Nigeria, lessons from 9/11

For instance, Nigeria is several air miles from America, and has only used its giant influence and military might to secure peace in Africa and other parts of the world. The Murtala years weakened the foundations of apartheid and historians say that those actions led to the assassination of the most charismatic leader Nigeria ever […]

For instance, Nigeria is several air miles from America, and has only used its giant influence and military might to secure peace in Africa and other parts of the world. The Murtala years weakened the foundations of apartheid and historians say that those actions led to the assassination of the most charismatic leader Nigeria ever had. Nigerian gallant soldiers have lost their lives trying to keep the peace in Liberia and in Sierra Leone. The peace that both countries enjoy today was built on the sanguine sacrifice of our soldiers and several Nigerians suffered psychological and emotional wounds from the hands of Foday Sankoh’s dogs of war in Sierra Leone particularly.

But those are still tales to the average Nigerian. But those who live in the western part of the country would have been touched by the tribal antics of the OPC. In Igboland, MASSOB may have been peaceful in its protests, but not so the Bakassi Boys. Niger Delta militants have etched themselves into our subconscious and kidnapping has made armed robbery a benign crime. The robber takes what you have at gunpoint and seldom shoots to kill, but the kidnapper fleeces you and now kills their hostage. But perhaps nothing has touched the fabrics of our nation worse than the indiscriminate spate of bomb blasts rocking every ounce of hitherto classified secure territory.

Our country is now a red dot on the map of terrorism from the shocking impact of the act of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab through the ethnic cleansing that is now the lot of the people who live in the Plateau; or the inability of minorities to openly worship in various parts of the country. If Niger Delta militants thought they were drawing international attention with their Independence Day blast, they did not foresee a possibility that their ante would be surpassed by Boko Haram forcing Nigerians to ponder if their easy-going, fun-loving citizens have been brainwashed into turning themselves into human bombs. For our citizens are long-suffering. They have to be to condone and live with the morass they are fed daily. Political patronage are in the hands of a cabal which determines who gets what, where, when and how. We live in a country where one individual single-handedly handpicks and installs a president for the whole nation with the audacity to confess it without reprimand. Our government is deaf, dumb and purblind to anything that does not offer an opportunity to loot our common patrimony.

On this tenth anniversary of the globalization of terror, Nigeria cannot afford to think that because it has no expansionist tendencies fuelled by greed and the desire to have fuel to run its monster vehicles it is still an island of immunity. It should take an inward review of its security amidst the looting conscious of the fact that kleptocracy thrives because there is a conducive atmosphere to loot. To close its eyes to the clear and present danger of terrorism is to live in dangerous denial. Our rulers say that ours is not a failed state, but gradually, states are losing the fight to criminals and criminality. Those who think that by doing nothing, they would benefit from a balkanized state of survival of the fittest should have a rethink.

Months ago, at the height of the inconvenience suffered by law abiding citizens of Borno in the heat of the clampdown on Boko Haram, a group calling itself the Borno Elders or something of that sort wanted the withdrawal of soldiers who were treating their citizens like an army of occupation. It was a Catch-22 situation in which the elders preferred the evil of fundamentalism and thought that they could resolve the burgeoning crisis using traditional means. Truth it, the elders failed the first test for the guarantee of security, vigilance.

A year ago or so, in company of other journalists, we crossed the Borno landscape into Cameroon, Chad and Niger on assignment. These smaller countries took security seriously using both the traditional and the conventional means to track down any strange movement in their land. You need the required papers to pass through and there are checkpoints virtually at the entrance of every town. In one instance, we had just checked out of the police station, a prerequisite for entering most towns and cities and rushed into the market for cups of tea and bread in Bosso when we were raided and ordered to report to the mayor of the town. He was furious that having cleared with the gendamerie, we thought we could just commingle without his authority. It was a common tradition everywhere we went –security operatives did their jobs, but so did the elders and the citizenry, they suspected strangers even though they were welcoming and accommodating, they asked valid questions.

On this anniversary of 9/11, the lesson is not to lament the gross impotence of our government and its security apparatchik to keep us safe; it should be an occasion to reassess our role as citizens, elders, community leaders etc in guaranteeing our common security. Security consciousness is the duty of every citizen; that consciousness can trigger a ripple which percolates from the smallest community to the biggest town or city. We need to come to terms with the facts that those who organize and throw bombs in our country are not spirits – just like the armed robbers among us; they live in homes, sometimes have families and relatives; they have neighbours with whom they interact. By guaranteeing our own security, we ultimately guarantee the security of the nation. By playing the ostrich, we put our individual security and the security of our nation in abeyance.

In the age of internet and mobile phone, every security outfit should have a dedicated line where citizens can report any suspicious movement securely. The hierarchy must investigate each report and act quickly. The era of sharing security votes while snoopers lack the basic amenities to do their job should be over. Yes, our security agents are sleeping, we must wake them. Their must be several levels of oversight in order to block the drain pipes of corruption and get to the terrorists before they do maximum damage. The rivalry between different security agencies should be looked into and all agents must be made to know they work for the common good; they must share information and cooperate. General Buhari was right years ago when he said that this generation of Nigerians and indeed the ones to come have no other place they can call their own, we must have a stake in salvaging it together.