A JOB TO DIE FOR

Driving towards the Abuja National Stadium on Saturday, March 15, the crowd I witnessed there was unprecedented. Not even the last time a Grade ‘A’ football match was held at the stadium did we host such a mammoth crowd; nor even the recent celebration of Nigeria’s centenary for that matter!  Who was this crowd puller, especially in these times of austerity? Upon enquiry, I was shocked to discover that the hosts were the Ministry of Interior and the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS). The event: a recruitment exercise for four thousand jobs. It was unbelievable!

There were over 80,000 applicants at the Abuja stadium alone and this was duplicated in other cities around the country. 4000 jobs only! And our “Oga at the top” decided that for this multitude of unemployed Nigerians to get a chance at a job interview in their esteemed government department, each applicant had to pay N1000. This was just getting worse and worse. They confirmed to us all that the “Oga at the top” saga was real and perpetuated at the highest levels of government. The government-sponsored scams continue with impunity.

Nigerian youth, who are crazy about football, would not pay N1000 to watch the Super Eagles versus Brazil! But such is their desperation that they were willing to pay to get a job! Even in this desperation, the government must fleece us, must take advantage.  The idea of government as a servant just does not exist here. The National Bureau of Statistics is at liberty to reel out any understated unemployment figures it cares to feed us with, but we know that over two million young Nigerians applied for 4,000 NIS jobs. Out of that number, NIS shortlisted 526,650 candidates for recruitment tests nationwide. Injuries and/or deaths were recorded in the FCT, as well as Rivers, Kwara, Osun, Oyo, Niger, Kano and Edo states. In all, 23 died and over a hundred were injured.

This is unacceptable. We must see heads roll. Nothing has happened. The government is telling us that our lives are worthless. Who is responsible for the extortion? Who is responsible for the innocent lives lost? The minister blames the crowd. “They were too impatient” He should be sacked. Nobody has been arrested and the government does not think an enquiry should be held to find out how the tragedy at the stadium occurred so that there is not a repeat.

Is it fair for a government establishment to sell forms to millions of applicants when it is only going to employ fewer than 5,000? There are legal and moral sides to this tragedy. Government misses the point completely. It is not the job of government to provide jobs. Government should attract employment by creating enabling environments for businesses to flourish. It is these businesses that provide jobs. The government’s failure to grasp this has left the responsibility of private sector-driven job creation unattainable.  

We toy with the energy of millions of unbridled youth. We play with fire by not keeping them engaged. Their frustration will at a point spill over into anger and will not be cowed forever. Venezuela serves as a reminder that our youth will turn against the state if the state turns its back on them.  

Central government has failed in handling our resources. That is why in the midst of plenty we fail to create big society. We should hand back the resources of each state to its residents to manage. Governors and council chairmen are closer to their constituencies, thus we know where to look when searching for answers. The centre is far, too remote and removed from the people to make a positive difference to our lives.

With the core of our problems directly or indirectly related to resource control, delegates at the National Conference have their jobs cut out – resource control should be the priority issue on the agenda. If Mr. President wants us to vote in a referendum on whether to adopt a decentralized fiscal federacy, we should. The current situation where a few continuously get the lion’s share of our national resources only because they are close or connected to the seat of power shows a distinct lack of social conscience.

This is not fair at all. We have blood on our hands. What will we say when our children ask, “What did you do?”  My blood boils as I hope does yours. Please sign up to this petition and demand the Minister’s resignation and an answer as to who pays for the deaths. Where is the compensation? We demand a declaration of all money collected and a refund to all applicants. And finally, please put your hands together in prayer for all those young lost souls who did not make it back home from the botched exercise. 

INTENTION, RESPONSIBILITY AND RESULTS

Most of us are accustomed to the idea that we are responsible for most of our actions but not all of them. We consider ourselves responsible, for example, for the good deed that brings our neighbour and us together, or for responding to it positively, but we do not consider ourselves responsible for the argument between our neighbour, and us or for responding to it negatively. We consider ourselves responsible for having a safe trip if we take the time to check the condition of the car before starting, but if we speed around a car that, in our opinion, has been travelling too slowly and almost cause an accident by doing that, we consider the other driver to be responsible. If we feed and clothe ourselves through our successful business, we credit ourselves. If we feed and clothe ourselves by robbery, then we blame our difficult conditions.

