A two day summit which discussed the rising security and governance challenges in the South East region of Nigeria was held at Rockview Hotel Owerri, Imo State on 23RD and 24TH April, 2013. The summit had over 58 participants drawn from Civil Society Organizations CSOs, Community Based Organizations CBOs, Faith Based Organizations FBOs, Town Union and Associations, Security and Governance Advisers from five South Eastern Nigerian States viz: Ebonyi, Imo, Abia, Enugu and Anambra. The Summit organized by CLEEN Foundation in Conjunction with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and National Human Rights Commission [NHRC] with support of Ford Foundation West Africa Regional Office also witnessed the presentations of commissioned research results about the security and governance challenges in individual states making up the region and the National Crime Victimization Survey 2010 of the CLEEN Foundation.

The Executive Director of CLEEN Foundation Kemi Okenyodo in her address said that the summit was targeted at bringing together critical stakeholders from South East region to discuss issues that have easily beset the region. South Eastern region of Nigeria is now a far cry from what it used to be. The region known to have groomed industrious, hardworking and intelligent men and women like Owelle Nnamdi Azikiwe, Michael Okpara, Ezeogo Akanu Ibiam, Ikemba Odimegwu Ojukwu, Chinua Achebe, Alex Ekwueme, Emeka Anyaoku, Chuba Okadigbo, Philip Emeagwari, Dora Akunyili, Obiageli Ezekwesili, Ngozi Okonjo-Iwuala and many more is now an image of its old self.

The active nature of community development associations CDAs a strong brand of South East Nigerian Communities and avenues where Igbo people would come together periodically within and outside the shores of the country as a group to interact and address issues that common to them and avenues of propagating hard work and achievement values are now totally absent and or non-existent.

Abia State that hosts Aba hitherto regarded as Italy and China of the region because the artisans of Aba can imitate any fashion design particularly leather products [shoes, bags, belts etc] of the high streets in New York, England and Paris has lost its luster. Lives and properties are no longer safe in Aba. Anambra State the commercial nerve centre that services the South East and South South zones and has produced great minds and industrious entrepreneurs is now under siege by armed bandits and kidnappers. Enugu State that houses the Ivy League universities in the country, University of Nigeria, Nsukka and destination point cities and locations for Nollywood movie makers has a share of the security and governance problems. Ebonyi State an agricultural community which produces good quality local rice – Abakaliki rice is rated highest in the crime chats arising from security bad governance implications. Imo State which can be said to be gateway state to other South East and South-South States and emerging tourist with about six tertiary institutions and home of most prominent civil society actors has lost its glory over time due to security and governance issues.

According to Ms. Okenyodo, beyond many positive indicators about the South East region and all her past glory, there are clear indications that for over 14 years now, the area is plagued with developmental challenges and the indices for human insecurity have gone very high with attendant poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, human capital flight [brain drain] etc . Even though it could be argued that this has been characteristics of the entire Nigeria, evidence is showing that South East needs specific attention. All the above she continued has invariably increased the insecurity in the region adding that criminality is at its peak. Ms. Okenyodo said that 90% of all the people from the South East interviewed in the last National Crime Victimization Survey [NCVS] conducted annually by CLEEN responded were scared of becoming a victim of crime. There is also the negative one linked to treatment and respect for women.

Observing the region, one can get the impression that women are seen as ‘chattels’ and extrinsic value is not placed on them as persons. The South East ranks second highest on domestic violence at 36% far above the national average which was 31% in the 2012 National Crime Victimization Survey. The face of law enforcement and policing one sees in Lagos and Abuja is totally different from what one finds in the South East, where the security and law enforcement officials have become an ‘occupying force’. The notion of transparency and accountability is either absent or at a very low ebb while the tendency of oppressing and abusing the rights of the people appears to be high.

She concluded with saying that good governance guarantees security where the structure, functions, purposes, powers and duties of government must serve the interest and satisfy the aspirations of the people. Society tends to be well secured when governments in power evolve and sustain economic policies and programmes capable of preventing crises and conflicts. Security is about the survival and positive conditions of human existence, about peace, development, justice, whose absence creates the condition for conflict and insecurity.

The address of the Governors’ Forum Secretariat Director General Mr. A.B Okauru was presented by Mrs. Titiola Akindeide. Her address painted even grim picture of the alarming security situation in the South East Nigeria. She recounted the issues of theft, kidnapping, armed robbery, violence against women, sexual assault and other vices to be on the increase and said the people are robbed of peace and the South East people in Diaspora and Inspora cannot come or visit home any longer. She made several references to the CLEEN Foundation 2012 National Crime Victimization Survey which highlighted several issues of insecurity in the region to drive her point home. Among the constraints to curbing the rising trend of insecurity in the South East Nigeria according to Governors’ Forum Representative to the summit includes:

• Constitutional Issues which include many things as Federal Government control of Police.
• Resource Constraints which has forced State Governments to fund police functions, operations and activities.

