By Toyin Falola
Though the common assertion that “we live in unprecedented times” may be ambiguous, it has come to have a definite meaning for Nigerians in recent times. And no, the statement is not synonymous with the attainment of some scientific breakthrough or any positive achievement; rather it has come to be associated with a period of unprecedented chaos, pain and uncertainty in the nation. With us, in the last decade or so, everyday seems to be like a step further down into chaos. Public universities are closed with no real commitment from the government to have them open again anytime soon. Elections are coming! The lights are on today and who knows what tomorrow may bring. It could be long queues at the filling stations, or another one hundred naira on the dollar. But maybe we shouldn’t care much about the inflation, the rising cost of everything, especially if we can go about our day, minding our businesses without fear of being whisked away by unknown gunmen or even known ones in black uniforms for frivolous charges. Did anyone say twenty naira?
It is far from funny, this life we live as Nigerians. About forty-eight hours ago, on 28/3/2022, our day was ruined by some terrible news from Kaduna, and no, not the attempt by unknown gunmen on the plane bound for Lagos. That was about a week ago—old news, considering Nigeria’s standards. I am referring to the train attack, which according to the BBC, claimed the lives of no less than seven people, with twenty-two more injured and an unknown number kidnapped. Yes, an unknown number. Because, apparently the train-station cannot produce a passenger manifest, if you can believe it! If the attackers were unknown and the victims cannot be identified, then what do we know? You might wonder.
Well, it is common knowledge that the Abuja-Kaduna Road has been an active theatre of kidnapping and banditry for a number of years now, the reason a lot of passengers—including some elements of the high and mighty—have opted to use the train as a safer option. This transfer of traffic to the train route was sure to attract the attention of the nefarious elements involved in this dastardly act of kidnap for ransom and murder. The passengers knew this and so did the government, at least that was what most people thought, especially after two other relatively unsuccessful attempts. So, why were no pre-emptive measures taken, even after the current lacklustre, “rubber-stamp” Senate had allegedly called on the federal government to beef up security along that axis?
Before we go about cracking our heads trying to understand why the current leadership of Nigeria is so careless—to put it nicely—about its duties, let’s carry out some deductions from what we’ve observed so far about its handling of terrorists. To those who might not be aware, the Nigerian government is one of the first anywhere to release terrorists back into society—in the midst of an active terrorism crisis—with claims that the criminals have repented and been rehabilitated! Well, as citizens, who are we to doubt our government when it says it has rehabilitated terrorists, when, under it’s watch, the national petroleum management body (NNPC) sold adulterated fuel to Nigerians! After all, where were you when a sitting governor, somewhere in the north, climbed a podium to take smiling photos with leaders of bandit groups with whom he alleged his government had reached an agreement, only for him to turn around about a year or more later to publicly lament his decision to trust them. Certainly, you heard of the one in Kaduna who said he paid terrorists an undisclosed sum to desist from attacking the people of southern Kaduna. Does it not make you wonder then, why a government that can be so reasonable with the handling of murdering bandits be so violent with youths protesting the injustices of the police? If these issues do not quiz you, then you won’t be surprised either with the fact that security agents were not stationed at intervals along the train route to deter attacks, or carry out reconnaissance so as to be able to warn of impending attacks and save lives.
No doubt, the frequency of these attacks threatens to numb the public to the pain of their victims–fellow citizens. Many do their best to put it out of their minds and go about their day as normally as they can, even if it is there on the news, every day, in constant rotation. What can we do? This is the unspoken question, especially if those who tried to call attention to police brutality were shot down by the army while the government was more interested in proving there were no casualties than it was in finding out who gave the order to fire live ammunition on unarmed protesters expressing a civil right. Have the people simply lost their will to fight for Nigeria, or has it been beaten out of them by poverty, hunger, and systemic violence? One thing remains sacrosanct: the government must be held to account, especially where it is clearly failing to live up to its duties, which includes securing the lives and properties of citizens.
Now if the courts and the national assembly cannot deliver their mandate to provide equity and accountability, then the citizens’ only recourse are the polls. General elections are around the corner. And, as it is the tradition every four years, Nigerians will once again choose from a list of candidates who to build on the legacy—more like fix the problems —left behind by the exiting leadership. But as we all know, a forty-million-naira ticket for a chance to serve your country will not fetch you the best intentions. So, citizens are convinced that the choice is in finding the lesser evil. But in the course of selecting this “lesser evil,” they also have to navigate through a tendency that has always stood in the way of Nigeria and the hope of a competent leader, and that is the tendency for people to vote their region, religion, or ethnicity. And if, by chance, the consensus “lesser evil” emerges from the ethnicity or religion with the highest voting power, there is still the question of the umpire colluding with the incumbent or the highest bidder to influence election outcomes. So where do citizens turn for competent leadership, even as they face a daily threat of being the victims of kidnaping, banditry, or insurgency after surviving inflation, scarcity, and hunger?
Where do Nigerians find succour? Maybe we have not prayed enough, or God has simply decided to ignore us for our hypocrisy of praying and having faith without working to support it. Maybe it is a thing of luck and we have just been unlucky, and our luck might soon turn for the better. But just before we make our appeal at the altar of luck, we must find out how many well-off nations built their foundations on such rationale. We look to China—not the usual suspect America celebrated as the ideal success story—which is, in some ways, similar to Nigeria. As a nation—with an “intimidating” population such as Nigeria’s—China, in less than a century, has been able to turn its fortunes around to a position where it is the biggest lender to Africa. Yes, it might not be as culturally diverse as Nigeria and share in all the challenges that come with that, or have a history of slavery and colonialism like ours. But the Chinese are not also known to shut the doors of their nation’s educational institutions for months on end, or have known looters of state treasury occupy public office in perpetuity, only changing titles intermittently to avoid infighting. Rather, they developed a vision, not just to become regional or continental giants, but also to stake their claim at the world table. And to achieve this, they invested in their population by equipping them with the scientific and technical knowledge to compete and excel at any level. Today, China has come a long way away from its title as the “sick man of Asia”.
As we commiserate with the families of the victims of this dastardly attack and pray for the quick recovery of the injured and freedom for the kidnapped, we must also call out this government for failing to prevent what was an avoidable event. It is our duty as Nigerians to ensure that such occurrences become a thing of the past by speaking up after such attacks and finding a way to ensure that only the best of us end up in the pilot seat to steer this great nation to a destination of peace and progress. Until then, these deaths remain a stain on our collective humanity, especially if we do not contribute our individual quotas in a united effort to redeem Nigeria from the precipice of anarchy. We must halt this development of chaos immediately or lose our home forever!
