Traditional rulers in Nigeria are agitating for constitutional roles, which they say will go a long a way in stemming the tide of the Boko Haram insurgency in the north east.
The agitation dominated the discussions of most speakers at a two-day national conference on Culture, Peace and National Security held in Kaduna State on Monday.
The conference, with the theme: “Culture, Peace and National Security: Role of Traditional Rulers in Nigeria’s Democracy”, was organised by the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) in collaboration with the UNESCO.
At the gathering considered important due to increasing insurgency in Nigeria’s north east states, speakers stressed that traditional rulers would play very important role in ending the insurgency.
Ranging from the Boko Haram terror in the north east to the kidnappings in the south east and militancy in the south-south and south west regions, these hostilities have no doubt claimed the lives of innocent citizens, destroyed several property worth billions of Naira and also afflicted pains on many families.
The conference highlighted the obligations and contributions of the traditional institution which is seen as the custodian of culture, peace and security.
One of the speakers, the paramount ruler of Oko Community in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State, Igwe Laz Ekwueme, identified insecurity and corruption as the bane of development in Nigeria, and stressed that if the government would assign constitutional responsibilities to traditional rulers, they would be able to join hands with government to tackle the rising rate of bomb attacks by the Boko Haram terrorists since they were closer to the grassroots.
He noted that corruption and insecurity had been giving the council of traditional rulers a serious cause for concern.
On the abducted school girls by the members of the sect, Professor Ekwueme expressed optimism that the abducted girls would soon be rescued by the Nigerian military especially with the assistance it had received from some foreign countries.
The Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Umar El-Kanemi, noted that the current security challenges could only be surmounted if appropriate measures were taken through proper consultations.
“If the roles and welfare of traditional rulers are properly spelt out, such will enable them to effectively contribute their quota in national development,” he said.
The Vice President, Namadi Sambo, who was represented at the occasion by the Kaduna State deputy governor, Mr Nuhu Bajoga, highlighted the critical role of royal fathers as custodian of cultural re-orientation, but lamented that they had abandoned such responsibilities for partisan politics.
“While the present administration is committed to the promotion of peace and security in the country and to also ensure that the abducted Chibok school girls are rescued, there is the need for deliberate cultural re-engineering in order to restore the nation’s lost values and ethics,” the Vice President said.
Participants at the gathering believed that the management of security rests principally on the complimentary roles of all levels of government and traditional institutions who constitute veritable agents of grassroots mobilisation in cultural orientation.
It is therefore expected that with the present security situation, government should work closely with the traditional rulers as a way of tackling the challenges.
