The metamorphosis of Northern Nigeria

Here we go again – and again. Gunmen kill 11, injure 4 in Plateau village.

Sounds familiar? Almost every week we receive this sort of chilling news from parts of Northern Nigeria. Gunmen seem to rule and the Nigerian state seems absent. Almost.

We need to raise one critical question about the situation in which we now find ourselves. When did the most peaceful and the least crime ridden region in the country suddenly become a hot bed of crimes and a killing field where life has become so cheap and so unsafe? And I wonder, where did we go wrong?

It is all so baffling because violence is normally associated with communal or political or religious disagreements. These killings do not result from any such disagreements. Cast your mind back to the days when people did not kill those with whom they had no quarrel for the fun of it. They did so, and rarely, only to settle scores, not to gratify their murderous and mindless instincts. The gun did not rule then. And men happy to pull the trigger with or without provocation did not roam the land.

The times have changed – and changed for the worse – in Northern Nigeria. These frequent killings are without discernible rhyme or reason. The killing of innocent fellow Nigerians cannot be ignored as the new youth games in town. Cheapening life is not a game. Killing is not a game. However much we may individually and collectively pretend to the contrary, the fact is this: we are all affected both directly and indirectly by the killings consuming parts of Northern Nigeria. 

The metamorphosis of the once safest region to the least safe now cannot but be a source of great worry for those of us who can afford to spare some time from the daily grinds of putting food on the table to think of the present and the future of a country ruled by the gun and gun men.

I do spare some thoughts for the Nigerian state. It has enormous responsibilities for making our country and us safe at all times and in all circumstances. It is both its moral and constitutional responsibility. Sadly, few modern nations are faced with this mind boggling cocktail of security challenges that the Nigerian state faces. It cannot but be as confused and as baffled as the rest of us and wonder why we are losing our country to evil. 

It has been battling the Boko Haram insurgency since 2009. Thousands of our fellow men and women have been killed by the insurgents. Although our security services have put them to flight, they are still able to penetrate the refugee camps of internally displaced persons and periodically kill scores of people. Even in protection, the long hands of evil men still reach these innocent victims of Boko Haram. In addition to Boko Haram, we have the lucrative business of kidnapping and armed robberies in the one region that once knew no such things. 

Every human problem has a cause or causes. To address the question I raised at the beginning, we must look for the cause or causes of these crimes and the criminals. No doctor, to my knowledge, treats an illness without first of all establishing what gave rise to it. I do not think the answer to the question would be found in rocket science. It lies like a needle in a haystack in a simple approach to recovering our innocence. 

We must look at several areas. But first, let us look at the free flow of arms and ammunition in the country. Experts in such matters estimate there are more arms in the country than anywhere else in Africa. A source of tremendous worry, obviously. The bearers of these arms are not licensed; so we do not know them. Perhaps, that is why all the killers are unknown gun men. The Nigerian state cannot let this go on for much longer without portraying itself in bad light.

We should also look at the situation of our youths. Youths usually take to crimes when, out of idleness and a sense of hopelessness, the devil turns their brains into its own workshop. The economy has not been particularly kind to our nation. We are, if the experts are to be believed, emerging from recession. When the economy goes soft, employment tries up and those who have no personal skills to sell are unable to fairly compete with those who do. The disadvantaged turn to crime as an alternative source of income to stick it in the eye of the Nigerian state. 

To hold on to this would be the classical approach to the problem. Youth crimes are not always about limited opportunities. The fact that these killers are armed with expensive and sophisticated weapons and plan their attacks with almost military precision shows that we are dealing with a deeper and more complex malaise than unemployment. 

We would do well to look at politics and its capacity to lure the unwary to the beguiling promises of instant wealth without much sweat. Some of these gun men in Northern Nigeria and else where in the country began their murderous lives as political thugs whose guns were meant to persuade or punish the political opponents of their pay masters. Evans, the kidnap kingpin has fully shown that the gun is the shortest path to instant wealth in our country today. The youths know this and they embrace it like the gospel.

The third place to look would be the break down in our traditional authority. Our emirs and chiefs are cynically denied their traditional role as the conscience of the community. Politicians have tried to usurp their power and influence and have consequently muddied the waters. The moral authority of politicians is paper weight. The moral authority of our traditional rulers is heavy because it derives from the divine rights of kings. 

For a good example of the moral authority of our traditional institution, turn to the south-west geo-political zone. There, the obas still provide the moral compass for their youths. This has not eliminated crimes and bad behaviour among the youths in the region but the former region once described by our late prime minister, Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa as the wild, wild west, is today the most peaceful in the country. 

The leaders of Northern Nigeria might like to take a look at how the Yoruba achieved this measure of peace that has enabled all the states in the zone to focus on modern development. Northern Nigeria cannot afford to go on like this. A continued somnolent walk down the road to the edge of abyss is inadvisable.