It was the good fortune of the ex-partners of KPMG who are still awaiting their gratuity and pension to be invited to the United Nations General Assembly to address the General Assembly on the urgent need for the immediate cessation of all war across the world – most of which are catalysed and fertilized by fear of the unknown (and non-payment of gratuity and pension!). This was the startling discovery of the survey carried out by the Vatican.
The invitation personally extended to us by Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations, was at the prompting of the Holy Father, Pope Francis I, who declared before the assembled 170 presidents (heads of state; prime ministers; ayatollahs; etc) as follows (per Breaking News on CNN): “Poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome. [The same goes for non-payment of gratuity and pension].”
At his annual pre-General Assembly press conference, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters this year’s session opens “at a time of turmoil and hope”.
“Turmoil — because conflicts have deepened in so many places, and civilians are paying the price. And hope — because a historic number of world leaders will gather at the United Nations to forge solutions and adopt an inspiring new development agenda.”
Around the world, he said, about 100 million people – about one of every 70 people on earth — need lifesaving support. “Yet all our humanitarian appeals are chronically under-funded.”
Ban said brutal conflicts, breakdowns in basic governance, economic despair and other factors have generated displacements of people not seen since the Second World War. And 60 million people have fled their homes, he added.
Ban also touted the UN’s new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development “which embodies the yearnings of people everywhere for lives of dignity on a healthy planet” – and which was expected to be adopted by world leaders at a meeting September 25-27.
The consequences of this profound neglect are truly devastating as they provide fuel for the migrant crisis, which Idowu Akinlotan has captured with frank brutality: “Europe has been more dispassionate and less emotive about the migrant crisis, though it fears its economies and societies could be overwhelmed. One of the reasons is that for a continent that experienced two major wars barely 22 years apart in the last century (First World War 1914-1918; and Second World War 1939-1945), they are no strangers to mass movement of people across borders and sometimes across continents. They are familiar with the pressures that accompany massive dislocations occasioned by wars and economic meltdown. European leaders are familiar with epochal migrations that have taken place over more than two millennia.”
Anyway, by another stroke of good fortune, it turned out that we were staying at the same hotel as President Muhammadu Buhari: The Millennium Hotel, 145 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036.
Even though most of the media was dominated by the Holy Father, President Buhari was given fair and favourable coverage although the press desperately sought to elicit from us our views and opinions about Buhari’s performance after 100 days in office. We refused to oblige and insisted that a more appropriate basis for assessment would be after 600 days. Why? In his previous stint as Nigeria’s head of state, General Buhari ruled from 31st December 1983 to 27th August 1985 – exactly 600 days. As chartered accountants, we insist on making informed judgment based on truthful comparison of like with like.
Anyway, we were not ready to be distracted by any War of Words – our word against theirs. However, what severely jolted us was the Breaking New on CNN. Headline: “Nigerian Army Accuses Borno Leaders of Plotting to Prolong Boko Haram Insurgency”.
The report said the Nigerian Army had raised alarm over plans by “some highly-placed individuals” in the North East, particularly Borno State, to sabotage military operations in the region. A statement by the army spokesman, Sani Usman, said the elite were bent on having the activities of the Boko Haram terrorists prolonged for their selfish interests.
We were compelled to retreat to our own suite to ponder on the grave import of what was clearly a very serious statement. It may well be a case of a war within a war. We were forcefully reminded of the valedictory address of the Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Alex Badeh. Badeh had confessed that when he assumed office as the CDS, he headed an armed forces that lacked the relevant equipment and motivation to fight an enemy (Boko Haram terrorists) that was invisible and embedded with the local populace. He also said the decision of certain countries (which he did not name) to deny Nigeria weapons to prosecute the war against Boko Haram added to the challenges the military faced.
“Notwithstanding the modest successes we recorded in the fight against terror, I must say that the task or coordinating the military and other security agencies in the fight against the insurgents is perhaps the most complex and challenging assignment I have had in my 38 years in service,” Badeh had said in his valedictory speech.
Other challenges he said he faced included “the exploitation of a serious national security issue by a section of the media and the political class to gain political mileage”.
“Furthermore, the activities of fifth columnists in the military and other security agencies who leaked operational plans and other sensitive military information to the terrorists combined to make the fight against the insurgents particularly difficult. The activities of these unpatriotic members of the military not only blunted the effectiveness of the fight, but also led to the needless deaths of numerous officers and men who unwittingly fell into ambushes prepared by terrorists who had advance warning of the approach of such troops,” he had added.
J.K Randle