According to Akindeinde, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum has set up Security Committee which has studied and submitted its recommendations to the Secretariat. The implementation of the finding and funding of the implementation is ongoing. She also said that the Nigeria Governors’ Forum recognize the fact that Nigeria has brilliant minds that can solve Nigeria’s problem, but added that unemployment is a very big issue whenever the issue of security is brought to the front burner. She submitted that governments at all levels must provide employment to the teeming population of Nigerian youths who are unemployed. Again, education she added is the key to secure and safe environment for all. She therefore added that government of Nigeria at all levels must provide education to the citizens adding that value chain of agriculture is planned to be unlocked by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to provide the much needed employment for Nigerians.

She called for all Nigerians to remain alert in the rising trend of criminality and urged the Non-Government Organization NGOs and Community Based Organizations CBOs to bet involved and help to push the envelope of security and good governance. Respect for the rule of law by all she said is another panacea to solving security problems of Nigeria and recommended that the Vigilante Groups or Neighborhood Watch Groups must operate or be made to operate under the rule of law for the collective good of all.

Dr. Chidi Odinkalu, the Chair; Governing Council of National Human Rights Commission NHRC began his address by confirming that no part of Nigeria holds the monopoly to insecurity because the whole part or regions of Nigeria is presently undergoing severe dose of insecurity arising from several means, modes and causes. He posited that the South East situation is the commercialization of crime because of the facts that the youths of the zone are educated and unemployed. In the Northern part of Nigeria, Dr. Odinkalu said the problem is illiteracy and therefore added that it is not an accident that illiteracy grew into crime. He described the crime in the North part of Nigeria as nihilistic while the crime in the South East Nigeria is commercialized. Dr. Odinkalu affirmed that whether it is the Northern region nihilistic crime or the South East commercialized crime, that all have the tendency of causing great problem for Nigeria. All is not well for Nigeria no matter how we look at the situation. “Money is not the issue nor does it cause the problem for Nigeria because Nigeria has enough money to take care of its problems. The problem is that the lives of Nigerian citizens do not worth anything in the eyes of their leaders and people” he said.

Dr. Odinkalu said that if the lives of Nigerian people do not matter to the government and the people that there is nothing money can do about the associated problem. He therefore called for the Nigerian authorities to build institutions people can trust. He called on the Nigerian Governors to give Nigerians performance and not solidarity. He strongly condemned the use of arms during elections by the politicians in Nigeria. “Stop the guns during the elections in Nigeria” he stressed. Concluding, Odinkalu said that poverty is not the problem with Nigeria but the act of impoverishing the people by the leaders. We all have to deal with poverty in one way or the other but impoverishing the people is by act or omission of the leaders. No remedy to injustice lead for instance leads to impoverishment. “Nigeria cannot deal with extremist terror if we cannot deal with terror at our homes. Let us give voice to those who cannot be heard and all will be well” he concluded.

Dr. Innocent Chukwuma; the Regional Representative Ford Foundation; West Africa Office began his address by tracing the downward movement in the social statistics index of South East region of Nigeria from 2008 to 2012 by the United Nations Social Statistics index report. The cause of the downward trend noticed in the social statistics index of South East region of Nigeria began in 2008 was traceable to insecurity according to the report. The social lives of the people of South East region of Nigeria have changed drastically. The Igbo people who hitherto visit their villages and towns often to attend to social events like burials, marriages and annual homecoming and mass return festivals no longer visit their homes due to insecurity. These events are now observed in the cities. The social benefits and economic advantages that accrue to the communities from these events have all gone with the fatal winds of insecurity blowing across the South East region of Nigeria. The causes of the insecurity in the South East region of Nigeria according to Dr. Chukwuma are not far-fetched. The UN Habitat research recorded that over 8000 people were displaced in Nigeria by El Rufai urban city renewal activities which involved closing down of markets, forceful displacement of people from their homes especially in FCT Abuja. Most of the people displaced are of South East extraction and this has contributed immensely to the security problems in the region.

Again, the governors of South east region of Nigeria turned themselves into imperial governors because the peoples’ docility attitude and conscious alienation of the people from governance. The people became disinterested in governance and government activities due to the attitude of the people in government. The citizenry asked no questions about how they are governed and the governors are having field day mismanaging the commonwealth of the people.
Senator Ndu who represented Senator Anyim Pius Anyim delivered the address from the distinguished Senator to the summit. He apologized for making it late to the event but pledged the commitment of Senator Anyim to the security and welfare of the South East region of Nigeria adding that the summit is timely and relevant. He said that Senator Anyim has promised to support every effort to bring back the lost glory of South East region of Nigeria through conscious moves to resolve insecurity and rampant level of criminality in the region. He requested the organizers of the summit to that they should organize such summit in all the states of South East Nigeria as a matter of urgency Senator Ndu pledge to bank roll the hosting of similar summit in Enugu on behalf of himself and Senator Anyim Pius Anyim who he represents.

Barrister Okechukwu Okorocha, the Senior Special Assistance to Governor on Security represented and addressed the summit on behalf of Governor of Imo State. He expressed the apology of Governor Rochas Okorocha for not being present at the summit and the goodwill of the government of the state to the all-important summit. He enumerated all that the government of Imo State is doing to curb insecurity in the state and wished the summit successful deliberation. He officially declared the summit open.

The plenary sessions witnessed the presentation of commissioned studies and discussions. The summit ended with over ten point’s declaration of action areas and recommendations on how the security and governance challenges of South East regions of Nigeria can be reduced.