FORMER military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, on Tuesday,
said that Nigeria’s democracy no longer faced the danger of being
truncated by the military.
Babangida was the guest speaker at the graduation ceremony of Course
20 and 20th anniversary of the National Defence College, Abuja.
According to him, the training senior military officers had received
at the college and what he termed “enlightened self-interest” would not
allow military incursion into the current democratic experience in the
country.
The former president further said that more senior military officers
were now committed to democracy, a development which, according to him,
would facilitate national development and put an end to coup d’etat in
the country.
Babangida, who spoke on the topic: “The creation of National Defence
College: 20 Years After,” charged political leaders in the country to
give more patronage to the college and recognise it as the leading
institution providing solutions to security and defence issues.
According to him, “the college needs to be patronised by the relevant
arms of government, as obtainable in other parts of the world. Defence
colleges and universities are held in high esteem by the governments
which own them.
“In this respect, the National Assembly should be interacting more
closely with the NDC, so as to use its services in their work on defence
and security. The college should also move out and be a service
provider in its area of competence to Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS), the African (AU) and other institutions in Africa and
beyond.
“It is not acceptable that other similar institutions should come
into our country and region to offer technical services when NDC is
here. As a centre of excellence, the college should be doing a lot of
work for ECOWAS and not its counterpart institutions from outside.
“At the very least, we expect that any institution coming in here to
run courses or research should partner with the NDC to do it.”
Affirming that the college has contributed to national development,
by impacting the core values and ethics that suppport democratic rule,
Babangida said “I can say without equivocation that our democracy faces
no danger from the military.
“This is because long before Nigeria returned to democratic rule,
military officers who passed through this college were prepared for life
of service under civilian leadership and control.”
Babangida, who stuck to his prepared speech, even during the
interview session with journalists, credited the college for building
consensus among the senior officer cadre that had sustained democracy
and was helping in the transformation of the military.
The lecture, which was held at the General Sani Abacha Hall of the
college, was attended by the Minister of State for Defence, Chief (Mrs)
Olusola Obada; Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi
Petinrin; service chiefs comprising Lieutenant-General Azubuike
Ihejirika (Army) and Air Marshal Mohammed Dikko Umar (Airforce) and
other top serving and retired officers.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Obada said that insecurity, all over
the world, was gradually becoming the norm, adding that there was the
need for security agents to live up to their responsibilities.
Earlier in his welcome address, the commandant of the college, Rear
Admiral Thomas Lokoson, reiterated the commitment of the college towards
developing and training strategic leaders that would live up to the
security challenges of the 21st century
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