Our entity is in turmoil. So much pain in the land, our society is in despair. This is the truth. It is only those who play the ostrich or benefit from retrogression and chaos would have something different to say about where we are today and the threats to survival staring us clearly in the face. We are in the valley, in the centre of a deep mess. The pillars are falling off at a rapid pace. And there is evil everywhere. The worst is that we have a leadership class that doesn’t know what good governance is, and this has compounded our woes.
They talk about it so often but have no idea about its make up; you have to have a good grasp of a subject matter before you can deal with it with authority. They don›t know the subject matter so can›t fathom the solutions. Yet huge funds are expended, but with no results. Today, we have moved from the minimal progress we had at independence into stagnation and now into painful retrogression, a state of near reversals of the gains made.
It is frustration everywhere. The pains are so thick it could even be cut with a knife. The level of dislocation is so immense; statistics from the World Bank few days ago suggest that about 85 million of our citizens out of an estimated population of 200 million are living below the poverty line. Many in touch with the grassroots think the figure is far higher. It could be up to 170 million people in actuality. High population without provision is a time bomb on its own and that proposition is turning out real in our case. People are dying like chickens hit by an epidemic.
Traditional healing places are swarming with patronage for the simple fact that millions can’t afford the high cost of formal healthcare. Getting hooked to the national electricity grid has become a status symbol. Only the few can afford the bill in either estimated form or pay as you use option. The other day, the Minister of Finance told us the government increased the tariff without noise, meaning that it did not inform the people. Who runs a government this way? Transportation is a big issue, apart from cost, there is the added challenge of safety.
Venturing into the streets these days is akin to taking a walk at midnight into a thick forest, one could be devoured by wild animals. Within the last 14 days, enough horrors have happened in the country to confirm we are on a movement down the mountains. In Southern Kaduna, barbarians again stormed a community by night and in one operation left over 50 persons dead, residences and business shops razed. We have been told they were bandits yet nobody explains why bandits, who should steal and go, operate for hours snuffing life out of innocent citizens and burning all structures in sight.
The main interest of a bandit is to steal. Without threats he does his business and goes. But the ‘bandits’ we have here go where there is nothing to steal, kill the people and destroy their belongings. We have been told the situation is that of herders vs farmers crisis. The big question: why is it that the clashes don’t happen at the point of business? Why at night and at people’s homes while they sleep? Authorities have even told us it is about reprisals. Hmmmm! In Niger State, same invasion happened and many killed. These evils happen and the invaders disappear into thin air without trace even though information has it they usually would come in great numbers. The worst is that these evils happen and all is mum.
We hear and move on as if nothing of significance took place. Nobody is held accountable. Public officials remain on their desks waiting for another to happen. We were on these when terrorists (one hopes that is who they really are) invaded Kaduna Airport, killing an innocent Nigerian. They moved in large numbers, riding on motorcycles, at least that is the story. Until about the time I penned this article nobody could say who they were and what their objective was; most annoying was the attempt by military authorities to change the narrative.
We hardly had made sense of the nonsense when another bunch of barbarians ambushed a passenger train on its way from Abuja to Kaduna, shooting, killing many and taking many others captive. Barbarians shot and killed innocent citizens whose only crime was that they were Nigerians traveling on Nigerian routes, most for their private businesses. Again, there was no national revulsion. We were told the Vice President who went to Kaduna only made a detour in the air because he was on his way to Lagos. Somebody authorized night train travel at a time everyone knows “hoodlums” were everywhere especially around that area. There were security personnel in the train, and from what witnesses said they just ducked, struggling with victims for safe corners. One account said all they did was advice victims to switch off phones and keep quiet. Hahahaha! We heard the hoodlums came in about five Sienna buses.
How come barbarians did all that and left with captives and none could find a trace? Soldiers who came on rescue operation fired shots. Question: at whom, if the bastards still drove away successfully? The rail authorities couldn’t say exactly how many persons were on-board the ill-fated train. Terrible! Now it is lamentation and gnashing of teeth everywhere. Part of the solution being suggested is to throw in money which we say is very scarce. For the rail system we want N3 billion to install surveillance cameras yet nothing tells us the bastards responsible for our woes have capability to return and take away the equipment purchased at high cost. What about power?
The challenge is not in crime sophistication as some try to make out, because hunger could be a part but a minor factor. The root cause of the trouble is in the faulty foundation. When a foundation is bad there is little or nothing anybody can do, including the so called best hands. As observed earlier in this piece we have a leadership class that is ignorant of what indices of true leadership are. If they didn’t equate leadership with opportunity to pilfer the common patrimony it would have since been very clear to them that we are yet to establish a country. What we have is a society, with each component part still asserting her superiority.
A country is birthed by consensual agreement, people must sit down, call it by whatever name to talk. Leadership of the component groups bring their terms, there will be hot exchanges, disagreements, walk outs, compromise and finally an agreement. This process ensures a buy in. Consensus produces a sense of corporate ownership. If we had it, what is happening won’t be. There will be a bonding and a sense of brotherhood. None will think of storming another to slit throats and burn down houses. Killings, especially the kind we see happen when there is this philosophy of “we vs them.” There is expansionist agenda still going on in our society today.
Now we have insecurity and we are talking of technology. We neglect the human angle. We have heard how some people went across the Sahel to recruit vagabonds to come into to our space to fight political conflicts. We know. A governor told us how he collected money and went outside the country to pay compensation for mercenaries hired for a task he hasn’t told us. Recently, we gifted Afghanistan one million dollars. What was the basis? Was the fund budgeted? Afghanistan of all countries? Is that instructive enough? Find out how the mullahs began their Islamization campaign and see if there are similarities with what is happening. Before this, President Muhammadu Buhari had thrown our borders open on account of ECOWAS Protocol.
Desert warriors took advantage of the policy decision, many are in my area who admit they are from outside Nigeria. Doing what here? Who pointed the way to my remote area to them? We are our own worst enemies. Former President of America, Donald Trump once made a statement I found instructive till today. He said: “Even heaven has gates only hell has no gate.” We think we live in heaven but we have of ourselves turned our habitation to hell. The thing about contradictions is that they build up and suddenly destroy the entity.