Christopher Musa, former Chief of Defence Staff, has said that Nigeria must be relentless in the pursuit of good governance and the fight against corruption, stressing that, “corruption is not a victimless crime; it is an act of economic sabotage that systematically dismantles the foundations of peace.
Musa, a retired general, stated this while presenting his keynote at the 19th International Annual conference, General Assembly and Investiture of Fellows organised by the Society for Peace Studies and Practice (SPSP) held at the Abiola Ajimobi Resource Center, inside the University of Ibadan, stated that corruption erodes public trust in institutions, perverts justice and creates a system where privilege trumps merit.
“Transparent institutions and the rule of law are not mere political ideals but the bedrock upon which economic stability and social trust are built,”. he added
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The former CDS challenged the federal and state governments to treat the lack of economic opportunity of the Nigerian youths as an imminent national and global threat.
According to him, “Investing in entrepreneurship, vocational skills and the digital economy is not simply development work but the most cost-effective peacekeeping mission we will ever deploy.”
He advocated for a Grand Alliance for Peace, which involves “bringing together governments to create enabling policies, the private sector to drive inclusive growth, civil society to empower communities, academia to provide evidence-based solutions and security institutions to evolve and protect this broader concept of human security. Our silos must fall, for we are all now architects of the same fragile peace.”
Bisi Akande, pro-chancellor and chairman of the Governing Council, University of Ibadan, in his goodwill message, stressed the need for the leadership of the country to act fast to be able to escape “the fury of anger of the untrained Nigerian Youths”.
“We are truly at war with ourselves,” Akande noted. “We have forest, mineral and natural resources with large populations of uneducated and untrained workers that have no knowledge and capacity to exploit these resources for our wealth. We are truly at wars with ourselves. Until all these young populations of Nigerians are massively trained sufficiently enough in science and technology to exploit these resources for our wealth, the wars from ignorance, from poor health and from abject poverty would hold down all of us for the enslavement of the itinerant foreign scientists and their technologists, disguising as the native bandits, the local Boko Haram and various terrorists.”
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Kayode Adebowale, a professor and vice chancellor, University of Ibadan, in his speech, noted that high rates of youth unemployment create a dangerous reservoir of disillusionment and idle potential, easily exploited by those peddling violence or extremism
The vice chancellor noted that meaningful participation in the economy, access to decent work, fair wages and pathways out of poverty are essential for individuals to feel valued and invested in societal stability.
The 19th Conference of the Society for Peace Studies and Practice (SPSP) featured the conferment of Fellowship award of the society for peace studies and practice on Bisi Akande, former Chief of Defence Staff, General CG Musa, Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service, Kemi Nanna Nandap, Olufemi Bamiro, Professor and former Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Adeyinka Aderinto, professor and former Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) University of Ibadan, among other eminent Nigerians.
