Collectivism: A Panacea to the Nigerian Conundrum

The maladies bedeviling the Nigerian Homo Sapiens in her struggle for survival, transcend Darwinian evolution theories of Natural Selection in the Origin of Species- It is indeed fact, being Nigerian is daunting.

It’s as though our creator dealt us a wrong stack of cards- bad leaders, bad citizens, and a truck load of bad luck. Nothing good happens. And when we try to make good of ourselves, something sinister piles up on our plate.  For example, we were sprinkled some cosmic dust of “Goodluck” (with high oil prices, awash with Foreign Direct Investments) yet at the same time Boko Haram sacked communities leaving the smell of charred flesh in its wake. The memories of Chibok and the Aluu four massacres linger, not to mention the iniquitous thievery that took place in that administration. The flicker was doused.

Enters Sai Baba, who ironically benefits from a process he truncates years before, ushering hope by his victory over the almighty PDP. Buhari came in at the time Nigerians were fed up with the draconian party at the centre. And you would think, finally, we can claw ourselves back from the pit. But with Jonathan out of the way, our luck turned for the worse: oil prices plummeted and our reserves took a hit not imagined by economists. A renewed militancy erupts in the Niger Delta championed by the Avengers while IPOB & MASSOB spark flames in the South East.  Consider this, with Buhari, there is “no corruption” (at least not as glorified as it was with his predecessor) but we have to contend with new devils compounded by a ravaging recession. Buhari’s government has no clue yet on what to do, little wonder our citizens scurry towards danger like Alice in Wonderland going after Ponzis such as MMM and ultimate cycler in other to make ends meet.

If you take the biblical account of the Tower of Babel seriously, it would suggest that all a nation needs to prosper even if their creator didn’t approve is to cooperate in whatever goal they set out to achieve.

Cooperation as a nation is easier said knowing Nigerians well enough. We never agree on anything, even obvious problems. Issues are peered through cultural, ethnic and religious kaleidoscopes.   Our moral compasses oscillate towards the satisfaction of our bellies and we have altogether lost our way (if we ever had one).

Does this mean Nigerians never come together at all? Yes, we actually do. Soccer brings us together! Remember how Rashidi Yekini, screamed out his lungs when he scored against Bulgaria in the world cup?  The country was united. Remember Nwankwo Kanu’s miraculous chip against Brazil? Yes, that brought us together too. In fact after we won Atlanta 96, people filled the streets chanting and singing, not minding the language spoken. But these sporting events are few and far between and are usually short lived. Sports are a good rallying point, but it doesn’t hold the centre for us in the long run.

So what else can be a unifying factor?

Famous televangelist, TD Jakes says: “Nothing brings people together like adversity”. And he is right. Death in the family brings relations from far and wide.   We see how America came together when tragedy hit them on 9/11.  America was unequivocal in its stand against terrorism the way South Africa was united against the apartheid government of FW de Klerk.

Nigeria has had her share of adversity- the Civil War; Kano riots in 91 & 2001; Jos killings; Cynthia Osokogu; Mubi; Ikeja Cantonment mayhem;  Independence Bomb blast; Madalla, June 12 and the fuel hike protests of 2013 among many others. But each time, the disasters wore a different color of interpretation depending on what religion, ethnic group, or culture you gleaned it from. We may have come together in these times but it is my opinion that these tragedies never defined us as a people the way 9/11 or apartheid did for America and South Africa.   There was no common ground. There were in fact people who blamed Cynthia for getting lured to a hotel room; others defended the Aluu killings because they believed Lloyd, Chidiaka, Tekena and Ugo were members of some cult.

There is perhaps only one event where Nigerians saw the struggle through from start to finish. It was not a political tussle, or a civil rights movement or a protest against unlawful killings. It was a fight to save and preserve our individual lives. It was the fight against Ebola.

