Nigeria’s overall contribution of troops for United Nations global peace-keeping missions has been ranked fourth after Bangladesh, Pakistan and India who currently occupy the first three positions respectively in rankings for countries with the largest troop contribution for global peace.
Minister of Defence, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode , disclosed this Saturday at the inaugural Okoi Arikpo Global Achievement Award organized by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja in honour of personalities and institutions that have contributed to fostering Nigeria’s foreign policy thrust.
Kayode, who received an award in recognition of the contributions of Nigeria’s military formations to global peace-keeping, stated that this recent development gives Nigeria an assailable advantage to convincingly stake claim for a permanent place in the UN Security Council.
While attributing the achievement to the commitment of the country’s military to her peace-keeping policies, Kayode noted that it was necessary for the country to get the most out of her participation in global peace-keeping by involving every facet of her economy in the processes involved.
According to him, Nigeria stands to make the most of her contributions to global peace-keeping when she adopts the American model where social engineers are encouraged by the government to participate in the processes of rebuilding of countries that had hitherto emerged from violent uprisings.
He said: “On behalf of the Nigerian Armed forces, I am elated that a key agency of the government has recognised the contributions of the military to global peace-keeping, this has opened up a new synergy between these two important agencies of government to improve on her international relations.
“Our troop contribution to global peace-keeping has been ranked fourth and this was achieved by committed efforts to the country’s foreign policy thrust, we had merely participated in peace-keeping without involving major stakeholders in the past but we need to change this paradigm to allow social engineers get involved in the process of rebuilding after peace has been achieved in these countries that we go for such missions and we are developing a policy that will ensure that we don’t just get involved to spend our money and blood but also to take maximum advantage in areas that we could.”
Kayode also proposed that the Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (TAC) be restructured to take the form of a possible Nigerian International Development Agency (NIDA) in view of the need to galvanize Nigerian social engineers to get involved in peace-keeping missions.
Author: Chief Editor
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