By Abdallah el-Kurebe, Editor
#TrackNigeria: Minister of Defense, Masur Dan Ali has advanced reasons why Nigeria’s participation in the United Nations Peacekeeping missions had declined.
The Minister spoke at the United Nations Peacekeeping Ministerial meeting on Uniformed Capabilities Performance and Protection of Civilians in New York.
According to Dan Ali, “Nigeria’s participation in UN Peacekeeping has declined significantly of recent, mainly due to her commitment to the war on insurgency in the North-Eastern part of the Country and Sub-regional Peacekeeping commitments.
“I am pleased to inform Your Excellencies that a lot of successes have been achieved in the fight against terrorism and we are in the process of de-mining affected areas and rebuilding communities. These successes have no doubt been made possible with the collaboration from International Community and countries of the Lake Chad Basin Commission.
“Despite the above mentioned challenges, Nigeria has continued to play its role in supporting the United Nations and other stakeholders to achieve international peace and security. One of such areas is through the Martin Luther Agwai International Leadership and Peacekeeping Centre, Jaji in Kaduna State.
“The Centre which is aimed at delivering realistic training packages on Peace Support Operations to potential United Nations and regional peacekeepers received recognition from the United Nations Integrated Training Service in August 2018. The renewal of the recognition has been requested by the Centre to meet up with international standards.
“This was after the curriculum was reviewed and updated in line with the present-day peacekeeping contemporary challenges. When approved, the Centre would serve as an additional training hub to the Regional Service Centre Entebbe, Uganda thereby reducing its burden,” the Minister stated.
He added that Nigeria had put adequate measures in place to enhance the performance of her troops as well as protect civilians during peacekeeping operations.
“These measures include effective pre-deployment and in-mission training for troops, zero tolerance to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, clear leadership and instructions to troops as well as deployment of more female peacekeepers for effective peace operations and to better protect civilians amongst others,” Dan Ali stated.
He assured the United Nations of Nigeria’s continuous commitment and support to ensure international peace and security.
