The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has described the ultimatum, given by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to the military junta in Niger Republic to restore democratic order or face the use of military force, as hasty and ill-advised.
The Chamber’s President, Asiwaju Michael Olawale-Cole stated this, on Monday, while making the Chamber’s position on the Niger coup, and the ultimatum given to the West African country, known.
He stated that while the Chamber will support moves by the regional body to restore democratic order in the West African country, it will, however, recommend dialogue as a better tool towards achieving such objectives.
While commending the game-changing role the regional body and the ECOWAS Monitoring Group, ECOMOG had played in the past, and the gallantry of its soldiers, the LCCI boss, however, noted that the challenges bedevilling the ECOWAS region, presently, no longer make such feats possible.
“The Chamber recalls, with pride, the game-changing role ECOWAS, through ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), led by gallant Nigerian soldiers, played decades ago. Copied and praised by the United Nations (UN), ECOMOG was to become a model of peace enforcement for the rest of the world.
“The challenges in many spheres that the ECOWAS region faces today are succinctly quite different. Like seasons, time has changed. Economic growth in the sub-region is abysmally poor in the face of a high birth rate, weak productivity, manpower shortage and technological challenges.
“The world today is more polarised and the propensity to engage in military conflict is high. In today’s world, countries’ actions, and decisions are largely driven by their strategic intents as they pursue their goals and objectives,” he added.
The LCCI boss also queried the strategic intentions and benefits, behind the inclination to apply the use of military force, counselling the regional body on the need to be circumspect; since there may be some undercurrents, between the leaders and the populace in the country, which the leadership of the regional body may not be aware of.
Asiwaju also insisted that it will be detrimental to the Nigerian people and the country’s economy to deploy troops to Niger when the country still grapples with political and economic challenges, caused by insurgency and weak security infrastructure.
“If we do not have the security paraphernalia to deal with Nigeria’s insecurity challenges, it would be detrimental to Nigerian society and economy to deploy troops to Niger,” he stated.
While throwing the Chamber’s weight behind the federal government’s decision to cut off electricity supply to Niger, as one of the measures to bring the junta to its knees, Asiwaju however argued that deploying Nigerian troops, as part of the regional military force to Niger, may be too expensive for the weak economies of the member-states of the ECOWAS., especially at this time.
He therefore called for a top-level political consultative, and diplomatic engagements with the coupists. This, he argued, is likely to be more effective for the needed peace in the sub-region.
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