Economic security best foundation for human security, says Emmanuel

Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State has identified economic security as the best foundation for total human security.

Emmanuel, who further identified hopelessness as the highest factor for crime, said the best way to stop crime is to beef up the economy, where people can make a decent living from honest means.

The governor stated this while delivering a keynote lecture at the 17th Africa Security Watch Conference at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre, Banjul, recently.

For the effective development of their countries, therefore, Emmanuel, in his lecture titled: “Sustaining Security in Africa through Good Governance: A Panacea for Insecurity”, charged African leaders to explore the possibility of using other forms of money other than cash.

He said: “Cash is limited but money is limitless and it can be created. In starting Ibom Air, my state government did not use cash, we used money. We couldn’t have started the airline with cash, because we didn’t have much, but we created money and today, many years running, we are the only sub-national in the continent with a commercial airline, which is doing very well.”

Noting that Africa cannot achieve desired growth through investment until the problem of insecurity is fixed, Emmanuel said: “A country cannot be free without her people being free.”

He consequently called on citizens to take ownership of governance and offer requisite support for the leadership to move on, even as he called on African countries to stop adapting alien constitutions. He underscored the need for homegrown democratic styles that reflect African environment and culture. “Until that is done, democracy cannot sustainably thrive here,” he said.

In his welcome remarks, the President, Chief Executive Officer of Security Watch Africa Initiatives, Mr. Patrick Agbambu, said: “The conference invited Emmanuel to share his development strategy, which has not only made his state peaceful but has attracted huge Foreign Direct Investments there at a time when investors are divesting from Nigeria,” adding that the “the organisation has been monitoring the steady improvement of the state in all areas of development.”

Agbambu also commended the Nigerian Navy and their counterparts in all the nations along the Gulf of Guinea, for frontally combating piracy and making the waterways safer for economic activities.

The event, which was attended by military top brass across Africa, diplomats, senior security operatives, ECOWAS representatives, senior civil servants, among others, is one of the continent’s most-prized security conferences, where key decision makers converge to X-ray the state of security of the continent.

The conference was declared open by Adama Barrow, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of The Gambia.

Emmanuel was accompanied to the event by his Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Ini Ememobong, among others.