Nigeria Police Force Official Website

A KEYNOTE ADDRESS PRESENTED BY

SIR (DR.) MIKE OKIRO CFR, NPM, mni,

THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF POLICE

AT THE LAUNCHING CEREMONY OF A BOOK

IN HIS HONOUR TITLED: CONTEMPORARY

READINGS IN GOVERNACE, LAW AND SECURITY ON THURSDAY, 26^TH FEBRUARY, 2009

AT ECOWAS SECRETARIAT, ABUJA.

I am pleased and elated for this great honour done to me today. It is indeed a clear vindication and eloquent testimony that no good work goes unchronicled. I am particularly impressed with the credentials of the contributors to this book project. They are men and women who have made indelible marks in our academic world, respected and respectable scholars of high intellectual standards and acumen. They are men and women of no mean repute. I salute you all. It is with ineffable joy that I thank twenty-nine (29) of you who have considered me worthy to be part of our modern history. According to Amy Lowell,

ABooks are more than books, they are the life. The very heart and core of ages past,The reason why men lived and worked and died,The essence and quintessence of their lives.@ 

To this end, I offer my big thanks, not only to the contributors, but also to you all who have made out time to witness and support this epoch making ceremony.

2.       The book; Contemporary Readings in

Governance, Law and Security, is very apt and no less topical one which cannot be timelier than now considering the enormity of challenges to our national security, which is a very important aspect of our national life, crucial to the survival of our nationhood and the continued unity of our country. From contemporary happenings in our country, the threats to our security and peace differ in their nature and  locations. It is either youth restiveness in the Niger Delta today, or kidnaping/hostage taking and pipeline vandalisation tomorrow, It is either MASSOB in the South-East today or ethno-religious riots tomorrow. The next day it is socio-political turmoil in some other States. Despite their diversity and location, they seem to have one thing in common, violence and destruction. The quest for sustainable peace and security has, therefore, become a recurring decimal in any national debate. This is because peace and security are tied to the stability, survival, growth and development of any country. Real and potential threats to our national security make it an issue of constant review and discussion, aimed at devising appropriate control strategies. It is to be noted that man=s primary and engaging concern has been that of survival and protection; from the vagaries of nature, natural disasters and from the ill-intention and misdeed of his fellow men. The primary responsibility of government is protecting the life, liberty, property of its citizens and the welfare of her people. In other words, the state exists principally for the protection of lives and property and ensuring the well-being of the people, promoting human rights, improving the economic, social and political well-being of its citizens.  Though the Nigeria Police is constitutionally charged with internal security, domestic peace, law and order maintenance, the quest for peace, law and order; and human security involves us all. In this pursuit, we need alliances and partners. By working together we can be stronger, more persuasive and more successful. Former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan rightly pointed out, APeace is the basis of our existence; the essence of our identity; the cause that animates everything we do.@  Peace is, and has always been, the ultimate human aspiration. The truth is we live in a world in which the basic principle of survival is that of cooperation.