The fear of death from the Ebola Virus gave us a unifying language. The market woman in Kafanchan and the student in Ilorin greeted with their elbows. The prostitute in Obalende and the priest in Mbaise understood the language. There was neither friend nor foe when life was concerned. Bribes couldn’t get you into any public building without the use of sanitizers. Nigerians who would otherwise never obey simple instructions now wash their hands. Why?

 Nobody wants to die

These examples illustrate how individualism (or selfishness in this context) can be used to save the community. Usually it is our inherent selfishness and lack of consideration for others that make us cut corners. We take bribes in order to stop protests not minding if the objectives are achieved. We support thieving politicians and protect them with the “our son” mantra. We inflate contracts and still never build the roads not caring that pot holes kill people. We skip queues at banks and airports by settling attendants, just because we can. And recently, to think that food items desperately needed by Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who have gone through so much pain can be diverted by their own kinsmen privy to their plight would make you cringe at the deep seated selfishness in every one of us. Nigerians are selfish at heart.

But have you noticed how we obey flight attendants who ask that phones be switched off before take-off? And how everyone rallies against the passenger who just doesn’t get it?

Why?

Because, nobody wants to die. We will shelve our individualism for the collective interest of everyone so long as it spares us also. Our love for self is brought to the fore, but this time for the common good. The support for the flight attendant could in fact potentially save the plane couldn’t it?

Now, how can convert these individualistic tendencies to benefit the generality of Nigerians?

In the movie, Beautiful Mind, John Nash (Russell Crow) captures this concept brilliantly when he refutes Adams Smith’s claim on the positive influence of competition (individualism) alone. Nash was of the opinion that competition is only positive if it benefits the group (collectivism). Nash adds: "In competition, individual action (should) serve the common good".

He further explains: “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. Nash’ argument was that when one does what is good for him and also for the group (or community) the system benefits more. Simply put, if our individual interest benefits the overall interest of the society, then that interest is worth doing but if it benefits us alone, it should not be done.

Going by the Ebola example, if a contractor sees himself or his loved one dying on the road he is meant to fix, he would not cart away public funds. Imagine if this were the attitude we took to our business places every day

What if major fuel importers thought they would make a better profit investing in building refineries that in importing fuel because it would benefit the country more in the long run?

What if, the solution to the youth restiveness in the Niger Delta and South East was “True Federalism?”

What if having only one chamber in the National Assembly would benefit the country more in the long run? What if our lives actually depended on this, wouldn’t we be willing to make the necessary sacrifices? 

So many “what ifs”, but it is clear that focusing on ourselves rather than the group is costing us more that we can accommodate. The world is moving on, and every country is adapting and finding ways to survive as species often do. Our failure to adapt is causing the “extinction” we presently face.

Whether we live or die is left to us but the solution is clear. All we need to do is to love our fellow man as ourselves and possibly more.

Otaigbe Ewoigbokhan

FAR FAR AWAY IN AN EVIL FOREST (EPISODE 1)

“Esther, Esther, Esther did you hear?”

“Hear what?”

“They say the soldiers are coming for us. Salamatu just told me now that she heard one of the men say so”

“Don’t mind Salamatu, she always ferries rumors like a fly carries dung”. I don’t want her to get us into trouble again.
Wasn’t she the one that refused to recite the prayers?. She earned us all harsh whips from the men”

“That’s true. But Esther, do you think they will ever come for us?”
‪#‎Bringbackourgirls‬

ANOTHER WAY TO APPROACH 2013

It is not possible to completely understand or comprehend life; we can only hope to make the best out of it. We often pray for luck or favor and we wish to handle our challenges or frustrations with grace in the face of adversity.  We are but humans after all and we can only hope for the best. The philosophies of the origin and purpose of life have spanned generations and there appears to be more ques-

tions than answers. For me, trying to figure out life is an inquest into an endless river and every ounce of energy consumed swimming deeper leaves one more frustrated and exhausted. Spiritual books like the Bible and Koran lend advice about life; also  philosophers like Socrates, Confucius, Sigmund Freud and more recently David Stafford-Clark sometimes leave us more perplexed. What ought to be important to us is how to make life more meaningful especially as we enter into a New Year.

