Nigerian politicians weaponising insecurity for political gains — Okonjo-Iweala

Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has criticized Nigerian politicians for using insecurity against opposition for political gain.

Speaking at the 2024 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association in Lagos on Sunday, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala lamented that exploiting insecurity will further exacerbate the nation’s challenges.

In her keynote address titled: ‘A Social Contract for Nigeria’s Future’, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala emphasised the essential link between security and socio-economic development.

“We cannot have socio-economic development without security,” and reiterated that insecurity has been weaponised for political advantage, contributing to Nigeria’s current state of unrest and instability.

She criticised politicians for fostering insecurity to damage their rivals’ reputations, regardless of the human and material costs.

“We all know that security has been weaponised in our country for political purposes by political actors, leading partly to the situation we have now.

“We have politicians who believe that the best way to make their opponents look bad is to instigate insecurity, making it look like they can’t govern, regardless of whether this leads to loss of lives and property of innocent Nigerians. This has to stop,” Mrs Okonjo-Iweala stated.

Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, therefore, called for the use of available technology to combat oil theft and hold perpetrators accountable, stating that the theft of national assets must be stopped.

“All Nigerians must agree that stealing of our national assets of any type is intolerable and must be stopped,” she added.