By Demola Akinyemi

Ilorin – NIGERIA’S recent election as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council can be used to secure a permanent seat, a political scientist at the University of Ilorin, Professor Hasan Salihu has said. The two-term dean, Faculty of Business and Social Sciences at the University said in Ilorin, that “it is good to be where things are happening. It means we are one of the big boys in the world. The potential gains are there.

“Being a non-permanent member, Nigeria is now in a vantage position to plot her graph and secure permanent membership of the security council. Nigeria will use the opportunity to present her case properly to the world because those who control the world “are members of the Security Council. We have to consider the antecedents  of the country in this respect, because we have also served in the 60s, 70s and 90s, so we have  rich antecedents  in the non-permanent category. For us to fully appreciate what it portends and symbolizes, we have to recognize the centrality of the Security Council that it is the engine room of the United Nations where vital decisions are taken. It was not so easy for Nigeria because she had to use her muscle to drive away other contestants like Sierra Leone and other countries that also contested to be members. Now, Nigeria has to pacify these countries one way or the other because the long and short of it is that they are also very important and crucial to Nigeria in international pol
itics.

The tasks ahead: “The government must address the issue of light, water, roads, etcetera. There are negative perceptions about Nigeria all over the world; so the government is not being scored high within the international circle. Nigeria’s  foreign policy is not well funded. Take the issue of Halliburton, for example, the accomplices in America are now in prison, but all Michael Aondoakaa, our minister of justice, is telling us is one story or the other delaying the Nigerian suspects  from being tried. This and so many others like that have a way of denting the image of the country.

“So also we need to address issues bordering on the corporate existence of Nigeria, whether we have to be together or not must be put in proper perspective. Nigeria needs to change her pedestrian view of international system. The international system is there for countries that have recognized the need to struggle to have a place in it, nobody is taken as a superstar, you have to struggle, even America is struggling to maintain her position. We have to do our work well, we have to do more research to enable us know what to do, we don’t need to be reacting to international events based on the whims and caprices of the people in charge. For now, the research arm of Nigeria is practically dead; we have to do something about it. If well handled, it is capable of achieving for Nigeria more that the rebranding project will achieve.