he United States Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) was established around 1775. Some time in 1802, it transformed into a reputable government agency with strong military backbone. With a work force that combined both civilian engineers and the military it took the gargantuan assignment of checking natural disasters (in peace and war time) and at times acted as a sort of rapid response unit in the yet to be charted course of an evolving new nation - the USA. As of today, the USACE is made up of 34,600 civilians and 650 military personnel.

advertisement

In no time, the sophisticated band of professionals so assembled became engaged in Construction Management. They built dams, bridges, roads, canals, and flood protection (levees). They also engaged in pubic works and war fighting. So successful were the efforts of the USACE that it soon became the pivot of many developmental initiatives in the United States. So much was the relevance of the USACE engineers that when the Tennessee River Valley Authority was set up, it was invited to superintend over most of the efforts.

To be sure, Mississippi, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas have one thing in common. They belong to the Mississippi Delta of the United States. Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Cross River, Imo, Ondo, Delta and Edo in Nigeria have one thing in common. They belong to the Niger Delta area of Nigeria. The Mississippi Delta and the Niger Delta have one thing in common. They are among the most impoverished areas in their respective geographical locations. They have similar problems, emanating from peculiar eco systems. The have environmental problems arising from crude oil explorations and exploitation. They produce crude oil in commercial quantities. While the Mississippi Delta produces about 40 per cent US oil needs, the Niger Delta area of Nigeria is the second largest exporter of crude oil, after Saudi Arabia, to the US.

In the River Mississippi Delta States, the USACE has been instrumental to most of the construction needs of these poverty-stricken parts of the United States. The USACE had to do this through bidding for contract, winning some and executing it to the applause of the American people.

Aside from the contributions of the USACE in the political economy of the United States, there are other military-engineered examples around the world. Between 1911 and 1936, Nissan, the car manufacturing company in Japan metamorphosed to a huge military producing outfit to fight World War II. To achieve success, Nissan invited the best hands in the military to help. It worked so much that the company became the sole maker of both civilian and military hard ware for both domestic and export use. It was through military research and technology that the US army invented most of the telecommunications equipment that has captured the world and improved communications worldwide.

Along the heroic and patriotic path of the military everywhere in the world lay a litany of innovations. From the invention of the internet to the modification of the postal service, the military has stood tall. From the initial money transfer ventures which metamorphosed to the arrival of Money gram and Western Union today; from modern telephony to military aircrafts, which gave leeway to the founding of modern aviation, the military had always been there.

It is with this in mind that we should look at the recent pronouncements by the Nigeria military Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta. According to news reports, the Nigeria military says that it would begin to seek to win road construction contracts in the Niger Delta. However, in a defiant condemnation of the statement, a chieftain of the Benin Ijaw Peace Monitoring Group, Chief Patrick Bigha has described the statement as "a threat to national security and an insult to the Nigerian state and democracy if the army could openly bid for contracts like business men rather than concentrate on how to defend and guard the nation territories and oil installations in the region."

Chief Bigha went further to say that "this statement has confirmed what we have been saying that the army is the problem in the Niger Delta because they always intimidate oil companies to get contracts, like buying speed boats and even bringing their relations for employment in the region to the detriment of the people who are the owners…"

Chief Bigha and his complaining compatriots should sheath their arms. Yes, in the immediate and remote past of our nation's history, the military might have compromised. From every indication, it looks like, this is a new season altogether for the Nigeria military. The Nigeria military wanting to participate in contract bidding is a positive and healthy development. It should be seen for what it truly is - an extension of the age long tradition of the military stepping into civilian turf when there is an urgent and immediate need.

Over the years, and stemming from the impact of prolonged military rule in Nigeria, it is easy to forget the real reason for which every nation has its military. The military is the bastion of dedication, patriotism and invention. But to the ordinary Nigerian citizen, the military should always be seen and not heard. The military should create wars, fight and win them for the benefit of the citizens. The military should defend the territorial integrity of a nation and in the process provide all the needed security. That the Nigerian military had been wayward and strayed into politics in the past should not becloud the inherent qualities of any good military outfit.

Let's face it, from China to Russia and to the United States, the face of the military is changing. The Israeli military bids and wins civilian contracts. The Chinese military bids and wins civilian contracts. It is a new worldwide phenomenon. Now in addition to the onerous task of securing the borders of its owner-country, the military, all over the world has ventured into areas, which hitherto had seemed to be an exclusive territory for the civil society. It is a changing world. It is a changed world.

The Nigerian Army should not be an exception. It should be allowed to bid, win and execute contracts - with military precision. In peacetime, an idle army is a devil's workshop. Except we engaged the military fully in profitable ventures such as road construction, building dams, bridge construction and other similar projects, it would sooner than later relapse into the troubling peace time past time of eating pepper soup, ishi ewu and making many women pregnant. The Nigeria military if not properly engaged in peacetime may also be tempted to find some political job for itself.

Chief Bigha and his protesting compatriots of the Niger Delta should give the military a chance to do for Nigeria, what its counterparts are doing for their respective countries.