We cannot deny that the New Year always ushers hope. The New Year helps us to psychologically wipe the slate clean. We recon we can press the restart button or do better, or do more. And this psychological boost reflects in virtually every area of human existence. For example, a woman with a bad relationship may hope for a new man to start over with or pray the misery experienced in the relationship dies with the old year.  An alcoholic or chain smoker believes he would finally kick the habit; a childless woman or jobless man look up to heavens for a change in fate or status; even a bad student who has failed WAEC or JAMB twice fancies her chances in the New Year. Churches provide a ready elixir, and we drink to the messages of hope unashamedly. We christen the New Year with such profound and baroque nomenclatures as Year of Greatness, Year of Higher Ground etc. Truth is this: whether in Doha, Ottawa,  Bujumbura or Abuja, the New Year is a harbinger of hope. No matter how bad a situation is, there is resurgence in spirit!

In football, a new season is like a new year and it is fascinating how football fans expect their teams to win trophies when they are not personally involved in the teams’ preparation. This is most typical of Arsenal FC fans who almost always forget the miseries of previous seasons and pray for some mystical force to change their fortune. They (I inclusive) act like Arsenal didn't just go 7 previous seasons without silverware. We wash Arsene Wenger’s sins away and yet wonder why we are out of every major competition by March.  But why should we hope to win anything when Arsene has done nothing different in seven years? The only reason the fans continue in this act of masochism is because the new season offers fresh hope. In the same pattern, we here in Nigerian are ever so quick to forgive the sins of politicians. We do not forgive because we are good, but because it is easier to forgive than take action.  We practice negative resilience and tell ourselves we are a strong people. We drink to new lies of hope the politicians tell every year. They tell us the economy grew by about 6% in 2012 and in the New Year it would be more. We do not ask if 6% translates to reduction in poverty in the country. We do not ask if 6% means better road infrastructure. We have forgotten to ask how the recovered subsidy fund was spent. And when we do ask, we do not get a response.   We have forgiven Farouk Lawan. He will run for reelection in 2015 and we won’t protest.  Why protests, is it our business? One may ask. Didn't he get himself there by himself in the first place? Another will retort. Unbeknownst to us, we have  again mortgaged our future on the altar of “e go better”.  I believe that if regular Nigerians had marched to the National Assembly Complex to demand his resignation he won’t be there today (but this is a message for another day). I am resolute in my belief that one of the most effective way to get anything done in our lives especially as a country is if we take responsibly and demand accountability the way we did in January of 2012. That singular action was far better than just hoping. We took our destinies' in our hands.  Don’t get me wrong, hope is good. Faith needs hope to work. But a hope, where we expect things to change without our individual involvement or participation is sheer madness. And so every passing year, hope destroys the future. With passivism and wishful thinking destroying our individual lives and the country at large. Action is required for positive change to occur.

The year 2012 was by far one of the bloodiest years in the nation’s history. Boko Haram murdered Christians in churches virtually weekly and we hope it won’t happen in 2013.  Armed youths mulled and killed students in the Mubi and Aluu disasters’, and we hope that 2013 would be better.  We have done nothing to understand why these evil prevailed so as to prevent future reoccurrences. We act in the same destructive way and hope our luck shines in times ahead. We would soon forget the floods that ravished people killing many and leaving countless homeless. We would forget we promised to plan against future floods.

