Nigeria is a country
besieged with almost intractable challenges. The challenges revolve in cyclical
format to the extent that in the bid to solve or resolve an issue, another one
surges up, and appeared to be more sinister and devastating than the preceding
one at the verge of resolution. The two major challenges in Nigeria since its
independence from the British overlords are those of corruption and insecurity. These two challenges that have graduated
to problems have birthed other ancillary problems destroying the corporate and
peaceful existence of the supposedly blessed country. The corruption in Nigeria
is so deep-seated that efforts are constantly being made by the perpetrators of
this misdeed to institutionalize it. The corruption saga is prominently
evidenced in salient areas like the Police Force, the Power sector, the admission
processes into institutions of higher learning, employment processes into
Federal, State ministries in the federation, etc. Worst of all these, is that
corruption is no longer as a mere theoretical concept, but now translates to an
entity to fight back those who want to uproot it from the society. The
government of President Muhammadu Buhari has been making frantic efforts to
sanitize the stinking society, but it needs to do more. It has to do more
starting from within the ruling government system itself.
Another serious challenge
the nation is facing is the issue of insecurity. Though insecurity is a global
problem, the developed countries have the capacity to minimize the devastating
consequence of the phenomenon. But the
developing countries are still facing a lot of challenges of securing the
country. Worse of all of this is that the security operatives collude with the
corrupt politicians to embezzle the funds meant to purchase the outfits for
national security. An example of this is the Dasuki-gate in Nigeria, where the
former National Security adviser to the then President Goodluck Jonathan , in
collaboration with his kind, embezzled the funds meant to deal with the boko
haram insurgence. This underscores the assertion that corruption is the mother
of all evil, especially In Nigeria.
Another daunting
challenge of insecurity is the multiplication or the ubiquitous nature of that
illness in Nigeria. Critically looking, there is no region in Nigeria that does
not have fundamental security issues.
Without mincing words, the most peaceful region in Nigeria as at now is
the south-Western Nigera which hosts the Yoruba nation. The other regions which
include the Niger-Delta, (South-south), North-East, the North-central, the
South-East are hotspots with major security problems. The Niger-Delta is
sufficiently bedeviled from time immemorial as their cry has been on
marginalization and environmental degradation by oil drilling and spillage by
the exploitative multinational companies in collaboration with succeeding
governments in Nigeria. Much as their cry is very genuine, the problem with
them is that they hold only the federal government by the jugular without
asking their state governors what they do with the federal allocations to their
states each month for several years.
The South-east is another
problematic region especially as their recent protests is fired up by their sectional
sentiments. Without any intention to exaggerate, the protesters under the body
of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), detest President Muhammadu Buhari
and his government and would do all it can to pull down his government. While
Dr. Goodluck Jonathan did almost nothing to develop the region, the Ibos were
much more comfortable with him and his administration than the present
government making efforts to develop the region just because he (Goodluck) was
from the sister region – the South-South region. The indigenous People of
Biafra (IPOB) had been on the front burner of all agitations against the Buhari
administration under the guise of declaring for an independent nation called
the Republic of Biafra. The South-east region is one that had suffered natural
disasters, yet not even IPOB members itself had tackled the state governors and
asked questions on the underdevelopment.
All they had asked for wrongly or rightly is the independence of the
Biafra State.
The North-East had suffered
more devastating consequence of rebellion, insurgency and the direct aftermaths
of corruption. The boko haram insurgency has dealt severe blow on that region.
Many lives have been lost and properties of incalculable worth had suffered
damages on that region. Though it appears that the capacities of the insurgents
have been considerably decimated, much needs to be done to put a total
eradication of these recalcitrant demons. The present government must again be
commended for its genuine and calculated efforts to end the insurgency.
At the central part of
Nigeria is the marauding Fulani herdsmen who rank second in their ferocity and
high level of destructive tendencies and capacity, after their kinsmen, the
boko harams. These marauders attack farmers who dare raise any eyebrows if any
of the cows belonging to the Fulanis grazed their farms. Their style of attack
is so deadly that the victims are normally left with no opportunity for self-defence
or escape. They attack the victims in the wee hours of the morning, when their
victims had surrendered to the cold hands of sleep and the over-powering
sweetness of same… the early morning sleep…then the murderers would attack.
Many people have been killed in Kaduna State with incalculable properties
destroyed. Presently, the marauding murderers have migrated to the middle-belt to
continue to wreck havoc which had been their traditional way of living and
thriving.
The herdsmen are so
bloodthirsty to the extent that many villagers have been either been killed or
the villages sacked by these natural demons. Most painful of these experiences
is the kids gloves with which the federal government has treated their ferocious
activities. Different flimsy excuses have been adduced to justify the government’s
failure in tackling the activities of these night marauders. The government ha
once claimed that these Fulanis are migrants and not Nigerians. I thought that
this would been a catalyst to wipe out these foreign vampires who come only to destabilize
the fragile peace we are battling to keep in almost all the regions of the
country. Rather than take a drastic action against them, they are left roaming
from region to region to continue to wreak more havoc and devastation.
I want to strongly
suggest that the same punch that was dealt on the IPOB should be used on the
Fulani murderers who are insurgents. The saying that “the cooking pot for the
chameleon is also the cooking pot for the lizard” needs apply here. The Fulani
Herdsmen who were only hitherto known to be gentle and peace-lovers, armed only
with sticks, have suddenly turned to wielders of sophisticated AK-47 guns, to
attack innocent citizens. As a matter of urgency and the sake of justice, be
summarily proscribed. The government should launch a deep punch on this
devilish sect and put a sudden and lasting end to all their murderous and
nefarious activities. If IPOB which has not engaged on any murderous spree at
anytime but seen to be a potential danger to the unity of the country could be
proscribed, then the Fulani marauders deserve equal or even more decisive
treatment by the federal government of Nigeria. They and whatever they
represent must be proscribed and declared a terrorist organization as well. The
government must desist from treating them with kids’ gloves.