fostered. These include, interalia, observance of human rights, comprehensive democratisation in favour of an open and
transparent approach to governance, strict adherence to people � oriented
programmes and preference for dialogue rather than brute force on matters of
internal security and cohesion. We appreciate Nigeria�s advocacy for Africa as epitomised by President Obasanjo�s moving address to the UN General
Assembly last week in his official capacity as Chairman of the African Union,
AU, which its permanent voice in the UN Security Council will definitely
achieve. No nation on the continent deserves this diadem more than Nigeria.
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