The fate of man is one with an endless cycle of vanities. And with nothing new under the sun, it becomes easier to predict 2013. In music, Wizkid and Banky will make us “roll it” in the clubs and more risqué music videos would be churned out. NollyWood would ship out more content bereft movies, but one or two will stand the test of time. A man will marry, makes love to his wife and they will breed children into the world who are more messed up that their parents. CNN, BBC and Aljazeera would be in competition amongst themselves for who reels out the bad news faster.   AIT and Channels TV will tell us a former governor made away with 10billion naira before leaving office. The country is redolent with corruption as ever. The EFCC will promise to pursue, to overtake, and of course to recover all. But we know they are lying. The only way they will get near that money is if the thief goes to the plea court and “settles” the matter. We know this is bull shit, but the scam won’t be complete if they didn’t lie. What’s a scam without a lie? We understand and go along with it. “E go better, 2014 will be better”, we tell ourselves. We curse, we scoff, and we vent on Facebook and Twitter. We curse out the president. He doesn’t care. He is after all the Facebook president. His eyes are fixed on 2015. Another year of hope! One church will call it the Year of Redemption! The elections will come and politicians will promise a new fragrance of fresh air- this time it will be jasmine.

Passive hope is but foolishness. Year In year out, the same activities have guided our existence. I do not mean to sound schadenfreude but this seems to be the hand we have been dealt.  How do therefore ensure that 2013 is different? How do we break free from the same cycle and who ends it? Again, we may look to the heavens, to metaphysics and philosophy in search of answers. Whatever we decide to embrace; be it asceticism, atheism or hedonism; change is the answer. Change will cause an imbalance in the status quo. We must begin to take our future in our hands. And the way to change the future is by changing our individual lives. Change is hard. Matter of fact, climbing Everest is easy compared to changing anything. It is hard to change. Change is difficult. The British colonial rulers’ resisted change; you will resist the change if your landlord wants to increase the rent; we resisted when the pump price of fuel changed from 65 naira to 97 naira; you resisted change when your wife started denying you the free sex. But what can man do? What will man do? There is no life without change. We must embrace it change. A caterpillar must change into a butterfly.  For if we must become butterflies, we must accept that we are not meant to be caterpillars’.

What kind of change do I propose? Nigerians should start practicing what we preach. If we are angry at the bribe scandal between Farouk Lawan and Otedola; then we must not give bribes to LASTMA officers or the attendant at the fuel pump who demands an extra 100 naira so that we can buy fuel in jerry-cans. But how will we power our generator, you may ask me? Well, I didn't say change was easy. But we can’t achieve anything without changing ourselves. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was possible in the 1950’s because regular folks decided not to take the bus. They walked to their destinations for over one year! They didn't just wait for Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jnr. to fight for them, they took personal responsibility. The bible admonishes us to “be doers and not just hearers of the word”. So we can’t afford to sit at home and abuse politicians for inflating budgets when house wives do exactly the same to their husbands in their own corner.

This kind of change can be slow but if we commit to it and teach our children and they in turn their own children, we would have less thieves, and corrupt politicians and murderers’ like the ones in Aluu in the future. Change must include looking beyond ourselves. We must resolve to do good to our fellow man. We must help the poor among us. There are damn too many anyways. The majority of us are poor but there are poorer people. If you can afford to pay your DSTV bill monthly, then you shouldn't close your eyes at kids without slippers- children we know never go to school. We may know a teenager who is certain to be a prostitute the way she is leading her life now. A soft word, a good counsel might save her. Yes, she’s not your daughter, but you could be of help. We can take a second from our lives and think about doing good to someone else. That’s the change I propose. That’s the change I seek in 2013. That is true living. The one the Christ preached. This will make 2012 different from all the  other years gone by. I pray you join me in this adventure; for in it lay true fulfillment. For true happiness and satisfaction in this life is how able we are to impact the lives of others for good.

©2013 Ewoigbokhan Otaigbe

Itualive!

P.S

 ItuaLive! has officially moved to WordPress. I thank you all for reading my posts every time I share on Facebook or Twitter. Blogging for two years knowing you will always read it has been both encouraging and humbling. ItuaLive! was 2 years in October with over 24,000 hits! The move to WordPress is to enable me respond to comments better and avail myself to the technology WordPress offers. The Blogger account would still run and would be directed and some other projects in the future.

