Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC) Weekly Subject Experts’ Presentation was held at Hall C, TY Buratai Block, Abuja. There were two presentations made by the Subject Experts on Middle East/North Africa and Turkey and Southern Africa.
The first presentation was made by Brig Gen S Musa Subject experts on Middle East/North Africa and Turkey, his presentation focused on, Dubai Unveils New Initiatives for Children and Community Welfare. According to Focus Newspaper of 11 February 2025, ‘’Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, has approved the Dubai Child Protection Protocol, a significant step towards enhancing the quality of life for children and residents in the UAE. These initiatives aim to advance social development benchmarks, focusing on child welfare and improving the overall well-being of the community. The approval came during a meeting of the Executive Council of Dubai, reflecting the UAE’s commitment to fostering an inclusive, resilient, and future-ready society.
The Child Protection Protocol is designed to provide a comprehensive framework for child welfare, emphasizing family support and addressing multiple stages of a child’s life. These include: Prenatal care, Birth registration, early childhood services, School-age support, Youth development and Pre-marital counseling for adults. The protocol strengthens collaboration among specialized entities such as Dubai Police, Dubai Courts, the Community Development Authority, Dubai Health Authority, and others, creating a well-governed ecosystem for child welfare. Additional initiatives include proactive child welfare services, specialized training for social workers, and legislative reforms to reinforce governance and accountability.
In his analysis and lessons for Nigeria, Brig Gen S Musa stressed that, it is disheartening at the moment Nigeria does not have any ministry that directly deals with the affairs of children. This makes the protection of children’s right difficult. Although Nigeria has implemented the convention on the rights of the child, however only 11 states have fully implemented it. The social protection policy in Nigeria is externally induced, influenced by the World Bank advice for social protection floors. The government of Nigeria has initiated various measures for the welfare of children. In 2007, Nigeria launched ‘’In Care of the People’’ called COPE (Umokoro, (2003). The COPE is a form of conditional cash transfer in which eligibility is based on having a child or children who attend/s schools, the children in schools must come from a female headed home, elderly parent and house hold which the presence of poverty can easily be detected.
As part of her commitment in meeting the goals of MDG, Universal Basic Education programme has been established in Nigeria with Free Primary Education made compulsory for all children. Also, in 2010, Almajiri Model Secondary School was established in the North to reduce the number of street-children/beggers. To reach MDG targets, Nigeria established its own version of MDG called National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies in 2004. Likewise, the Directorate for International Development reportedly donated a lot of money for poverty reduction in Africa with child care as one of its major targets. In 2001, the National Poverty Eradication Program was introduced in Nigeria (Umukoro, 2013). This is to eradicate absolute poverty. However, it was unable to achieve its aim owing to bad implementation as those who are really poor do not get the benefits.
He recommended that, the Federal Government of Nigeria should ensure that Child’s rights as contained in the Child’s Right Implementation Committee set up across Nigeria are immediately implemented by all the states in Nigeria.
The second presentation was made by Col OR Akerele (Rtd) Subject experts on Southern Africa, he centered his presentation on, South Africa Police Say Suspected Ringleader in Illegal Gold Mining Disaster allowed to Escape. Focus: Discuss Measures in Combating Illegal Mining in Nigeria. Illegal gold mining, also known as artisanal mining is a significant environmental and social-economic problem, particularly in developing countries like South Africa, Lesotho, Zambia, Botswana and Nigeria; where individuals or group extract gold without proper permits or adherence to regulations; causing severe damage to ecosystems and communities. Gold mining remains a vital part of South Africa’s economy to produce this precious minerals but has become a problem due to the mining illegality by artisans. Illegal mining has therefore become a means to wealth by artisans in South Africa, Lesotho, Zambia, Botswana and even Nigeria. However, the efforts of the South Africa Police has been yielding desired results but not deterring the illegal miners operations coupled with complicity by some police officers who are supposed to stop the illegal miners, arrest and prosecute them.
In his analysis and lessons for Nigeria, Col OR Akerele (Rtd) pointed out that, community leaders in Stilfontein and some NGOs have raised concerns about the status of unseen miners’ bodies underground at the mine shafts. The same situations applies to security agencies in some mining locations in Nigeria, as reported by some NGOs and community leaders. These events further shows the level of corruption within the Police and other law enforcement agencies in South Africa and the Police, NSCDC and other security agencies in combating illegal mining in Nigeria. It could therefore be necessary for the Nigeria Police and NSCDC to retrain their personnel and operations most especially with education to shun corruption of all types. It has also been adduced that the efforts by the South African government to combat illegal mining was being sabotaged by some corrupt and fraudulent police officers; whom he said will face stern disciplinary actions before their further dismissal from the SAP. The SAP new commissioner, General Fannie Masemola further stated that illegal mining deprives the country of much needed revenue while the illegal miners gets richer.
Therefore, combating illegal mining in Nigeria will require the dedication of all security personnel deployed for such tasks. The lessons which Nigeria could learn from this escape of artisanal mining ringleader’s in South Africa, aided by police officers includes: The need to shun corruption by all police officers and the need for proper enforcement, arrests, documentation and investigation before arraigning suspects in courts. Since the beginning of this present administration, realising the potentials as an alternative sources of revenue for the country and its other numerous benefits of the mining sector, the Nigerian government has been cracking down on illegal mining, making dozens of arrest of unlicensed miners since April 2024 for allegedly stealing the country’s gold and lithium, which are considered as highly profitable minerals used for a variety of purposes worldwide including ornamental jewelleries, wrist watches, construction, aesthetics, smartphones, electric vehicles and other power systems. These uses has therefore turned the attention of the world especially China and some European and Asian countries to Nigeria to source these solid minerals.
He recommended that, Corrupt Police officers and personnel of other security agencies should be immediately prosecuted and maximum punishments awarded to serve as deterrence to others while dedicated and patriotic ones be rewarded.
