The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi 111 on Thursday sought the support of both the Britain and the United States of America (USA) in ensuring security in Nigerian borders.

The monarch who made the request at his palace in the ancient Oyo town while playing host to the British Deputy High Commissioner, Peter Carter from Lagos, who paid him a courtesy visit said, “since security of environment becomes more dynamic and uncertain, resonating with numerous threats and contestations which are transnational in nature and have the potential to grow more lethal, most nations find themselves struggling for survival.

“The security of any state embodies a notion of order or of the conditions necessary to maintain the smooth functioning and reproduction of an existing society and the security of any nation is predicated on two central pillars.

“On the one hand, it entails the maintenance and protection of the socio-economic order in the face of internal and external threats and on the other hand, it entails the promotion of a preferred international order, which minimizes the threats to core values and interests as well as to the domestic order of nations”, Alaafin said.

According to him, security is therefore time-bound and malleable, which implies protection against, or safety from, a future risk of severe deprivation, injury or death and requires rules, order and impartial adjudication and application.

While stressing that, of all the six geo-political zones, South-West remains the most peaceful the monarch urged the two countries to assist Nigeria in ensuring adequate security of its porous borders.

On the relationship between Britain and Oyo, Oba Adeyemi said both countries share certain distinct similarities which include diversity of cultures, history, vitality and dexterity of human management.“Britain is an Empire with diverse cultures and in spite of daunting challenges confronting it from the European Union, Britain has been able to weather the storm and remains strong and vibrant. Today, European Union survives at the expense of Great Britain,” he added.

He recalled that Oyo was an Empire that lasted over 600 years because “Alaafin does not carry administration on his shoulders alone, but through the practice of separation of powers and the cabinet system of government. Alaafin was the first to practice that system In Africa”.

He said when British Government amalgamated Nigeria in 1914 into North and South Protectorates, the then colonial administration ruled through the Provincial System with Oyo Province having the largest covering of over

14,000 square miles.

Oba Adeyemi appealed to the British government for a downward review of £3,000 Visa bond being levied on new entrants into the country from Nigeria, noting that this would not only strengthen age-long business bilateral relationship but erase whatever erroneous impressions that the decision was punitive.

The Deputy High Commissioner, who described the visit as his first to the palace and a privilege said in his remark that it afforded him the opportunity to have more understanding about Alaafin’s leading role in Yoruba land as well as the roles of other traditional rulers, their importance to the people and contributions to national growth and development.

Reacting to the £3,000 visa bond issue, he stated that it was still a proposal and remains unchanged for now until otherwise directed by the British Ministers.

Carter, who was accompanied by Head of Communication in the Embassy, Wale Adebajo was later presented with gifts and souvenir containing archival materials on Oyo Empire.