 I want to wish you all a Happy and Prosperous 2013. God bless you all.

PHCN: HOW NOT TO FORMULATE POLICY

This is a clear example of what happens when “leaders” in government lack the insight and compassion as well as common sense requisite for policy formulation and execution.

I live in Opebi, Ikeja Lagos.  My monthly PHCN energy bill ranges from 2,300 naira to 3,500 naira (with the new energy tariff regime). I’m single, have few electronic gadgets and spend more of my time outside my house on weekdays. This explains why I have managed to maintain a fairly low tariff on my electricity bills.

So you can imagine my disbelief upon finding out that my bill read 16,000 naira for the month of October.  My initial assessment was that it must have been human error by the person who read my meter. I went to the PHCN office on Ikosi Road, Oregun and lodged a complaint

I spoke with the both the marketing manager and the woman who reads my meter and was shocked to find out that the reason for the outrageous bill I was served was due to a new PHCN policy. The policy states or rather assumes that no individual can use less that 200 units of energy per month. In the event that this occurs, it must mean that the individual or household has tampered with the meter. The penalty for this (whether one is guilty or not) is to be slapped with a16,000 naira flat rate equivalent to about 1200 energy units of electricity!

It doesn’t matter whether you have one fridge or no TV set. It doesn’t matter if you do not have air conditioning sets or no electric cookers. It doesn’t matter whether you travel for three weeks on vacation with your family. It doesn’t even matter if the transformer has a fault. Once the energy unit reads 200 or less, you must be a thief and a scoundrel cheating the government.

Of course I tried to make a case by showing my bill payments from February to date which amounted to an average of about 3,000 naira per month. It was saddening to realise that no one could offer any satisfactory response or even empathize with me. All they could say was this: “just pay the bill and apply for the installation of the digital meter”.

The problem remains unresolved and I am faced with the stack reality of another 16,000 naira bill in November.  Going by my average monthly energy consumption, I’m definitely in big trouble! It is wrong for PHCN to force me to pay for power I did not consume.

I tried to fill out the forms for the digital meters and the forms were not even available. And if it were, it could take ages to be installed. And while I wait, 16,000 naira electric bills would be forced down my throat except I decide to live in darkness.

Another option I may employ is to leave all my fans and lights on through the day, every day, whether I’m in or not. This may help push my monthly consumption to above 200 units of energy!

It is not fair for me to pay over 14,000 naira extra than I should every month for electricity. The fact that somebody somewhere behind a desk thought this policy out without considering that some people may by choice use less electricity is lunacy. This is a stupid policy at best and people with such unintelligent approach to issues should not be allowed to roam free let alone be policy makers.

I want to use this medium to ask anyone out there for help. If you know anyone who can correct this anomaly or can lend expert legal advice on what I should do about this matter, please do contact me.

Richard Obaitan

(08063805100, robaitan@gmail.com.)

Itua Live!: OKADA: HAS LAGOS DONE THE RIGHT THING?

Itua Live!: OKADA: HAS LAGOS DONE THE RIGHT THING?: Okada is the name commonly used to describe commercial motorcycles in most parts of Nigeria. The name Okada was derived from Okada...

OKADA: HAS LAGOS DONE THE RIGHT THING?

Okada is the name commonly used to describe commercial motorcycles in most parts of Nigeria. The name Okada was derived from Okada Air, the now defunct local airline popular in the 80’s. Okada Air earned its reputation by flying routes other airlines shied away from. It was considered the “all weather” airline and though not known for its comfort, if you needed to get to your destination as planned, you’d fly Okada.

