Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo has
said that the intervention by traditional rulers helped curtail the bombing of
oil installations by the Niger Delta militants and the secessionist uprising in
the South East.
Professor Osinbajo spoke on Wednesday
at the opening of the 10th National Development Summit of Nigerian Traditional
Rulers in Abuja.
He stated that the traditional
rulers played crucial roles at the point the country was threatened by the
Niger Delta militants and the separatist group, Indigenous People of Biafra,
IPOB.
The Vice President further called
on traditional rulers in Nigeria to take greater responsibility in resolving
conflicts in the country, adding that dialogue and engagements were as just as
important as law enforcement in tackling disputes.
Osinbajo said that traditional
rulers were better placed “to champion this vision of continuing dialogue and
engagement because of the respect you command from the widest possible range of
stakeholders and parties.”
He further stated that “Dialogue
and engagement are just as important as law enforcement, especially in
situations triggered by misunderstandings and disagreements between people and
communities who have existed peacefully side-by-side for centuries.
“You are also repositories of
important intelligence that can be useful in detecting suspicious or criminal
activity. The partnership between traditional authority and government is
therefore crucial.
“I can say without fear of
contradiction that the New Vision for the Niger Delta would not have happened
without the support of traditional rulers and leaders in the region.
“We have made it a priority to
meet with them and carry them along, and ask for their wisdom and their support
in resolving issues with stakeholders and communities. This was also our
approach in the wake of secessionist agitation by IPOB in the South East.
“As custodians of our rich
history, we also believe that you have a duty to remind us of the things we
have got right in the past, but from which, for some reason or another, we have
departed from, to our detriment,” he stated.
The vice president said Nigeria’s
traditional cultures had long ago perfected timeless dispute-resolution and
community-engagement mechanisms that were now under threat of being lost
forever.
“As traditional rulers, your
forebears and ancestors were the initiators and implementer of many of these
mechanisms, and our cultural institutions have evolved ways of passing this
knowledge down the generations – even if we have not been paying attention as
we should.
“May I, therefore, most
respectfully ask that you take this as a call to you, as royal fathers, as
traditional rulers, as elder statesmen, to commit yourselves to deepening your
partnership with government, to achieve our shared goal of laying the
foundation of peace and security that will guarantee true greatness for
Nigeria,” he stated.
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