Every action, thought and feeling is motivated by an intention and that intention is a cause that exists as one with an effect. If we participate in the cause, it is not possible for us not to participate in the effect. In this most profound way, we are held responsible for our every action, thought and feeling, which is to say, that for our every intention. We, ourselves, shall partake of the fruit of our every intention. It is therefore wise for us to become aware of the many intentions that inform our experience, to sort out which intentions produce which effects and to choose our intentions according to the effects that we desire to produce.  As children, we learn the effects of crying when we are hungry and this prompts our carer to feed us. We repeat this cause as it brings us the effect that we desire. We learn the effect of putting a finger in a light socket and we do not repeat the cause that produces that effect. Anger for example also causes distance and a hostile interaction” (GARY ZUKAV.)

Why in Nigeria are we on this downward spiral?  Why have we decided that the best way to combat issues is to say INSHA ALLAH, BY GOD’S GRACE when we have an intention, a responsibility to achieve certain results? What is needed is a clear defined policy on how to deal with situations. We should stop leaving everything to chance and this is not to say that I am not religious but the good lord says that we should do the best we can and leave the rest to him. Fail to prepare and prepare to fail! In Nigeria, can we honestly say that we are doing our best? I think that we have decided to leave our lot to fate.  I urge our leaders to read these words carefully and begin to put this country back on the right path, and in so doing, learn how to interact properly with all the factions that make up our society.

The acts that are being carried out by the terrorist group Boko Haram are evil wicked acts. The kidnappings of children and parents of successful Nigerians and the bombings of pipelines by MEND and other Niger Delta militants are evil negative acts. Our response to them will determine whether we are able to defeat this evil or not. These people believe that they are justified in what they are doing. They are in darkness. We need to shine light on the problem and enlighten them with this light.

An evil person can be arrested but can “evil” be arrested? What plan or policy is the government effecting to arrest this evil? Is the answer the Military? An army can engage another army but can it engage evil?  A compassionate and understanding heart can engage evil directly. It can bring light to where there was no light before. We need to rekindle the vision, energy and understanding that I know we have and move on from here. Our actions henceforth will determine the outcome of our situation. I urge the leaders of this country to open their hearts and rise with good intentions to the mantle of responsibility that has been laid on their shoulders, so they can attain the results that we all crave. We need proper structure if we are to rise again to be a safe and prosperous Nigeria. BY GOD’S GRACE, INSHA ALLAH.

PLAYING WITH FIRE

Now that the government has woken up to the realization that we are at war with insurgents, secessionists troubling the north east, the next step is to understand that the hypocrisy and propaganda of war are as crucial to victory as the war itself. The enemy itself has been using lethal tactics, including mind games, to wreak havoc on innocent Nigerians. The insurgents have deployed psychological propaganda to more effective use than the Nigerian government.  They post video montages on YouTube! They seem more techie than our army. The side which better controls the instrument of propaganda off the field of battle often wins the battle proper. To keep our troops motivated and focused, and to make the Nigerian people trust and believe in their leaders, we must be seen to be winning.        

Segun Adeniyi was right in his recent article when he said, “… There is little or no appreciation of the fact that efforts to defeat Boko Haram can never succeed without a deft information management strategy that would require the collaboration and support of critical stakeholders in that sector… Is there a media strategy for the Boko Haram area of operation by way of a sympathetic radio station that could be deployed for propaganda? Do our military/security chiefs understand the critical role the media can play in this war that is fought both on the battlefield and in the minds of people?”

The other day our president offered the insurgents amnesty, they sarcastically rejected it, stating that it was the Nigerian state that should seek amnesty from them. How did the state respond to this mind game? To them, it was a morale-boosting jibe; who are these people? It is not enough for the military high command to say, every now and then, that the JTF killed 40 or 50 insurgents in gun battle. The trial and life sentence of British duo, Adebolajo and Adebowale, who killed a soldier in London, were a spectacle of justice.  The frenzied media buzz that trailed the capture of last year’s Boston bombers was a spectacle of justice. They need to understand that no matter what, we will go after them, flush them out and ensure that they are punished. Killing them is not the answer, we should show them where we are better than them, by granting them those same rights which they are trying to take away, and use our counter-terrorism apparatus to extract information, know our enemy and rehabilitate them.

If in some quarters the belief is that the insurgents are better armed and motivated, it is because of the results that we see and hear about – over 300 innocent lives taken in less than one week!  But we don’t get to hear and see our troops marching on the enemy. We don’t see live engagement and counter-attacks. We don’t see routed insurgents subdued and shamefully grilled. We don’t hear of them convicted by our law courts or specially formulated tribunals to deal expeditiously with this. Perhaps these institutions exist but we do not know about them. The merits or otherwise of the Afghan war are there for all to see. These aspects of the war strategy we have left unexplored and that is certainly a failing on our part.

