The worthlessness and nothingness of life, which living in Nigeria has sadly been reduced to since 2009 when Boko Haram’s murderous insurgency began in Borno State, North-East region, came to the fore on Christmas Eve when hundreds of people were massacred in some communities in Bokkos, Mangu and Barkin Ladi local government areas of Plateau State. The barbaric bloodbath has elicited national outrage and condemnations from our political and religious leaders. Plateau State has for long witnessed the wanton killings of its citizens by marauding killers, probably armed to the teeth with AK47 rifles and other lethal weapons of war that may be more powerful than some of the ones carried by our security operatives.
The rampaging gunmen killed over 160 people, ransacked 20 villages, razed 221 houses, 27 motorcycles and 8 vehicles. Hundreds of people were wounded in the deadly attacks. The unfolding Nigerian tragedy is daily underscoring the meaninglessness of life in all its ramifications. With mindless killings in the North-East, North-Central and the North-West, and some parts of the South-East, South-South and the South-West, Nigeria has become a killing field. It has become a huge theater of bloody killings. The number of Nigerians killed on a daily basis is staggering. The figures do not benumb us any longer. Nigerians are getting used to the murders. Some may even see it as the norm because it is what they witness every day.
Although many Nigerians die of some diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, cancer, diabetes, hypertension and a host of others, thousands of Nigerians are killed by criminal elements or non-state actors who maim and kill at will. In all these unprovoked killings, the state appears too weak to swiftly respond to such emergencies when it matters most. Our leaders react to such situations with official lamentations and promises to deal with the perpetrators of the heinous criminality.
In the same way, religious leaders also take turns to condemn the murderous enterprise and call for calm and the need to maintain the unity of the country. The leaders of main socio-cultural organizations also issue press releases to condemn the killings. The governors also follow other eminent Nigerians to do the routine condemnations of the criminality.
After the ritual of condemnations and mouthing of what seems like empty promises, nobody will arrest the perpetrators. Nobody will even prosecute them. Life, which has been rendered valueless, will continue to go on and on until another avoidable carnage occurs. This cycle of killing, mourning and condemnations has been going and going like Abiku. Like Ogbanje, nobody knows when the ritual will come to an end. We are tired of the endless killings. We are tired of endless lamentations and shedding of tears by our leaders. Nigerians are tired of weeping for their lost loved ones. The people of Plateau are tired of weeping for their lost loved ones, for their burnt houses. Our leaders should wake up from their deep slumber and act fast and rein in the evil murderers.
When the Preacher in the Bible said that life is vanity, he must have Nigeria in mind. The vanity of life as illustrated by the preacher has all manifested in this our great country. The Nigerian life is also very short. The mindless killings going on in Nigeria should worry our leaders. Those killings should make them sleepless and be thinking of how best to tackle the mounting insecurity and the devaluation of life in the country. It is no longer enough to wail uncontrollably after every episode of gruesome murders as witnessed in Plateau State on Christmas Eve.
No amount of tears shed over the dead would bring back the dead. Let our leaders work towards ensuring justice for the dead victims of such dastardly massacres. The recurring killings in the same part of Plateau that witnessed the recent killings should make our leaders change our security architecture and strategies in protecting the citizens and foreigners in our midst. The Plateau incident has underscored the failure of intelligence, the failure of strategy and failure of response. It also shows that Nigeria is not adequately policed. Police of less than 400,000 personnel cannot adequately protect over 200 million Nigerians. The primary duty of the state is to protect the citizens and ensure their wellbeing. In the two scores, the Nigerian state has failed its citizens. There is urgent need to change this ugly national narrative.
Unfortunately, the military has been drafted to assist the police to protect the people in almost all the states. The government must increase the police strength to at least one million personnel. With one million work force and the deployment of adequate technology, the police can protect Nigerians. It is time to join the personnel of Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) to the police because they perform almost similar duties. Bringing the two to the police will strengthen the police force.
The duplication of security agencies has not translated into adequate security of the country. President Bola Tinubu should now begin to treat insecurity as his number one burden to be solved. He should hold meetings regularly with his security chiefs on how best to secure the entire country. Insecurity is a major challenge of the government as no zone of the country is free from insecurity. The government should provide security for all Nigerians. Insecurity is national problem that must be tackled immediately. Tinubu should stop running away from decentralizing the police force. Nigeria needs at least four levels of policing, community, local, state, and federal, to be effectively policed. The present centralized policing with Abuja being in control and dictating what happens and how to respond to emergencies has not augured well for adequate policing in Nigeria. The next should be fixing the power sector to ensure that Nigerians have adequate power supply. Without fixing the power sector, the economy will not improve, the dream of industrialization will be a mirage.
He should equally address the challenges of the economy and shore up the value of the naira and make the currency available to Nigerians. The current scarcity of the naira has brough imposed additional hardship on Nigerians. He should also not run away from restructuring of Nigeria. Most of the problems confronting the nation today can be resolved through restructuring of the country. We have had many conferences on how to make Nigeria work and great. The recommendations are in the archives gathering dust and our leaders including Tinubu, are aware of all this. What is required now is the boldness of our leaders to confront our problems and solve them.
They should not be bugged by procrastination.
Let the Christmas Eve massacre in Plateau State be the last we shall witness in this administration. Let it be the last for official lamentations, condemnations and weeping over the killing of Nigerians by criminals. Life should not be regarded as meaningless and nothing in our country as characterized by the recent mindless killings across the country. The government should begin to place high premium on life and ensure that the lives of Nigerians are protected. The life of every Nigerian should be made to matter. Let the government demonstrate that the lives of Nigerians matter. The police and other security agencies must be well equipped. Those fighting insecurity must also be proactive and be ahead of the bandits and terrorists.