Their timing – on the eve of Christmas – was most inauspicious and most painful. They went against the very grain and spirit of Christmas, to wit: hope, goodwill and peace. If this writer’s surmise is right, they went against the uplifting motivations of the organisers, who wanted, by their kind gestures of compassion, fellow-feeling and empathy, to succour the needy and vulnerable amongst us. Thus, rather than inspire hope and ameliorate suffering, the deaths and injuries that followed in the wake of these charity events, plunged the country further into despair. They also brought diminishment to our collective humanity.
But these fatal and most unfortunate stampedes at Ibadan (Oyo State); Okija (Anambra State); and Abuja (Federal Capital Territory) were tragedies long foretold. In fact, they were tragedies waiting to happen.
On account of heightened insecurity in the country, acute hunger, starvation and malnutrition were initially confined to the northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe. This was because the Boko Haram insurgency raged in this geopolitical zone for nearly two decades. This made it very difficult to pursue any productive endeavour such as agriculture, education or commerce. Copious reports by UN agencies and non-governmental organisations told of wanton hunger and starvation in these embattled states.
Before long, insurgency, banditry and terrorism visited the North West and North Central geopolitical zones. These zones are well known food belts. As a consequence of these evils (of banditry, kidnapping and terrorism), farmers, in their hundreds of thousands, scampered from their farms. Large swathes of farms, which were hitherto cultivated, were abandoned and left to fallow.
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The upshots of these sad developments are that less farmlands were cultivated in the past few years. Consequently, less food produce reached the markets. In deference to the time-honoured law of demand and supply, the prices of foodstuffs went through the roof and out of the reach of ordinary folks.
Compounding this sordid story, the government, on the watch of former President Muhammadu Buhari, was complacent.
Further compounding this nightmare was President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. His toxic policies, beginning from the withdrawal of subsidy from fuel, without as much as a coherent and well-articulated plan to cushion the harmful effects, worsened the poverty and destitution in the land.
As if the withdrawal of fuel subsidy, and other IMF-World Bank inspired policies were not nightmarish enough, they soon soared prices sky-high and out of the reach of the common man. Nigerians began to adopt a curious eating habit in which meals were skipped. Millions went without decent meals.
Additionally, there were massive shutdowns of manufacturing companies and collapse of small-scale businesses under President Tinubu’s watch. These resulted in further unemployment, hopelessness and destitution.
Rather than put security on the upper reaches of governance and prioritising the security of farmlands so that farmers can return to them and till them, the government was content with pursuing a mirage. Its energies were, onerously, devoted to scouting for elusive Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs). Pray, which serious or hard-nosed investor will put his hard-earned money in an insecure environment and with an opaque and less than transparent modus operandi? Little wonder, by one authoritative account, only seven states out of Nigeria’s thirty-six and the FCT, were thought worthy of an investor’s consideration!
It is against these incredibly sad and unfortunate milieu that these stampedes occurred. They should be viewed in these unsavoury contexts. No doubt about it, the government is complicit. It is in the dock.
Of course, it is valid to argue that these charities underestimated the depth and breath of hunger in the land. It is correct to say that they could have been more careful and that they should have used more spacious venues to succour the vulnerable. It is also right to say that they should have engaged more robustly with the security agencies who would have helped to control the crowd. But then hunger is the harbinger of more terrible things and even the security personnel would have been overwhelmed by the desperate crowds. Besides, even corporate entities, with checkered histories of hosting events, have been overwhelmed in the past. This has led to stampedes of stadia or event centres and unfortunate deaths and injuries.
One is not holding brief for these organisers or charities, who are understandably anguished and hurting, but to blame them, wholesale, is to sorely miss the point of our destitution and to exonerate an uncaring and an unfeeling government. Our misguided attempts to hector and hound them should be moderated by the hunger in the land and the desperation arising from it. And no matter how the government’s army of spinmeisters try to frame it by blaming the organisers, they must come to terms with the fact that the government has come short and that one of the charities is a highly organised entity with centuries-long pedigree of succouring the poor and vulnerable.
What these tragedies instruct are that, going forward, and especially in view of the massive poverty in which we are immersed, organisers and charities must be more circumspect. They should go for more spacious venues. They must diligently ascertain the number of their beneficiaries, viz-a-viz the actual, scheduled venue. As much as possible, they should prioritise security and factor emergencies.
In this digital age, charities should find recourse in technology. The National Identity Number (NIN) of beneficiaries and account details should be harvested. These can be done in conjunction with National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and the banks. Monies can be sent directly to the beneficiaries, whose names should be uploaded on the charities’ websites. Thereafter, the beneficiaries can buy whatever foodstuffs they need at their convenience. This approach is a win-win for all as beneficiaries can access the monies from the comfort of their homes. Charities do not have to consider hiring venues or requesting the help of security agents. Using technology, transparency is assured and tragedies are averted. Above all, bellicose and rude rhetoric emanating from uncouth government officials is eschewed.
Nick Dazang is a former director at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
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