The name Okada was “borrowed” from the airline and conferred on commercial motorcycles because they provided the same efficiency the airline was attributed with.  The use of motorcycles as a means of transport gained momentum in the 90’s largely due to poor road infrastructure in many parts of Nigeria especially the urban areas. Okada motorcycles gradually became a mainstay as population outgrew development. The infrastructure couldn’t support the population growth and while big cities like Dubai and London built subway stations, successive governments in Nigeria handed out thousands of Okadas as poverty alleviation strategies. The Mumbai Metro is under construction in the Indian. The system is designed to reduce traffic congestion in the city, and will be built in three phases over a 15-year period, with completion expected in 2021. This is planning. They could have easily banned tricycles to attain the modern city status overnight.

The Lagos state government has begun to enforce its ban on Okadas from plying 475 routes within the metropolis. The Babatunde Fashola led government in its bid to “sanitize” the city has embarked on a journey that may prove difficult. Like most African leaders, he has gone all out against the symptom and not the disease.

To say the immediate impact of this enforcement has made life miserable for Lagosians is an understatement. First of all, the number of people who have to trek long distances; Ikeja to Akowonjo, Agidingbi to Allen, Mobolaji-BankAnthony to Opebi, to mention a few is too large to turn a blind eye to. Hundreds of people clump around bus-stops hoping for buses that never come. The already excruciating traffic situation has been worsened because commuters who would rather leave their cars at home are now forced to drive to work. It took me over 3hours to get from Ilupeju to Ogudu last week!

There is also the issue of adding to the already saturated labor market. It is hard to figure out what the thousands of Okada riders would do in the mean time. How will their families survive? These questions have to be addressed. They cannot just be wished away.  I must state here that I have never liked Okadas. They have brushed my cars several times and sped off without apology. And when they do apologize, they wave a whimsical “sorry” as though that would fix my side mirror. They have no respect for traffic rules. They do not wait for street lights and truth be told, they serve as quick “get-away cars” used in robbery operations.  Going by the statistics put forward by the Lagos state government, the number of Okada related accidents is staggering. Many have lost their lives because Okada riders are a law to themselves.  

The issue now is how to find a middle ground. How do we harness the benefits of Okadas without their liabilities? Lagos is not a modern city, at least not yet. Modern cities like Amsterdam, Paris, Dubai and Helsinki don’t have Okadas because they have good roads. London with its Oyster Card has one of the best local transport systems in the world. Speed trains span the lengths and breadths of these developed cities. They achieved all this by carefully planning and building infrastructure.

The Lagos state government’s action will succeed in creating artificial “sanity”. Yes, Okadas won’t scratch your fenders anymore but these riders may find new ways of being more “productive” to society.

I want Lagos to grow into a modern city. The government can work assiduously by passing sound policies and taking progressive changes. There was a time in Lagos when Molues were the popular means of transport. But with more Danfos buses and the entrant of the BRT scheme, they are gradually becoming obsolete. I do not support the argument that the law be repealed. I’m more inclined towards a more relaxed policy. Okadas should be banned from roads where speed limit is over 50km/h.

Okada riders have been hunted down like terrorist. Police rapid response vehicles have been stationed to impound motorcycles. If a rider leaves in Ikeja but has to work in one of the designated routes, how does he get there without a police man harassing him? Can he even carry his wife to church on Sunday? As much I have been an avowed believer in law enforcement, I would like to see the police employ this level of enthusiasm in putting arm robbers behind bars. The law was made for man and not the other way around.

A friend sent me a photograph of Governor Fashola using Okada riders during one of his election campaigns on the same roads he has now banned them from. Well as they say in politics: there are no permanent friends. Eko Oni Baje o.

©2012 Otaigbe Itua Ewoigbokhan

Itualive! ™

A TALE OF MASSACRES: ALUU FOUR, MUBI AND A TICKING BOMB

As a young boy, I watched the torture of Samuel Doe on VHS. I may not have understood what made so many people angry with him at the time nor had I an insight into the political nuances that led up to the civil war in Liberia; but even in my naivety, the grotesqueness of the video was palpable. I considered the video a horror movie like The Living dead or Idi amin because my mind could not conceive violence of such magnitude as fact.    

