This scourge of kidnapping and incessant raid of communities by the bandits in some places in Northern Nigeria is highly lamentable. It breaks the heart of any concerned Northerner as it is supposed to trouble the conscience of any well-meaning
Nigerian. But, at deeper levels, it also reminds us of our complete failure to carry out our basic responsibilities as a nation — from failure of governments to do the needful to educational problems to communal negligence and to parental carelessness.
Nigerian Governments, at all levels, have failed for many years to address so many pressing issues bordering on the development of the youth as a way of helping them have focus, direction and hope about life which would equally thwart their tendencies to resorting to crimes as a means of living — or survival. As a result of this failure, the youths, badly poor, unemployed and poorly managed, decided to become a nuisance in the house. Likewise, the Nigerian system has been a catalyst for encouraging people to engage in crimes by failing to bring to book the criminals, or freeing them after arraignment — or conviction — without any due cause due to the support of some hidden elements in the government or from outside or sometimes by being protected by the local people that celebrate them as their local “champions”. Big criminals are hardly punished in Nigerian system and other people consequently find that as an invitation to commit anything because they believe they will be free in the end.
Our borders are too porous and prune to penetration from outsiders. It seems that no one knows the number of people coming into the territory illegally and this has become a menace of its own. These illegal immigrants are usually “uncivilized” people with arms in their possession to fight even the local people for sustenance. And most of them are nothing but a bunch of “marauders”. The government has not managed to fully control the land and the people on the fringes. And there are conflicts between some rural communities that have persisted for years and are still not resolved. The Fulani herdsmen and the settler farmers crisis too has always disturbed the national peace and slowed down our matching to progress and so far the government has only addressed it superficially for some findings are revealing some aspects of the crisis to be a total mystery for which there is no any effective plan in existence.
Education as a governmental enterprise expected to bring about good, responsible citizens has narrowly worked in Nigeria. Many people have not been to schools and many that have been there have not learnt to be good people. Both of these people have no respect for the country’s integrity, prosperity or peace. They don’t care for anything but what they could do to have “penny” in their pockets. And, for many years, the Nigerian system has only sung the “Education for All”, “Education for Citizenship” and “Education for Self-reliance” but has not danced to their principles. Many people live in rural areas with no schools — or with teacherless schools —- because of the massive corruption
bedevilling the education sector. Education thus remains an exclusive right to some people in some geographical areas, especially the urban and suburban areas. How will these rural people live “reasonably” without the “education” to inculcate in them the ideals of civilization?
Although being good citizens doesn’t have to do with how one is treated by the government, but it is highly required that government should provide people with “basic amenities” to help them live without too much distress, difficulty and tension
such as security of lives and properties; access to good water, stable power and sound healthcare system. The provision of these basic amenities bind people with the government. It gives them reason to be loyal, patriotic and good citizens. But when government acts as if people are nothing, the people tend to consider the government as nothing too. They would not care for the county that doesn’t care for them. And the existence of any government is just meaningless to them.
At community level, people have ceased to uphold what is “right” for the common good. Anyone lives with no concern for the “other”. The community doesn’t communicate anymore. The bond connecting its members to its spirit has been weakened by the influence of some anti-social, ego-maniac individuals that have no agenda for the wellbeing of the community. Now no one cares who lives close by and what type of people they are. And when some bad eggs are found some members of the community would die to stand by them for some selfish interests — tribal, political or religious and oftentimes for “money”. These bad eggs and their supporters will not be challenged for the power they wield in their hands and in some other places like security agencies, government offices and other secret areas at the corridors of power. Among these bad eggs there might be kidnappers, bandits and killers but yet still they will never be dealt with.
Parents at home have adopted the culture of neglect as a part of childrearing. Children are abandoned to the world of crimes, horrors and immoralities. And as a result of that, instead of the children to be aspiring to be great people in their communities they now prefer the life of risk, danger and mischief exemplified by the “low-lifers”. The parents do not care where and how their children live and this has given the masters of crime a golden opportunity to engage them in their sinister activities against thennation. These children are grown on crimes. Some of them are already in the bush trained and recruited to conduct many kinds of atrocities against the society as a livelihood. And some of the children are spying on us serving as the agents of the kidnappers because of the money they are given as a reward. These children destroy us all.
The government, the community and the parents should all work in their different capacities and also form a collective effort to make sure that this kidnapping, banditry and other security challengesare averted. But, we’re the government, the community and the parents. It’s our collective responsibility to secure our lives within our communities.
