By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
As Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called on Heads of State and Government of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to work towards the establishment and sustenance of a Regional Standby Force for the security and economic advancement of the community, Femi Otubanjo, Research Professor at the Nigerian Institute International Affairs (NIIA), has warned that such project will not benefit the country.
Tinubu made the call for a regional standby fighting
force for the subregion during the opening of the 65th Ordinary Session of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government on Sunday, in Abuja just as he also highlighted the expediency of a standby force in the face of growing security threats in West Africa.
”The Regional Action Plan against Terrorism has enhanced cooperation on training, intelligence sharing, and humanitarian interventions.
”In addition to this, the Ministers of Finance and Defence met recently in Abuja to raise funds for activating the ECOWAS Standby Force to boost counter-terrorism efforts.
”Member countries are also displaying their commitment to combating insecurity by individually increasing their defence budgets in order to acquire necessary equipment and ensure preparedness,” the President said.
But speaking in a national television monitored by Prompt News in Abuja on Monday, Otubanjo poured cold water on the proposal, saying that should ECOWAS decides to embark on such gigantic project Nigeria might found herself bearing the huge cost of financing an ECOWAS Standby Force project.
He argued that ECOWAS Standby Force project will entail huge funding and with the benefit of hindsight, many of the member states will not be forthcoming with their financial contributions for the project, saying that Nigeria may be left in the lurch like it was the case with the defunct fighting force of the sub-region called ECOMOG.
“If I am to advice President Tinubu, I will tell him don’t form a Standby Force that only Nigeria will be left to fund. Why form regional fighting force when ECOWAS will have to buy every equipment needed by the Standby Force from the United Kingdom, United States of America (USA) and other Western and Asian countries. This is a way fritter a scarce foreign currency of the countries”, Otubanjo insists.
He also said it will be unwise for ECOWAS to set up a fighting force with Commanders and all the paraphernalia of military commands when none of the countries in the sub-region can manufacture any military light weapons or hardwares to fight battles but would rather buy the equipment to be used by the Standby Force. READ ALSO:
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According to him the current inclement economic situation in most countries of the world including Nigeria has made it impossible for the once bouyant nation to bear the hefty financial implications involved in the funding of a multinational military force for ECOWAS, pointing out that most of the member states may fail to contribute for the upkeep of the Standby Force.
