OUR MISGUIDED ELEMENTS


Civil society only thrives when law and order are strictly entrenched in the psyche of a society. I can dare say there is no place on this planet where law and order are demeaned like our land. Our disregard for it is so entrenched that one begins to wonder if ever we will succeeded as a nation. Last year I was traveling back home from UK and we boarded the British Airways flight from Heathrow with a Northern Governor, an important Northern Emir, an elder statesman from 2nd republic and a host of members of the federal legislature. To my satisfaction every one of us obediently follow queue as British law requires on first come first serve, to pass through custom. But as soon as we landed in Abuja I didn’t even realize where the Governor passed through and for the royal father he flagrantly shunted queue and handed over his passport to the custom officer without waiting to collect it back just went along leaving the man perplexed only to be confronted by an aide who whispers to him "It is his Royal Highness". What could the poor man do but handed over the passport. So if our elite can travel abroad and dutifully abide by their laws only to come back home and be the first to break our laws, what is the hope for this country?

Ironically we can boast of being the country with the highest number of churches and mosques goers, besides we were only a few years ago voted by the BBC as the most spiritual minded nation on earth. Recent events in the country by the misguided Muhammad Yusuf led radical Islamists is a wakeup call to all and sundry. In less than 48 hours, this armed group had attacked in progressive pattern five northern states including Maiduguri, Yobe, Bauchi, Kano and Katsina. Their agenda being anti-westernization, yet most of them are youths with various certificates ranging from Secondary, Diplomas and Degrees. They claimed to have burnt their certificates and vowed to wage war on government. Careful scrutiny will reveal an underlying frustration suppressed over a long period of time. A sharp contrast of extravagant affluence and abject poverty living side by side in this country and most of the affluent acquired their wealth through government illegally.

Health care delivery is nonexistent, education has crumbled and security is worse. No sane government will keep a blind eye to the plight of its citizen and expect all to keep going well. It is a shame in the midst of this crises, President Yar’adua just took off to Brazil. True leaders abandoned the most prestigious G8 meetings and go back home to face similar crises as recently demonstrated by the conscientious and rational Chinese leader a few weeks ago.

Few decades ago, such nonchalant attitude by the Wahabi-led Saudi government gave birth to Al-Qaeda, which goes on to become the scourge of our times. Al-Qaeda was born out of frustration and look at what it has become: keeping the super powers on their toes. If our leaders are naïve enough to believe Nigerians are so docile that they can forever continue to withstand being raped and plundered by the elites and cannot use civil disobedience for a change, let them not forget the masses are extremely good at the slightest religious provocation to let loose carnage and wanton killing. Perhaps we are beginning to see radicals under the garb of religion venting their socio-economic anger and frustrations on authorities.

The level of poverty in our society makes our youth vulnerable to recruitment by such misguided elements. One can easily understand this by a recent interview by the BBC with one of the captives that attacked a police station in Wudil, Kano. The person was none other but a young teenager girl who confessed that her teacher just told her, in the middle of the night, to accompany him and she did unknown to her parents.

Serious government take serious things seriously, we can take a cue from Zambia, a far smaller nation. Zambian economy relies on farming and last year’s global shortfall in agricultural products almost crippled the economy but the government injected huge funds to the agricultural sector by giving farmers free fertilizer and seeds while subsidizing farm tools and implements. Guess what? The harvest season yields millions of tones and they get surplus like never before in recent times. In Nigeria the government also in a similar move set aside 200 Billion as soft loans to farmers. The money was given to first bank and one other bank for onward distribution to farmers. After a year and two farming season, the chairman of the implementation committee, former Governor of Nassarawa state unashamedly announced this month, that due to delayed distribution strategy by the two banks they are withdrawing the funds back to CBN. Bankers please help us here to calculate how much interest 200 billion could generate in over a year?

I think it is high time for the BBC to vote us again as the country with the highest misguided elements ranging from a misguided president (that can travel at the height of crises) to misguided public officials (that can only think with their pockets not their conscience) and misguided radicals (that disguise socio-economic issue as religious) and finally misguided masses (that believe they cannot change the way they are governed)

God has warned us

Q8:25” And fear tumult or oppression, which affect not in particular only those of you who do wrong”

This warning is unheeded in this country and as a result of our collective nonchalant attitude we are all paying for it. All of us are in a mess because our leaders are possessed by power tussle and wealth-race that consume them. In less than two years the alpha and omega of the last administration, the duo of El-Rufai and Ribadu can not even set foot on the country and Baba Iyabo is almost forgotten. Those in government beware the same fate awaits you. The well-to-do in our midst are prisoners of their own making, they have to pay for everything they are supposed to get for free naturally and fear and insecurity is their daily routine. Our intellectuals are like rats in a cage, able yet not so able, and eventually ended wasted. Oh! the poor masses ‘Born unto frustrations only to live and die in it”.

Our rottenness is from within and I don’t agree with those who say it is bad leadership alone without mentioning bad followership. We are all responsible to an extent and we can only change that through willful and committed contribution towards eradication of our scourge i.e. Selfishness.  

 

 

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