Just before it splinters
Others felt that his peaceful means of agitation was not getting the attention – they chose militancy. It cost Nigeria several billions of dollars in military operations, lots of loss of lives and of course, livelihood of both the agitators and the people. We cannot count the social cost, to those who, either as agitators, […]
Others felt that his peaceful means of agitation was not getting the attention – they chose militancy. It cost Nigeria several billions of dollars in military operations, lots of loss of lives and of course, livelihood of both the agitators and the people. We cannot count the social cost, to those who, either as agitators, victims or soldiers, died in the process of maintaining peace. People whose wives, children, relatives in an extended family system, would never be balanced. People who may, as a result of lacking parental guidance or social succour end up as layabouts, dropouts or other forms of social deviancy. Today, it still costs a lot to keep the peace in the Niger-Delta.
The same could be said about the Biafran war. The crash insouciance of leadership to address basic infringements; the lack of care and of course, the absence of justice drives people to the worst of heights. Our country is so blessed that there is absolutely no reason why anybody who is Nigerian should be poor. We have arable land that could be harnessed to employ millions, put food on the table and provide for export. Local goods, such as ginger that has a greater shelf life are wasted in parts of Kaduna State. They cost a fortune to buy organically anywhere in Europe and the Americas. Cocoa, once an economic tree of the west, is still the best and only resource for candies, chocolate and its beverages and several other derivatives. With the right incentive, – those idling and pinning away in the country’s west may perhaps not become millionaires, but who needs millions if your needs are met.
The north is seen as arid by those who have hardly gone anywhere outside their comfort zone. But drive through the vast expanse of land from Jos through to Maiduguri or from Zaria through to Sokoto during the rainy season and you are shocked at the level of farming. Food produced in those places trickle into Niger, which suffers more droughts than rain, but they are largely unharnessed. Governments there prefer to ride in luxury cars and today invest billions of laundered cash in Dubai’s estate markets. While they do that, eighty percent of their people still live in pre-historic conditions and lack access to the basic necessities of life.
The examples can go on and on. Boko Haram started out of frustration. Those who know recall when students began to quit schools because those who had gone before them were back in their parents houses as burdens. No jobs for them. With such a ready army of disillusioned, unemployed people, there is no wonder that heretics can quickly cash in – teaching the pie in the sky as if the world we live in is not meant for us to harness for our luxury.
Before our very eyes, Mohammed Yusuf was executed by trigger-happy policemen, not in the usual darkness when they can say that he was trying to escape but in broad daylight. How anybody felt they could get away with such wickedness no matter the justification still beats one’s imagination. Rather than pacify his followers and engage in the battle for hearts and minds, the system ignored them. Now, we have a faceless monster reaping the unripe lives of husbands, women and children indiscriminately.
The middle belt section is boiling. Kafanchan used to be known for peace, a railway town that welcomed all – today its a ghost of its old self. Same goes for Jos. The south-east is infested with armed robbers, kidnappers and what have you. Yet, what is interesting to the presidency is who occupies Bayelsa government house. We have a dozing president and wanton governors. We have council chairmen who collude with their governors to milk the people dry. We have carnage on the roads by drivers who over-drink and overdrive – the daily headlines of carnage on our roads numbs the mind.
How do people who are concerned manage to sleep and think of nothing but what to do to increase the resources we have in order to open up the channels for looting. How does Labaran Maku justify a phantom subsidy he once was on the vanguard of attacking by saying it will open up jobs when evidently his people are suffering? How does Goodluck Jonathan sleep and sponsor lavish birthday parties when his state, Bayelsa, has the lowest human survival index? But above all, how much can Nigeria take before it splinters and take over from Somalia, as the biggest and most dangerous place on planet earth? Just how? One needs to ask this question, just before we are history and it is not a question of if, but when.