The headlines we wake up with, recently, are no longer a picture of what Northern Nigeria used to be. I could not forget the video of the bandits that were roaming on motorcycles in a village in Katsina while the villagers were hailing them. May be the villagers had no choice but do that. The issues of banditry and kidnappings have become incessant. Ransom amounts are now breaking news in our media outlets. From the N270 million demanded for 9 ABU students that were kidnapped, to N100m demanded for the six kidnapped ASPs. These are the recent but not the only reported cases of kidnappings in our newspapers. The game has been on for quite a long time. The scenarios make one more disturbed and furious after all these, two or three bandits will submit some weapons in the name of surrendering and they cleanse all the blood they have spilled with a cup of tea and few snapshots with the governor. That’s all.
Something ignited the conscience of northern youths. Few days after the #EndSARS protest started, they woke up to trend the hashtag “#Secure North” across social media platforms. Many people recounted how their families, relatives and friends were either gunned down by the bandits or how they went through ordeals to pay ransoms. Some have taken time to call on the government to take up its responsibility of securing the North while some have opted to curses and vulgar abuses to the person of the president. Some have lost hope and have concluded that the government could no longer address the insecurity. Everbody is doing the best he could eventhough in real sense we are not doing anything as well.
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I always find reason(s) to justify the reactions of the masses to the government. Indeed we have the locus to blame the president since he is the Grand Commander of the Armed Forces. We have every right to petition the service chiefs who are supposed to be at the battleground but chose to base in Abuja. We have every right to blame our governors who sat in Kaduna and chose to discuss the social media bills and forgot that their people are dying. We have every reason to be mad at our representatives who have never cared to give a thought on how they can contribute to the fight against insecurity. We have the right to point a finger at everyone who identifies himself with the government.
However, while we do all that, we forgot to interrogate ourselves. None of us asked himself, “How did I contribute to the insecurity?”, “How could I contribute to fighting for a peaceful country?” We should not forget that three fingers will be pointing at us the moment we point at someone else. So, how well did we address the three fingers pointing us?
While I opine that all of us have contributed in one way or the other to the insecurity, I give the most share of the blame to parents before the government we are rushing to accuse. It is true that the government has all machineries to fight insecurity but on a deeper look, would there be kidnappings and banditry if all parents had given their children proper training?
Our grandparents have told us the story of how Northern Nigeria was. That a northerner can sleep all night with his doors wide opened. That a woman can carry a pot of gold from Borno to Zaria and no one will rob her talk more of kidnapping. Were there no poor people then? Did they have the formal education we have today? No. Apart from the good leadership they had at that time, there was also good parenting.
The family is the first agent of socialization. This gives the parent the unimpeded opportunity to train their children the way they did. It is agreed that as life goes on, the children will venture into the society and join peers which will no doubt affect their behaviour but still the parents choose where their children go, who they make friends with and what type of school (whether western or religious) they attend. Surely, a well trained child cannot stand on the road, in any circumstance, to kidnap someone.
I believe, every kidnapper or bandit did not just wake up and decide to be a kidnapper or bandit. It was a process. He probably started from picking fights on the streets, stealing hens and goats in the neighbourhood or some substance abuse. I will not believe the parents have not received any complaint of such kinds before, for a child who became a kidnapper. In any case, it will even be negligent for a parent to say he did not know when and how his child became what he is today. Banditry and kidnapping start at home the same way charity does.
If we wish to become the ‘safe North’ that we were, we must first settle with ourselves. Parents should give their children proper training and upbringing. We need change from every angle. And since most of the religions we have in this country are against all the crimes we are seeing today, I will urge parents to also make sure their children receive religious education.
To end with, I will quote the words of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) when he said: “Everyone of you is a shepherd and will be accounted for his sheep. A man is a shepherd in his house and will account for members of his household, a wife is also a shepherd and will be accountable for her husband’s house”.
Usman is a Law Student, Bauchi State University and Youth Ambassador of World Youth Summit for Peace in 2019. ([email protected])
