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By Ibrahim Jabir Isah
Nigeria is bleeding due to the fatal injuries sustained from insecurity, bad governance and mismanagement of state owned resources. The genesis of this entire problem our nation finds itself in today is due to bad governance.Nigeria is in a state of comatose and everybody is living in a state of fear. Only few care about national issues like national unity and Political stability. Insurgency is becoming the order of the day in our dear nation.
At the onset of this insurgency that is about to consume the whole nation, many people who were not affected by the horrific and hostile actions of the insurgents view it as the problem of people in the Northeast (precisely Borno, Yobe and Adamawa). But it has become glaring that insurgency has no language, no religion (though mistakenly attributed to one), no ethnicity and no boundary as it can escalate like a wild fire in a forest. The passive attitude displayed by many of us towards the state of the nation’s security and greediness by some unscrupulous elements that use insecurity as a money venture is what brought us to the state of gross insecurity we find ourselves today.
Insecurity in the Northeast is becoming insurmountable because some of the locals that ought to help the military in the fight against terrorism by supplying sensitive information to them are not doing so; rather, they prefer to hoard the information simply because they share blood tie with some of the insurgents.On the other hand, some actions and inactions of the military personnel pave way for the thriving and flourishing of terrorism in the Northeast and other parts of the country. Some of the military personnel do molest and oppress innocent citizens thereby making the poor masses sympathetic towards the insurgent. They are easily recruited and at times act as informants.
The evil we fail to destroy in the Northeast is now consuming us all in the North West and North Central part of the country. As if this is not enough, insurgency is making an inroad into the South.The lives and properties of innocent citizens are not secured, parents are afraid to send their wards to schools, people are afraid to go out of their houses or to travel to another state for tourism or business purposes for the fear of being attacked by Bandits, Boko Haram, Kidnappers, and Herdsmen or Militants.
The most trending issue in Nigerian media since last week is that of insecurity; ranging from the abduction and killing of Greenfield University students to Boko Haram attack and preaching of their ideology to the peaceful people of Geidam in Yobe state, as well as the attack and capturing of some places in Niger state by ISWAP.
From the Northeast-Boko Haram/ISWAP, to Northwest-Bandits/kidnappers, to North central- Herdsmen/Kidnappers/ISWAP, to the Southwest-ethnic militia (Oduduwa republic popularly led by Sunday Igoho) and to the Southeastern-IPOB led by Nnamdi Kanu to South-southern-Niger Delta Militants; no place seems to be safe in Nigeria.Nigeria has become a red zone and we seem not to learn from our previous mistakes. Scores of Islamic clerics who know the way and manner to rehabilitate and de-radicalized the insurgents lost their lives in their attempt to fight for a good course by preaching and calling the extremists to order. What is even worrisome is the lack of government’s commitment to complement the efforts of these scholars to bring an end to the insecurity that consumed them and which is about to consume the entire nation.
The evils that pave way for and give rise to insurgency in our country are; illiteracy, poverty, unemployment, abandoned children (Almajiri), ungoverned space, Poor standard of education, bad governance, ethnic militias, corruption, greediness etc.
These scores of evil that have caused decay in our national security formation are what all hands must be on deck to address or else they will one day consume us. The abandoned children are the prey for recruitment and could easily become suicide bombers to the insurgents.The earlier we stand up against the issue of abandoned children, bad governance, and ethnic militia, radicalization of religious preaching, and corruption among others the better for us and the future generation.
Insecurity has taken away the pride of Nigeria from international, regional to national scene. The Nigeria that used to be the giant of Africa is now the toothless bulldog of Africa whose barking cannot be heard by the man standing at the gate.
The world is whirling by and the four cardinal points meets on the head of an average Nigerian whereas, poverty is stricken the land and making life miserable for people like a tattered kite.
Where are we heading to as a country?
When are we going to revive our economy and fully diversify it beyond rhetorical and theoretical postulations?
When will our roads, houses and places of worship be free from attacks by Bandits, Boko Haram, and Kidnappers?
When will the security of our lives and property be of priority to the government?
When will ethnicity and religion be used as a tool for national unity and development rather than a tool of disunity?
I wish and pray to see and live in Nigeria where peace will become the order of the day, where perpetrators of crime will be brought to book, where leaders will be transparent and accountable, where the economy will be developed and diversified, where there will be independent of the judiciary to enable them to truly be the last hope of the common man, where there will be standard in the quality of education and improvement in the standard of living. I wish to see a Nigeria where brain drain will be reduced to the barest minimum and a Nigeria where no intellectual will choose to be in Diaspora out of disappointment. I wish my wishes will come to reality and only then will virtually all Nigerians be proud of their great fatherland and will be willing to discharge their duties and obligations diligently.
Ibrahim Jabir Isah can be reached via:
Ibrahimjabir62@gmail.com