The danger in not making a spectacle of justice served is that it doesn’t allow the citizens to have confidence in the system or measure the progress made. It is for this same reason that the government is not trusted. It is described as impunity or corruption. Any people who doubt the ability of their government to secure and control an equitable society will take the law into their own hands and in doing so will exercise the most dangerous ruthless evil imaginable. The attack on the Enugu State Government House by the Biafra Zionist Movement is a new copycat example. The secessionists stormed the government house and have given us till the 31st of March to vacate Biafra! One year after the Tsarnaev brothers disrupted the Boston marathon, Americans returned, knowing that justice has prevailed and the evil quelled. Wannabe perpetrators live with the realization that a whole city could be on lock down in search of just one criminal until he is brought to justice.

We should not play with fire. Listening to silly words coming from Doyin Okupe or Labaran Maku or hearing rumors of the new Minister of Defense threatening to resign because there is no structure does not give us confidence. It is imperative that our teams of dedicated law enforcement agencies communicate and give us the security that we need. Good governance and equity will go a long way in facilitating this. We need to work smart. Our future depends on it.     

THE MAKING OF A NATION

"If a government does not wish to take care of its poor for humane reasons, it might wish to do so for the pragmatic purpose of lowering crime rates... Poverty, in defiance of principle, begets a degree of meanness that will stoop to almost anything... He who never was a hungered may argue finely on the subjection of his appetite; and he who never was distressed may harangue as beautifully on the power of principle. But poverty, like grief, has an incurable deafness, which never hears; the oration loses all its edge; and 'To be or not to be' becomes the only question." – Thomas Paine. How about that?

When Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State said Boko Haram was better armed and more motivated than the federal troops, he quickly became a target of attack. What they heard was an attack on the state, an attack on the PDP, so instead of listening to the appeals of a man who daily sees his charges slaughtered with their homes destroyed -- a situation that he is overwhelmed by – they are blinded by ego and arrogance. That is the only explanation that can be given for the president to respond, “If I remove my army from there, I will see for how long he will last!” 

Almost as an immediate response, Shettima’s statement was confirmed. The killing of schoolchildren in the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi in Yobe State by Boko Haram insurgents was brutal, and it cast a chill over the state of our nation. At the last count, 49 beings had been killed; children, fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts. This is war and everyday since then we have had killings and reports of atrocities being perpetuated by Boko Haram. Where is our protection? Is it so easy for a foreign body to invade and be so evil?

I too must ask what is the Nigerian government doing? We hear daily of villages being sacked by gun totting renegades in 20 strong convoys of 4x4 vehicles, with missiles, screaming and firing in the air with abandon, announcing their arrival as they approach defenceless communities and massacre the men, whilst they make away with the women and children. Are we in the 21st century? Where are our policemen, our protection? We hear that they stay in situ for 4 - 6 hours and there was no exchange of fire from our army; they have all the time in the world to destroy and all this during a state of emergency?

Where is the emergency? Where are our troops? Why do they only appear to clean up the mess and bury the dead? What has happened to their intelligence? Where do these people come from? Where do they buy these vehicles? Where do they get petrol? Where do they buy the arms? Where do they live? Why were they not engaged?

Where we have terrorism elsewhere, we are familiar with the tactics that are used: suicide bombers, IEDs or ambush. But what we see here, even in a state of emergency, are militia roaming free. We cannot even claim difficulty because of mountainous terrain and yet we cannot fish them out.

This is a failure of the state to protect life and property. They have failed. We are in a situation where we are more scared of the BH militia than we have belief in the army protecting us. There is no trust anymore, so even if we know or suspect any rebels, we will be too afraid to report. We are afraid and this is fuel for Boko Haram.

In Abuja we were having our centenary celebrations, whilst insurgents continued their massacre, this time in Michika, Gulak, Shuwa and Krichinga communities of Adamawa State. Armed with rocket-propelled grenades, the attackers maimed, looted and destroyed these communities for six hours. There was no exchange of fire!

We should not get used to this impunity.  40 students were killed last year in Mubi. I said then that Mubi should not go unravelled. I quote: “It is particularly true that justice breeds peace, and in environments where justice prevails, would-be criminals have been known to backtrack for fear of being brought to justice. Justice also prevents copycat attacks, sometimes deliberately perpetrated to validate a wrong premise.”

We are losing this war. Our generals need to re strategize, make sure that morale is boosted amongst the troops. We need to win the propaganda war, honour our dead and show our triumphs; make big news of arrested militia and justice being dispensed. Instil trust and confidence back into the communities and spread our tentacles. Communities do not stand and cheer when the Nigerian army approaches because fear is the only constant companion. We must not bicker but unite and defeat this enemy.