After watching what now is considered the “Aluu four” massacre video, there was no confusion as to whether it was fact or fiction. What was puzzling this time around were questions I had no answers to: How did we get to this point in Nigeria? How did the threshold for violence lower so much without notice?  Who are the parents of these murderers? How did they bring up their children as killers and what went wrong in their formative years? How will the parents of the slain ever find succor having watched their sons hacked to death in such brutal manner in their own country?

Children are usually taught to “rat” or tell-on their siblings in acts of misdemeanor. It is a system employed by parents to know when things go wrong in their absence. A child, usually the youngest is the designated whistle blower. If truly the society is an offshoot of the family, it is worrisome that no one in that crowd ran to the police to report? No one felt compassion enough to do anything about it. Instead, they cheered on and acted like children angry at lizards which simply just refused to die after stoning them down from a tree.  

In July, Miss Cynthia Osokogu, a 24 year old entrepreneur was raped and murdered for sexual gratification.  While some blamed the poor girl for being of easy virtue, the bulk of the criticisms went the way of the murderers. It was perhaps only Idowu Akinlotan, a columnist for the Nation Newspaper in his essay titled, “The Cynthia Paradox”, that captured my sentiments on the matter.  I think we we need to pay more attention to why these things are happening in the country rather than on the actions themselves. Violence has taken a new dimension in the Nigeria. She has taken off her clothes and danced naked in the village square while we watch in astonishment. Violence is now the cancer ravaging us from within. Treating the symptoms is tantamount to putting a band-aid on a diabetic foot in the hope that it would heal. It is not enough to set up committees of enquiry. It is not enough to parade suspects on NTA and force confessions out of them. Something lies beneath.

While we slowly came to terms with Cynthia’s demise, a group of youths slaughtered over 30 students in Mubi, Adamawa state. The names of the victims were called out and they were summarily executed. Some reports suggest that their bodies were chopped into pieces. Yet again we wailed and cried and set up more committees of enquiries. The investigations were still ongoing when all of a sudden in Aluu, Port-Harcourt, another violent incident erupted. All these acts have one thing in common; they are carried out by young people and targeted at young people. Be it in the north, west or south-south, the trend is evident-the youths have turned on themselves.

I remember a time when we young people used to boast about togetherness and camaraderie. We collectively agreed that it was the older generation that had caused the denigration of present day Nigeria. Youths make up more than fifty percent of the general population, so when there is a dysfunction in the way youths think, then you know we have a serious problem. So what exactly has caused so much disconcertion, disdain and disarray amongst us?

A plausible explanation could be the overexposure to bloodshed over time. We are inundated weekly by wave after wave of violent acts across the Nation and little by little we have lost the human connection God put in us. News of Boko Haram bombings; killings in Jos and Ebonyi state are just headlines to us now. I too am guilty, because after hearing about a church bombing recently I was grateful to God that the death toll was minimal. I praised God it was just one person that died as if that one person didn’t have a family. It didn’t occur to me at the time that that singular human life could have been a father,  husband, brother,  son,  breadwinner and uncle to someone else. It now takes a large death toll to get our attention.

In addition to the over- sensitization to violence, the present economic hardship in the country has not helped. The youth are frustrated, jobless and restless. They are full of energy and will react quicker to situations. They willfully expend such energies even if it is against the society.  They are also more impressionable that other age groups. We, youths, have also noticed that crime is hardly punished in Nigeria. We see no point in going to the police. For instance, when have seen that oil subsidy thieves are shielded from prosecution. We have seen that Farouk Lawan has remained in the house of representative even after his obvious complicity in the bribery scandal. We have witnessed people like Dimeji Bankole use inane techniques to stall court processes.  We have seen youths kill in Jos, Bauchi, Yobe and Kano and yet walk free after jamboree committees’ met. We noticed that a man was killed five days after his wedding in Lagos by men suspected to be members of the police force and yet no answer has been forwarded. One doesn’t have to be a genius to deduce the repercussions of this on society. When there is impunity even for seemingly small crimes, disaster looms. This is why the killings have increased in intensity and have gone unabated.

