Table Of ContentConflict of Securities
Reflections on State and Human Security in Africa
Published by
Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd
P. O. Box 43418
London
SE11 4XZ
http://www.adonis-abbey.com
Email: [email protected]
First Edition, April 2010
Copyright 2010 © J. J. Abubakar, K. Omeje & H. Galadima
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 9781906704339 (HB)/ 9781906704346 (PB).
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted at any time or by any means without the prior permission
of the publisher.
ii
Conflict of Securities
Reflections on State and Human Security in Africa
Edited by
Jamila Jennifer Abubakar, Kenneth Omeje & Habu Galadima
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This book is a collaborative effort of so many people. Our heartfelt
thanks to the contributors, Dauda Abubakar, Dorren Alausa, Uzochikwu
Amakom, Patrice Cailleba, Audu Gambo, Chris Kwaja, Rekhar Kumar,
Shelare Makgetlaneng, Macharia Munene, Onuykwu Onyukwu, Boniface
Umoh and Douglas Yates, for the excellent works they have presented in
this volume. We would like to thank Jideofor Adibe of Adonis and Abbey
for his support and encouragement through out the various stages of the
project. Our sincere gratitude also goes to the anonymous reviewers of
the manuscripts for their suggestions. Our heartfelt thanks to our editor
Ken Wells for his invaluable suggestions. Finally, we wish to extend our
appreciation to Ken Omeje’s research assistant, Solomon Kimaita, who
helped in the final cleaning up of the proofread manuscripts.
Jamila Jennifer Abubakar et al.
December 2009.
iv
CONTENTS
Acknowledgment ………………………………………………………. iv
Chapter I
Conflict of Securities: Reflections on State and Human Security in Africa
Jamila Jennifer Abubakar, Kenneth Omeje &
Habu Galadima …………………………………………………….….. 1
Chapter 2
Whose Security? The Global Security Debate and the African Paradox
Kenneth Omeje…………………………………………………………. 17
Chapter 3
State and National Security: Issues of Sovereignty, Territoriality and
Governable Spaces
Audu N. Gambo and Chris M. A. Kwaja………………………………. 43
Chapter 4
Democratic Statecraft versus Political Legitimacy: The Case of Botswana
Rekha A. Kumar and Patrice Cailleba…………………………………. 53
Chapter 5
Identity Politics, Violent Conflicts and the Challenges of Human Security
in Africa
Dauda Abubakar…………………………………………………………65
Chapter 6
Historical Perspective on Security in Africa: The Refugee Problem
Macharia Muene………………………………………………………... 87
Chapter 7
State, Petro-Violence and the Dynamics of Conflict Management in the
Niger-Delta Region
Mala Mustapha…………………………………………………………. 113
Chapter 8
Evaluating Governance in Africa’s Oil Sector
Douglas Yates……………....................................................................... 129
v
Chapter 9
Economic Growth and Insecurity in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic
Onyukwu E. Onyukwu & Uzochukwu Amakom…………………........159
Chapter 10
Food Security and Agrarian Crisis in Nigeria
B.D. Umoh…………………………………………………………... … 175
Chapter 11
GMO Politics: Implications for Africa’s Food Export Commodities
Doreen Alusa………………………………………………………... … 191
Chapter 12
The Mining Industry of the Democratic Republic of Congo: The Leading
Economic Sector for Reconstruction and Development
Sehlare Makegetlaneng………………………………………………. ... 201
Chapter 13
Political Security and Insecurity of Politics in Nigeria
Habu S. Galadima……………………………………………………… 217
Contributors’ Profiles …………………………………………………. 233
Index …………………………………………………………………………….241
vi
Chapter 1
CONFLICT OF SECURITIES: REFLECTIONS ON STATE AND
HUMAN SECURITY IN AFRICA
Jamila Jennifer Abubakar, Kenneth Omeje, and
Habu Galadima
Introduction
The subject of security is a highly prominent object on the radar of
political discourses in Africa and elsewhere, and it has become even more
important in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in
New York and Washington DC. There persists in Africa, however, a
fundamental conflict between the security of the state and its governing
elites and the security of the people. For a large number of governing
elites, security appears to be about territorial sovereignty and the
protection and patrimonialization of the state largesse. For the majority of
underprivileged and middle-class Africans, security appears to be about
basic livelihoods, access to farmland, human capital improvement,
employment and wage matters, protection from violence, functional
development infrastructures (e.g., transportation networks, electricity,
clean water, and education), as well as availability and affordability of
essential services and amenities. Africa’s security contradictions and
dilemma - which also applies in varying degrees to other developing
regions - raise a number of urgent, compelling questions:
1. Whose security matters?
2. How has security been historically constructed and provided
in Africa?
3. How have those alienated from dominant security agendas
responded to their conditions of insecurity?
4. What nexus of factors and interests influence security
governance and politics in various African states and sub-
regions? Why and how?
5. What are the domestic, regional, and international
ramifications of the politics of security and the sprawling
insecurity on the African continent?
1
J.J. Abubakar, K Omeje & H. Galadima
These core questions are explored from diverse conceptual and
methodological perspectives in this book.
The focus and content of security have been seriously debated issues
in contemporary Africa. This is partly because of the profound
contradictions between human security and state/national security in
Africa and the conflict between these two security concerns, especially in
the postcolonial period. To help put the contradictions and conflict in
perspective, it is necessary to examine the nature and dynamics of
security in pre-colonial Africa.
