By Halima Imam
Insecurity holds Nigeria by the jugular as ‘unknown gunmen’, bandits, kidnappers, terrorist and other insurgents continue to have a fill day with their reign of terror. News of kidnapping greet citizens with no iota of shock anymore as it has slowly become a trend. Every Nigerian now lives in fear of being a victim of any of the many shades of insecurity that swarms us today. The unchecked and increasing spade of attacks have left many dead, some fleeing, injured yet others as devastating victims of rape and other unholy acts.
The worst aberration came to fore when the Nigerian Defence Academy was attacked on August 24th, 2021, it left two officers dead and a Major abducted with the rest of us totally gobsmacked. Nigerians are toe to toe with a sinking economy, rising food process, an inflation that has literally gone over the roof, there is corruption that has slowly become a ‘trade mark’ for us and to also have terrorism growing exponentially at the same time is us fighting too many battles on many fronts. This Nations state of unrest is dragging us by the neck back into ‘the state of Nature’.
Boko Haram terrorists in the North East have turned thousands of women into widows, their children orphans and millions more have been condemned to Internally Displaced Persons camps. Kidnapping is one business thriving for the monsters that indulge in it, and it leaves one to wonder how the phones of the kidnappers are not effectively and efficiently traced at a time when the World has gone agog with technology. Youths are at the heart of terrorism in Nigeria, most of the people who are involved in the act are youths, these come at a time when youth unemployment stands at 32.5%.
According to the United Nations conflict with Boko haram as at the end of 2020 had led to almost 350,000 deaths with millions fleeing their homes. According to reports about 1000 students (Secondary and Tertiary) have been kidnapped in coordinated attacks by terrorists and bandits in the last 10 months, and over 802 schools remain closed with about 497 destroyed. With kidnapping of students and staff trending in the Northern part of the country it will certainly reverberate on the over 13.5 million out of school children in Nigeria. Research shows that 30% of pupils drop out of primary school and only 54% make it to junior secondary schools. A whopping 80% of those out of school children are in Northern Nigeria.
The Federal government have been accused of knowing the financiers of terror in the country but decided to keep those names close to their chest, even though the country sinks lower into deeper insecurity as the days go by. Kidnappers now go to take people from their houses and students from their schools releasing their victims only after getting millions of naira as ransom. Despite some measures taken by some State governments and the Federal government, bandits continue to attack villages in the North wrecking heart wrenching terror on their victims. There’s the farmers vs herders crisis and many farmers have had to flee their farms due to fear of being slaughtered by bandits or boko haram terrorists in their farms.
As separatists deepen their agitation in the Southern part of the country, the South-East sees more insurgent attacks as ‘unknown gunmen’ have broken open a prison, burned down police stations and other properties, killed uniform men and civilians alike with Dr Ahmad Gulak and Dr Chike Akunyili were assassinated and have joined the long list of the many victims of insecurity in the South-East. With insecurity ‘heading for the roof’ and poverty on the increase, citizens are faced with more ‘demons’ than we are equipped to fight. More kidnapping of students translated to more out of school children and the consequence is their vulnerability to being recruited as terrorists.
Insecurity will only be tackled if the root causes such as poverty, illiteracy, ignorance, religious bigotry and ethnic intolerance are properly addressed. Politicians must learn to play the game of politics with fairness and remembering our collective humanity, they must stop dividing us along ethnic and religious lines and desist from feeding on the stupidity of the ignorant among us. Technology can be extremely beautiful when exploited for good, we must look to technology in tracking down terrorists and kidnappers and produce drone surveillance that can track down the hide out of the terrorists in the bush. Those anti-State actors that has continually given arms and ammunition to terrorists and insurgents and also given financial aid and logistics to them must be publicly disgraced and prosecuted.
The government must provide jobs and also ensure a conducive environment in the country for small and medium scale businesses to thrive. Priority must be given to education and women and youths should be empowered to enable them earn a decent living. With grand and systemic corruption thriving in different sectors in government and individual levels our battered and dilapidated economy might never recover. Corruption must be attack head on without lip service and selective justice. Each and every citizen should experience equity and justice, that way we will have minimal grievances and very tiny pockets of insurgency in the country.
The facts and figures are there for all to see, insecurity is so glaring that most of us cannot sleep with both eyes closed in our houses and ironically those that become victims of kidnapping are mostly from middle and poor income homes, it is a situation of ‘hunger and diarrhoea’ at the same time. Nigerians deserve safety and a stable economy, we deserve to live above poverty and experience true freedom, we gave our collective sovereignty to the government of the day and they must make our lives better, because we are truly tired of wondering who is safe and who isn’t.
Halima Imam can be reached at—axk4lima@gmail.com
