Chibok: Restoring hope

But the horror on show did not start with exploding bombs and melodramatic gestures on camera. The horror started with national and regional leaders failing to engage with the people, build economies, provide security, or create a political system that’s responsive to those they govern.The tragedy at Chibok has not only attracted the attention of […]

But the horror on show did not start with exploding bombs and melodramatic gestures on camera. The horror started with national and regional leaders failing to engage with the people, build economies, provide security, or create a political system that’s responsive to those they govern.
The tragedy at Chibok has not only attracted the attention of international media, security forces and intelligence agencies, ithas also put the Nigerian government – as well as the terrorists – under a microscope, exposing weaknesses hitherto unknown or ignored. The world, enthralled by Lagos’ bustling economy and Abuja’s influence, now has a chance to see the economic desert of the North East – a region where mercenaries have found room to thrive.
In the search of a solution to the current crisis, the rescue of the kidnapped girls has become the main priority of the national government and international security forces.  However, despite their expertise and intelligence capabilities, military personnel from the USA, China, the UK, France and Israel, who have all pledged support in the rescue mission, will be pressed to find a lasting solution in this approach. Ransoming the students with money or the release of Boko Haram prisoners is likely to encourage future kidnappings and handicap the Nigerian government.
Similarly, a military option would be problematic as all the world powers assisting Nigeria have experienced the difficulties of rescuing their citizens without killing them. In 2012, for example, the British government experienced the futility of sending special forces to liberate two hostages kidnapped by Boko Haram loyalists in Sokoto State – both men were killed as the special task force stormed the Boko Haram stronghold during a rescue operation. Besides, flush with weapons and intelligence equipment of their own, the rebels have shown themselves capable of fighting.
However, should special forces accomplish the rescue mission, these efforts would only record short-lived success, as they do not tackle the fundamental issues at hand.  What has allowed an organization like Boko Haram to fester and grow in the North is the lack of opportunity borne by years of economic and social neglect. The long term solution, therefore, is to build a conducive economic environment which would engage the genius of the people, to allow them to use their enormous energies for the benefits of their nation and themselves. It is understood that the rebels number among themselves university graduates who spent years seeking jobs after leaving university, to no avail. In the past, such jobs were guaranteed.  Today, they have stopped looking and taken to seizing a different kind of opportunity.
Modern economies are based on knowledge and entrepreneurial capacities, the ability to take and manage risks in the interests of the common good. Nigerian citizens driven to desperate measures would get more positive satisfaction starting businesses and providing solutions for problems in impoverished villages like Chibok.
Instead of burning schools and murdering students they would realise that the works of God and man are better served by encouraging young people to study. China, which cannot be accused of enslavement to the West, is outperforming the West in obtaining knowledge, and translating that knowledge into economic power. Nigerians must realize that the nation cannot succeed without the education of all its youth – regardless of gender.
Everyone must feel deep sympathy for the young girls torn from their families and familiar surroundings, from friends and the capacity to pursue knowledge and their hopes for the future. We must sympathise with parents now grieving for their daughters who are lost, for distraught siblings who hope that their loved ones will soon be restored to them. We must feel compassion for their suffering.
But we must also grieve for those young people who kidnap and kill their fellow man, because they have been led to believe that destruction, division and hate are solutions to their problems, rather than the self-evident creation of even more insoluble, catastrophic problems.
The young people now kidnapping, torturing and killing, as well as their victims, need to be assured that they have a future as citizens of Nigeria. Africapitalism, the philosophy which seeks to promote African development through long term investments that create economic prosperity and social wealth, can give hope to those driven beyond endurance to fanaticism.
Entrepreneurship can restore the creative urges of those who succumbed to forces of oppression and exploitation outside their control. Solving economic challenges which highlight dissatisfaction and suffering, while providing sustainable means to fulfil basic human needs, are the only long term solutions to this delusionary ideology, which professes to bring salvation through annihilation. After all, Boko Haram cannot restore hope of a better future by murdering and pillaging. It is not possible to save a people by destroying them – you can only save them by empowering them.
Dr Wilmot, a former Sociology lecturer at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, lives in London