Professor Efem Ubi, the Acting Director of Research OF THE Nigeria Institute of Internal Affairs (NIIA) has said that the reason for the recent emergence of military coups in West Africa was as a result of insecurity and a lack of identity in African countries.
In an interview with ARISE NEWS on Friday, the professor said that it was sad for Africa to be experiencing these situations, however, it was important for the government to find the reasons for the recent surge of coups.
The Acting Director then remarked that while there was no justification, one of the main reasons for the coups was insecurity. He said, “Now, if you listen to coup speeches right from the 60s up till today, you know, a lot of factors come into play. Mismanagement, maladministration, leadership ineptitude, corruption, economic reasons. But one thing that was not there in the 50s or 60s that has been added is insecurity.”
“Now if you listen to the coups that have taken place recently across West Africa, they all raise one issue aside the other maladies we talked about, insecurity. The government is incapable of managing insecurity, you know, and all that.”
Ubi then suggested that identity crisis could also be a cause of the military coups as he used Mali as an example and said, “Mali is saying they are now moving away from the French language, trying to adopt their own language. And now this is what we should be thinking. I’m not supporting what the junta is doing, but this is what we should be thinking. I think we should now create an identity for ourselves.
“You see, part of the problem in Africa and part of the reasons that these things happening, we really do not have an identity. We have borrowed identity. For instance, we should have a history.
“Our history should actually create that identity. Our culture, our language and everything. So, I think once we begin to do that, we’ll begin to move away from most of these uncanny, unconstitutional changes of government.”
He then mentioned that the government in the countries who are having issues with military takeovers should sit up and find the reasons for these actions, and then, provide solutions so as to avoid future problems. He said, “Government in the 21st century should be people oriented, development focused,” emphasizing that if the government puts safeguards in place for the people, and enable the availability of necessary infrastructure, proper business and investment programmes, and provide employment, the emergence of coups could be stemmed.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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