In finding solutions to these “uprisings”, we may need to look at the Aluu incident more critically. We need psychologists (the Nigerian government is not interested in such things) to investigate the upbringing of the perpetrators. What went wrong in their childhood? I believe that there are certain people who are prone to violence and crime-an infinitesimal few. For others-the majority- they need to be pushed to the wall to commit crimes like armed robbery. Around the world we hear about misguided persons such as Timothy McVeigh, Andres Brevick, and James Holmes, committing mass murders. In such instances, the perpetrators acted alone and in the case of Brevick, his sanity was questioned.  But when a group of “sane” people champion killings and go on to record it on video, you begin to fear. When a group of young men lure a lady to Lagos in order to rape and kill her, you sense a depravity. When bandits connive to kill 30 students in peace time, you are terrified for your children yet unborn. Even in war, soldiers’ sometimes suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) because of the things they do and see.  My argument is that the community of people that killed these four boys are sick and are not fit to live amongst human beings. 

In order to prevent this from reoccurring, the law must be seen to function. The perpetrators’ of the act must be punished severely. Those that gave the order, those that supervised, and those that executed the order must be punished. The Mubi killers must also be brought to justice.  If eventually the law finds them guilty and capital punishment is employed, their executions must be made public. This should be done to elevate the sacrosanctity of the law.  The law needs to make a statement that it functions and exists. Executions even in the US are made public in some states. Sadam Hussein’s execution was made public. Even in primitive societies, the hang man (representing the state) performed his duty in the full view of the public. This was done so that people respect the law.

The Goodluck Jonathan administration has experienced an unprecedented wave of bloodshed. In 2010, I wrote then that I hoped we would never come to a point where suicide bombers would be employed.   I actually thought I was exaggerating. In 2012, suicide bombing is no longer news. It seems funny that the President made a speech three days after the Aluu incident and the four boys did not get a mention. Perhaps he forgot, or it wasn’t on his agenda for the speech. I was disappointed. The President should have called for national mourning. Flags should have been flown at half mast. If he didn’t consider it a national tragedy, then it probably wasn’t so important.  Flying flags at half mast is a call for national re-awakening. It sends a message that the incident must never repeat itself. By not giving it a mention, he has tolerated it. He has inadvertently agreed we have the capacity to deal with such things.   I have been extremely slow in criticizing this President because I think that we as citizens abdicate our own responsibilities sometimes. But why are all this things happening under his watch? Is it all a coincidence, or is there something he is doing wrong? Where has he gone that he shouldn’t have? Where should he have gone that he didn’t go? There has been too much bloodletting under him.

In conclusion, we all must know that violence begets violence. The law of sowing and reaping is in motion. The bloods of the innocent have been spilled time and again. We cannot claim to have heard the last of the Jos conflicts.  If your family member was maimed during the Berom and Fulani fracas, do you think you will forget? Would you live happily ever after with those you know killed your spouse? Will the parents of the slain four ever forgive the Aluu community for this action? The truth must be told. Many families have been hurt. They have not seen the state provide the justice required to keep them at peace, so they wait simmering, hoping for the perfect opportunity to strike back and shed blood. The cycle goes on. To break the cycle, a holistic approach must be sought. While we work assiduously to bring perpetrators to book, we should also target the next generation. We must begin to teach those coming after us to respect life. Parents have a huge responsibility here. The body is a function of cells the way the society is derived from a family. If we miss it at that level, then we will fail. The state must enact laws to compel people to plant trees and keep pets. There must be stiff laws for killing animals. If you go to prison for killing a dog, you will think twice before killing a human being. It will take time but it will work. If the little children love life, they will preserve it. They will in turn teach their children and one day we will have our beautiful land once more.

©2012 Otaigbe Ewoigbokhan

Itualive!