Nigeria’s insecurity and sins of leadership in governance

“There is fire on the mountain!” No Nigerian should gloat over every strange thing currently happening in the country because it is all real, not fiction, even though it all seems as if it’s happening in the movies. The way prices of goods change in the markets (especially food items), and the violent cases of killings in the land are clear proof that the government appears overwhelmed by the unending horrible cases of insecurity in the land. The military (Major General Buba) has recently said in a public speech aired on TVC that the “security challenges in the country are self-inflicted”. These developments were unheard of in the days of the political leaders who fought for independence in 1960. In all parts of the country, Nigeria has turned into a killing field, where human life is no longer cherished, adored or revered or kept sacred as God’s precious handiwork. Human lives are mercilessly massacred daily in almost all the geopolitical zones by all groupings of non-state actors. This is, indeed, a rub-off from the excesses and reckless line ups of some political leaders in the land; and it is the height of violent rascality. This must stop, if the government sincerely means it and backs it up with political will.

To glibly deceive the general public, it will be generally tied or tagged to ethnicity, religion or regional; just to whip up cheap and wicked sentiments. Nigeria has never been this horrible to live in! As an adolescent I freely travelled from Onitsha to school at Sokoto without parental guide in all my trips to school. From Sokoto I went to Ibadan for my further studies, and then traversed to Jimeta Yola to serve the nation without encountering any attacks from the indigenes. As youths in the late ‘70s and ‘80s, every place was our home! The government can stop this mess of high insecurity in the land, if it means business, without harbouring ulterior motives or selfish hidden agenda. The political elites need to be challenged that they are the engineers of this blood sucking monster ravaging the land (with their vote buying proclivities), tearing the once peaceful nation apart, with this high level of divisiveness, discrimination and hatred in the entire land. It makes you want to vanish into thin air in the true scientific process of sublimation. Nigeria is no longer sweet, I must confess! Can’t the present crop of the political class and elites, have remorse and with a changed heart rebuild this battered land?

On economic hardship, the federal government says that 88.4 million Nigerians are living in poverty; faced with a food crisis (food insecurity and rising costs of food), rising inflation, and high cost of living; with the ordinary Nigerian constantly contending with the excruciating worries he experiences trying to provide a daily meal for his household, yet, he watches the people he entered into a social contract with for a democratically elected positions, live in opulence! There is hunger in the land because the vulnerable poor man can no longer cope with the rising inflation.  One does not quarrel with the social class of a politician but we quarrel with him and her for not delivering on the mandate given him and her to bring good governance to impact the electorate                                                           positively for the expected democracy dividends. One of our political founding fathers, “the great Awo” (Chief Obafemi Awolowo) once said that, “the pursuit of wealth is not a bad thing in itself because without the food and comforts which wealth provides, life will be penurious and drab, but always remember that any wealth accumulated on a selfish basis, at the expense of the State in defiance of social justice helps to create a disorganised society in which everybody will eat everybody, and no one person can be safe”. These are the words of an elder statesman, written in gold on granite marble.

In just ten years apart (between 2014 and 2024), the following price differential on some items have been recorded: Petrol from N120 per litre to N670 or more; Cement from N1,800 per bag to N7,500; a bag of rice from N7,500 to as much as N65,000. Then, our currency exchange rate skyrocketed from N180 per USD to N1,550. Again, in 1978, naira was stronger than the USD, where N10,220 was equivalent to $13,100. From Awo’s prophetic counsel, the political elites (with very few exceptions) hijacked this country and raped it! Let the truth be told. If you are one of these politicians, you sincerely know yourself, as you count your teeth with your tongue.

The strategic protection of life is fueled by the energy sourced from food that drives man’s continuous existence and sound health. Food security, therefore, is a very essential aspect of the economic pillars recognised as key to security of life in any economy because, “a hungry man is an angry man”. Anger in itself, is a precursor that provokes violence and other forms of unguarded criminalities in the society. The Nigeria leadership is therefore urged to retrace its wrong steps, for better performance on governance, and significantly focus on ways to deliver the social services for stomach infrastructure by providing enough food (which is among the three basic needs of man), to feed the nation and feed Nigerians well.

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