Security in Pre-Colonial Africa
The concept and essence of security in pre-colonial Africa was holistic
in nature, interlinking the political, economic, ecological, socio-cultural,
and, perhaps most significant, religious-spiritual sphere of social life. The
holistic nature of security in pre-colonial history was part of the African
approach to reality, which considers the spiritual and physical worlds
inseparable. In traditional African religion (ATR) and cosmology, the
structural distinction between the sacred and the secular, the religious
and non-religious, as well as the spiritual and material areas of life found
in Judeo-Christian civilization is completely blurred. Ellis and Ter Haar
(2007) suggest that the so-called structural separation between the sacred
and secular is fundamentally rooted in Western epistemology and reflects
the specific historical experience of Europe, but it does not necessarily
reflect the historical experience of the rest of the world, especially Africa.
Mbiti (1969) attributes the holistic approach to reality and pre-
eminence of religious discourse in Africa to the fact that religion
permeates all spheres of life in Africa: (a) beliefs and worldview; (b)
farming, harvest, and crop yield; (c) marriage and child-bearing; (d)
stages of community socialization; (e) death and funeral; (f) personal and
collective security; (g) defence and warfare; and (h) environment and
natural disaster. For example, the use of magical power by a large
number of combatant groups (e.g., rebels, militias, and state security
forces) in various African political conflicts - a practice that dates back to
pre-colonial history - is part of the rhetoric about security (see Alie, 2005;
Omeje, 2006). The Egbesu, Bakassi Boys, and the Oodua People’s
Congress (OPC) are major Nigerian ethnic militia groups noted for use of
the magical charms to reinforce their military capabilities in their war
against uncompromising armed robbers who menace public order and
government security forces (Omeje, 2006). The use of magic in conflicts
2
Conflict of Securities: Reflections on State and Human Security in Africa
suggests there is a revival of ancient pre-colonial paradigms and
modalities.
Security in pre-colonial Africa involved people’s ability to deal with a
number of functionally interrelated activities (see Ellis, 1999; Ellis & Ter
Haar, 2004; Omeje, 2005):
1. Africans had to defend themselves and their communities against
external aggression, attack a potential aggressor, and prosecute
other political causes. These factors were some of the reasons for
the inter-tribal and inter-group wars widely prevalent in the pre-
colonial period.
2. They had to ensure and maintain the social organization of
production, distribution and exchange/trade, and self-sufficiency in
food production at the family, clan, village community, and other
levels.
3. They had to institute and enforce social norms and obligations to
maintain social order and stability through restorative and
retributive justice.
4. They had to maintain a judicious balance among the ecological,
socio-cultural, and spiritual realms because each of these realms
were was the source of information and material necessary for
survival: For example, the physical environment was a source of
herbal and curative medicine, and the spiritual realm was a source
of protective, offensive, and defensive charms.
Security in Africa’s pre-colonial history was based on community,
and it was people-centered in a holistic and functionally interrelated way.
In areas where states were non-existent or still at a formative stage,
security was mostly a social affair, but in places where state structures
had been considerably developed (e.g., in some centralized political
systems), security intersected and, to a large extent, functionally
interlinked the state and society. This does not imply that security
regimes and practices were beneficial to all and sundry because the focus
of security depended on the prevailing political situation. In pre-colonial
Africa, security could include the following injustices: (a) the degradation
and repression of women; (b) persecution, banishment, and elimination
of opponents by ruling elites and dictatorships; (c) ownership and use of
domestic slaves; and (d) human sacrifice and other harmful traditional
practices.
In the event of military threats to a political system, combatants were
mostly mobilized or drafted from society or the political community on
an ad hoc basis. Most kings and powerful rulers had special armed
3
J.J. Abubakar, K Omeje & H. Galadima
guards. In some pre-colonial ethnic communities, such as among the
Igbo, Benin, and Yoruba of southern Nigeria, the Akan of Ghana, the Ewe
of Ghana, Togo, and Benin Republic, the Mende and Temne of Sierra
Leone, and the Kpelle of Liberia (to name a few), men’s secret cults,
vocational guilds, and age-grade associations served as reserve
combatants. Rarely were there the professional standing armies known
today, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
Colonialism and Change in the Security Paradigm
Colonial rule introduced radical changes that upset the balance of
traditional political authorities. Colonial governments established new
Western-oriented institutions, agencies, and state systems that usurped
the sovereignty of traditional institutions and subordinated them to the
control of colonial governments. It was a system propped up by force and
military might. The reliance on military force to impose colonial rule
provoked considerable resistance across Africa (e.g., the Mau Mau revolt
in Kenya, the Temne uprising in Sierra Leone [also known as the Bai
Bureh war, named after the legendary Temne strategist who led the war],
and the Zulu resistance in South Africa). The imposition of colonial rule
and the modern state system altered Africa’s security landscape in three
remarkable ways.
First, the arbitrarily created modern state institution claimed
sovereignty and monopolized the use of violence in the colonial
territories. As Mbembe (2001) aptly states, colonialism established and
thrived on regimes of impunity. Forced labor, compulsory cash crop
production, and the delegation of sovereign power to trading companies
and individuals were all part of the regime of impunity widespread in the
colonies. The colonizers granted many large companies commercial and
mining privileges and sovereign rights that allowed them to raise taxes
and maintain an armed force. Mbembe argues that the regime of
impunity was a departure from the common law, individual rights, and
principles of legal justice that were emerging in the metropole. Given the
perceived illegitimacy of the colonial states and their domination by a
cohort of self-serving ethno-prebendal elites, the state’s claim to a
legitimate monopoly of the use of force in the classical Weberian sense
has been repeatedly challenged by various armed groups in the post-
colonial period.
Second, with the establishment of colonial rule and the consequent
destabilization, marginalization, and disempowerment of traditional
4
