Defence Minister: We’ve Started Review of Army Act
Experts, CSO want stronger oversight function on military
Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole The Minister of Defence, Brig-Gen. Mansur Dan Ali (rtd), has stated that the Nigerian armed forces Act is currently under review to conform to the international best practices.
The minister stated this yesterday in Abuja when he addressed participants at the CLEEN Foundation stakeholders’ forum for legislative oversight of the armed forces.
According to him: “The armed forces (military) have its role spelt out in the constitution; these duties are constitutional and traditional. Members of the military are also regulated by other laws; we have the international humanitarian law, which are the laws of arm conflicts, rules of engagement and many other laws.
‘’The military participation in politics has tremendously affected their way of doing things. I believe that with this kind of programmes the military has improved tremendously as a result of this training. Let me remind you that in all the armed forces; airforce, navy and the army all have a department known as civil/military relationship.
The Ministry of Defence is currently reviewing the armed forces Act to bring it into conformity with best international practices with human rights stance taken into cognition. I think event will help to improve the relationship between the military and the civilians.’’
The minister added that the Armed Forces Act through which the military is regulated had provision for the participation of the military in aid to civil authority, saying the military ought not to meddle in civil matters, as envisaged by the drafters of the Armed Forces Act; because of crisis everywhere the military has to aid civil authority.
The defence minister who was represented by Mr. Benny Chobki, Director Legal Services, Ministry of Defence Headquarters Abuja, said serving the country does not mean that military personnel have lost their fundamental human rights or have waved them.
Executive Director, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development, Dr. Utive Igbuzor, who chaired the forum was full of praise for CLEEN Foundation but said he was not happy with the National Assembly, saying that the National Assembly ought to have effective oversight function over the military.
“If you look at it you will know that from 1960-1999, Nigeria existed for 39 years as an independent country and the military ruled for about 30 years. But since 1999 till date is 19 years that civilians have been in authority; to that extent, we can say there is some form or improvement in civil/military relations because the military is no longer in position of political power,’’ Igbuzor stated.
‘’There should be effective legislative oversight over the Armed forces; secondly, that the military should subordinate themselves to civilian authority and thirdly, there should be a good relationship between members of the Armed forces and ordinary citizens that is mediated by laws in the land.
‘’We have made little progress; a lot needs to be done for effective legislative oversight. There is need to subject the operations of the military to operational orders to respects the rights of citizens.
The National Assembly is supposed to approve the budget of the military and ensure that the expenditure of the military is in line with the budget.
‘’We all know that this oversight function has not been effective, not only in the military but other aspects of life. That is why we are engaging in this discussion for the need to build capacity for legislators and their aids because there is need to have a framework for proper legislative oversight.”
On farmers/herders clashes, he said it is a complex issue, which is beyond the military, adding that it requires a political decision by the political authorities.
According to him, “Farmers/ Herdsmen clash is a complex issue as it goes beyond the military. It requires political authorities to take the right decisions and for the bureaucracy to implement the right decisions.
‘’In my view, the best decision in this 21st century is not to allow cattle to roam about in the streets. It is to ensure ranching so that farmers land will not be destroyed.”
The Executive Director of CLEEN Foundation, Benson Olugbuo, while welcoming participants to the forum stated that the aim of the project is to foster and sustain dialogue between the civilians and the military and to also create improved accountability with national cohesion to provide security and human rights throughout the country.
As part of recommendations for strengthening parliamentary oversight responsibilities of the Armed forces, the International Crisis Group recommended the need to: improve the expertise of members and committee staff members on security matters, through better training and exchanges with similar committees in parliaments of more developed democracies; scrutinise military leadership nominees more thoroughly to ensure that only competent officers are appointed to head the defence Ministry and the services. And organise public and expert hearings on formulation of a comprehensive military reform program, including a new, more relevant national defence policy.