Nigeria's democracy faces no threat from military,says Babangida

Former
President Ibrahim
Babangida on
Tuesday said the
nation’s
democracy faced
no danger from
the military due
to the officers’
training and
exposure to the
tenets of
democracy.
Babangida said
this in Abuja at
the National
Defence College
(NDC) Graduation
Lecture of Course
20/20th
Anniversary
Celebration.
The former
military leader in
a paper entitled:
“The Creation of
National Defence
College: 20 Years
After, ’’ noted
that the college’s
curriculum had
exposed
participants to
the tenets of
democracy right
from its inception
in 1992.
He said that the
college had
inculcated among
military and
paramilitary
personnel, core
values and ethics
that supported
democratic rule.
“I can say
without
equivocation that
our democracy
faces no danger
from the military.
This is because
the curriculum of
this college has
exposed
participants to
the tenets of
democracy from
its inception.
“Therefore, long
before Nigeria
returned to
democratic rule,
military officers
who passed
through this
college were
prepared for life
of service under
civilian leadership
and control.
“Thus, by the
time international
partners were
falling over
themselves to
give lessons in
civil-military
relations within
the democratic
context, most
senior officers in
the armed forces
had already
learnt this at the
college,’’
Babangida said.
According to him,
the college has
raised a critical
mass of senior
officers who are
committed to
democracy and
that itself
facilitates
national
development.
The former
president, who
said his
administration
built temporary
site for the
college in 1992,
stressed the
need to build a
permanent site
to ensure that
the college
became a world-
class institution.
He stressed the
need for the
college to have
first class
facilities, human
resources and
management
systems and
processes to
enable it to fulfil
its mandate.
Mrs Olusola
Obada, the
Minister of State
for Defence,
urged the
security agencies
to be proactive in
combating
security
challenges in the
country.
Obada tasked
the participants
to use skills and
knowledge
acquired at the
college to contain
terrorism,
kidnapping,
human
trafficking and
other crimes.
In his welcome
address, Rear
Adm. Thomas
Lokoson, the
Commandant of
NDC, said the
college’s
graduation
lecture was to
expose the
graduating
officers to new
horizons of
imagination,
creativity and
service in the
interest of the
country.
130 participants
graduated from
NDC Course 20
some
participants
came from
Republics of
Benin, Burkina
Faso, Cameroun,
Congo, Gabon,
Ghana, Kenya,
Mali, Niger and
Sierra Leone.
(NAN)