Chief of Staff to President to Muhammadu Buhari, Prof Ibrahim Gambari yesterday asked
Nigerians not allow any form of militarised governance to truncate the nation’s democracy.
Gambari counseled Nigerians that despite the plethora of challenges facing the country democratic governance still offer the best chance for achieving goals of national transformation.
The former diplomat spoke in Ilorin, Kwara State while delivering the 12th convocation lecture of the Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, titled, Democratic Transition and Challenges of Good Governance and Human Security in Nigeria.
Gambari, who said that the unity of the country provides the most solid platform for realising the national greatness, added that, “we must not permit the enemies of the Nigerian state to triumph over the legitimate aspiration for a united, peaceful and prosperous nation”.
He posited that challenges of human security afflicting democracies is a global phenomenon, adding that: “The central question that is posed is how democracy can be renewed and reinvigorated to better serve the needs of citizens?
“It is here that I feel the Nigerian scholarly community in general
has its work cut out for, including you at Al- Hikmah. At a time of when students of democracy around the world are stepping up their work on how democratic governance could be recalibrated to meet the challenges of very rapidly changing times, our scholarly community must rise to the challenge of how, in our context, elected government can be ushered to a new phase that will enable leaders to answer the problems of the day”.
The presidential side said that obstacles to the nation’s quest for delivery of dividends of democracy are a number of domestic factors.
“Among these factors is the significantly weakened capacity of our public service institutions, the
persistence of corruption in the public sector, especially, and a sharp decline in ethical values in society.
“In the face of these challenges, generalised human security has proved quite elusive to win. As unemployment, poverty, and inequality have persisted, a fertile ground has fostered itself as to enable the emergence of an array of enemies of Nigerian democratisation.
“These anti-democratic forces include the admixture of radical extremist groups, trans-frontier and home-grown criminal gangs, different groups of pirates, and bearers of violent ethno-regional irredentism, etc.
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