2007: Nigerians Urged To Engage National and World Leaders To Avert Major Disaster In Their Home Country

May 4, 2006—On April 29, 2006, Africans In America, Inc. and the Nigerian Social Workers Association, Inc. held a joint public awareness forum at the Empire State Building in New York to discuss ways to avert a possible major humanitarian crisis in Nigeria , the most populous African nation, in 2007.

Organized out of the concern that the current political situation in Nigeria could degenerate into violence and bloodshed, and planned as the first step in disaster preparation, the forum attracted participants of different races, ethnicities, and nationalities from across the United States .

Many prominent scholars, mental health experts, and activists based in the United States spoke at the forum. These include Professor Leah Lapidus of Columbia University, a UN/Red Cross consultant and an expert on stress and trauma; Professor Chudi Uwazurike of the Department of Sociology, City College, CUNY, New York, a member of the Country Peer Review Committee of the African Union; Professor Bolaji Aluko of the Department of Chemical Engineering, Howard University, Washington, DC, a social activist; Dr. Harris Enabulele, a mental health specialist and former human rights commissioner for the City of Elizabeth, New Jersey; Professor Ropo Sekoni of the Department of English and Communications, Lincoln University, Pennsylvania; Professor Segun Gbadegesin of the Department of Philosophy, Howard University, Washington , DC ; Mr. Okey Mbonu, Esq., an attorney, commissioner of Housing Authority of Prince George County, MD, and President of the All Nigerian American Congress-ANAC; Mr. Mohammed B. Shehu, a grass root activist in the Nigerian community in New York and gubernatorial candidate for his native Kaduna State in Nigeria in the upcoming general elections.

Mr. Uchenna Alexius Ekwo, the program director for the Center for Media and Peace Initiative, and Mr. Laolu Akande, the North American Bureau Chief of The Guardian Newspaper in Nigeria , moderated the event.

The major causes of the current tension in Nigeria were identified, inter alia, as:

• The inherent structural imbalances and contradictions in the Nigerian state and the over-concentration of power and resources at the center.
• Lack of respect for the rule of law and disdain for the democratic process as evidenced by the sit-tight mentality common with African leaders.
• Unbridled corruption, lack of accountability, and fear of prosecution after leaving office.

It was unanimously agreed that concerted and collaborative efforts must be made to prevent political and social upheaval in Nigeria that could lead to mass dislocations and concomitant refugee crisis unprecedented in the history of mankind. It was noted that a refugee crisis in Nigeria, a country of about 150 million people, would engender irreparable damage to the economic, social, and political lives of her neighbors.

The following recommendations were made:

• The 2007 general elections in Nigeria must be free and fair.
• The Nigerian government must stop her current practice of persecuting those opposed to a constitutional amendment orchestrated to elongate the tenure of office of the president and governors.
• The rule of law must be allowed to flourish. Violators must be held accountable no matter their positions in society.
• People’s power must be invigorated. Nigerians at home and abroad should contact their elected officials from city/local to federal levels urging them to add their voices to the cause of peace in Nigeria .
• Members of the Nigerian community in the Diaspora, as well as their professional associations, socio-cultural groups, and religious organizations should engage in letter writing campaigns targeting world leaders like Mr. Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary General; President George Bush of the United States; Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain; President Jacques Chirac of France, President Vladimir Putin of Russia; and President Hu Jintao of China urging them to encourage Nigerian leaders to respect the rule of law and the democratic process, and give peace a chance.
• The United Nations and all international relief agencies must prepare their operational machinery for immediate deployment to Nigeria in case of a refugee crisis. All international relief organizations must make every effort to avoid the mistakes made in Somalia , Rwanda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, and the Darfur region of the Sudan.
• All African leaders, especially those in the Sub-Saharan region, must work together with other well-meaning world bodies and organizations to ensure peace in Nigeria as any refugee crisis in Nigeria will do incalculable injury to their countries’ vegetation, as well as their economic, social, religious, and political lives, changing their people’s lives for ever.
• Human rights organizations, religious and socio-cultural groups, and all well meaning people must start public awareness campaigns among the Nigerian populace to ensure that desperate and selfish politicians do not use them to foment violence.