By Kassim Afegbua
Nigeria seems to have come full circle. The fears and living conditions of yesteryears are back; Nigerians scurry into their shelter at the hint of dusk, and while indoors, can no longer have peace; not even in our sleep.
Banditry and kidnapping now mottle daily experiences. No doubt, they are upshots of fundamental derailments and incongruities that were tolerated and swept under the carpet for protracted years; those attractive evils of developmental years that thought that might is right, shunned law and order, and institutionalized entropy birthed these albatrosses that are growing to totally destroy our fabric as a nation.
This is what is referred to as “dance to the music.” Nigeria today beyond corruption, is also reknowned for armed banditry, insurgency, kidnapping and other despicable crimes; no thanks to the many years of strife and oppression. The low hat fruits were found in the Northern part of Nigeria.
When Boko Haram erupted in Borno, it was treated with kid gloves, and business went on, as usual, maybe with the hope that it would fizzle away; it festered instead! Those poverty-striken almajiris, were deliberately and easily indoctrinated to initiate the expression of disenchantment with the status quo and that baby revolution has now grown to include even professionals who feel let down, and have joined in this expression of rejection. Some victims of kidnappings have reported that they were in the thick forests guarded and attended to by people who claimed to be graduates. Using religion as a shroud, and taking advantage of their desperation those harpless children were sworn to evil.
And soon, Boko Haram that frankeistein monster that began the earthquake evolved to our daily predicament. Those issues are now bursting at the seams. The threat and damage is now cataclysmic. Tears now flow like rivers; emotional torture, and mental ill health have consumed many loved ones asking various questions. Citizens now grapple with everyday ugly realities across the country, on top of the daily economic hardship.
Banditry, apparently the fastest growing industry in the North, is being exported to the Southern parts of the country.
The economic realities in the North are underpinned by these crimes and criminalities. Noble professions have become a mirage. Popular trades like cotton production now seems like a waste of time. The groundnut pyramids have disappeared.
The hides and skins industry, a once reliable and ready source of raw materials for leather goods and shoemaking businesses, is as it were, extinct. The popular Kaduna and Kano textiles factories, which used to be the hub for fabrics making, have either packed up or essentially rested and has been replaced by the industry of banditry and armed insurgency, as with goodwill and investment in a subsidiary, in the books of a group. This odious vermin of an industry has gained traction, and is not just spreading across the northern region, but is also now migrating to the Southern axis.
Just as the herdsman in his pastoral normadism during the dry season moves his cattle from the North to the South, armed banditry is also sweeping through the entire nation. In place of cows, bullets are the stock in trade. Bullet sounds have replaced the bleating sound of the cow.
In the thick forests, where cows could plausibly be grazing, it is humans, captives, citizens, at the mercy of dare-devil armed bandits who are grazing. Some are lucky, after the payment of a huge ransom, they are released to rejoin your families.
The Leaders in the North need to take action. They need to be more worried than they appear to be; they need to staunch the growing industry by coming down to earth on it.
Nigeria is becoming like a conquered estate, a terrritory of criminals, who boldfacedly conduct their criminalities in the glare of all. We must take action before this palaver engulfs us all. These outlaws are organized: they have negotiators, mediators, and peacemakers.
If allowed to continue to grow, we all would be the losers for it. We must make haste to look at the long run consequences, and act fast as this neo-normal is leading to a zero sum game. Investors and investments are now pertrified and are fleeing for their lives, taking root in other countries. In the long run, we will lose! The menace is killing people, investments and our country.
What is living without economic strength? We cannot even bank on the possibility of us all fleeing to other countries; so let us make our own a proper home. Farmers have cried on end; they no longer go to the farms and no longer produce; so food security is threatened. Children are afraid to go to school, a most gnawing danger for the future of this country.
Where will development and innovation come from? Unfortunately the average Northern elite seems to have relapsed into conspiratorial silence, unable to criticise the burgeoning incidents of banditry mottling the regions across the nation.
To be clear, in case there is any tacit support for the perpetrators of these heinous crimes, it is unwise. A monster has no friends, it will rebound and destroy all in sight. This matter must be removed from politics and dealt with squarely.
It has gotten to a crescendo. Surely, Nigeria’s multi-ethnic configuration, diverse interests and varied disconnections are evinced, and now the soul and treasures of the country and citizens are being eaten up by banditry- the growing response. From Kano, Sokoto to Kebbi, from Zamfara through Kaduna and Katsina, it is the same theatre of war, with cake of crimson.
From Yobe, Gombe, Bauchi and Taraba, down to Adamawa and Borno, banditry is the visible human engagement that keeps the people busy. Not much else is going on. Their negotiators are busy, their mediators are busy, their peace-makers are busy. Bandits collect the northern taxes. They dish out directives on the nature of the taxes.
They even engage in trade by barter at times, collecting items in exchange for captives. They are working assiduously to take charge. That is how bad the trade has become. This is not a Tinubu disease, it was an inherited disease that the President is dealing with.
The northern leaders need to as a matter of urgency, rally their people to action against this menace. At the local level, many of the details of this evil are seen, known, and concealed. That is why I am calling on the Northern leaders to take and initiate action.
Every modicum of effort towards this goal is necessary and worth it. Now is the time; It is already late! So that Nigeria tomorrow does not become an oxymoron, well meaning Nigerians have to be pragmatic on the matter. Be decisive, and immediately roll out actionable policies to staunch this madness; “all hands to the pump.” We have nowhere to go.
Most hitherto attractive and welcoming countries are now future proofing too, putting their citizens first, and making it very difficult and nearly impossible for immigrants to pursue a meaningful life in their space. So, let’s make life livable here. Whatever went wrong, the symptoms are now flagrant and ugly, and the lid has now blown off.
Honest and wise attention must be directed in this area; otherwise, all other activities will amount to chasing rainbows. There are quite a few actions to start with: from naming and shaming, to tightening the cash flows, to cutting off cellular connectivity in some notorious regions, to tightening of raw materials, mining licenses, to heightening law enforcement street presence, including a rotating real presence of authority and power in the remote local government areas of the states. Every good option is good enough; and most of all, let us start doing the right things in our places of work and trust. We must uphold ethics, law and order.
Kassim Afegbua
Discussion about this post