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A Yearning for Security By Abdullah Musa We may say that Business Day discharges its Corporate Social Responsibility by focusing attention on issues of crucial importance to the public: insecurity is one such issue. We read the work its reporters did in the Niger Delta area, and some covered Lagos. The story is all the same: lives and properties are not safe. Without sounding pessimistic, one would have said that there is no way Nigerians could be safe. If a nation fails in its functions of supplying the basic infrastructural facilities to its people; if it does not care about the quality of life of its citizens, it thus seems logical that it would not care whether they live or die. There is a fundamental flaw in the sociological setting of Nigeria. We refuse to acknowledge the destructive effects of feeding from the sweat or the hands of other people. We are not engaged much in production, our efforts particularly in the cities are in distribution and services. The danger is not in that per se. The danger is in poor or meager returns to petty traders. With large family, they are unable to cater for their children. The children drop out of schools early, gravitate towards the motor parks, and the grooming into Thuggery and later, violent crimes start. The motor park is thus the school that trains criminals. Right from the end of the civil war, guns or arms proliferation skyrocketed. With prolonged military rule, and the military coming to be seen an occupation force of one section of the country against the others, local tribal leaders felt that they had to challenge the dominance. They thus resorted to their teeming miscreants, who due to drugs and years of neglect were qualified to face danger on their behalf. Up to today, the Yoruba people have not disowned Ganiyu Adams: I heard recently he bagged an honorary doctorate degree. From where did he recruit his ‘freedom’ fighters? Logically it is from the graduates of the motor parks. Fighting crimes and the tendency to crime is along and arduous process. There may be more crime in the Western world than in Nigeria and African countries. What they have succeeded in doing is to contain it to certain areas: ghettos in America for instance. They also have social safety nets. We do not have. Their sociology makes it impossible for one to have ten or fifteen children, ours allows even for more. We would prefer to believe that our internal problems may not have roots outside the country. Highway robberies may be done by hired people from across the borders: with few dollars you can maintain miscreants on your payroll, and arm them with sophisticated weapons to fight an un-ending war on your behalf. We have policemen of all shades. We even have the armed forces. Yet, our economic lifeline would be tampered with such regularity, that one is tempted to ask: how much sabotage would Nigeria absorb before someone decides to act? Unfortunately there is not much empathy in Nigeria between the leaders and the led. For this reason, insecurity can be a tool in the hands of the leaders to cow the population, or to siphon off resources, as in the case of the Niger Delta. I was seeing the monthly federal revenue allocation figures of last month, with Rivers state collecting over 16 billion Naira! For God’s sake how many are they? Where does the money go to? The resource control advocates feel that they don’t have to answer that question; they have the liberty to do so because the units making up Nigeria feel that being in Nigeria is either an accident, or an arrangement which someone may opt out at will. This gives room for all kinds of destructive behavior like that of the militants of the Niger Delta. The fact that they are not interested in how the existing resource is used shows the possibility that the agitation is being funded by the Governors of the area. Certain factors may aid internal security. Amongst such are: · Free basic education in the fullest sense of the word · Subsidized food, so that an average family spends no more 30% of its income on food · Re-structuring our sociological set-up: we have to do away with motor parks, and professionalize the transportation system · To decide whether Nigeria is compulsory or not. Treasonable offences to carry death penalty, and no section should hold others to ransom · Corruption must carry the death penalty. Ill-gotten wealth prompts others to believe that every successful person is a thief, and it is thus right he should be robbed · Cash economy serves corruption most, and encourages robberies, because the loot is usually very high. Markets as obtain now should also be on the way out · No policeman should earn below N50,000 per month. He should enjoy free housing, life insurance and medical attention and the likes. Proactive policing is the best antidote to crime · You cannot prescribe for the politician. But rigging and the use of state power and resources by incumbents create the need for thugs by other aspirants. There may be wisdom in the proposal that no incumbent should supervise his or her own re-election. Nor should the Speaker or Deputy. The state Chief Judge should preside over the affairs of state and elections, and retire thereafter. · Overhaul the educational system to make it more production- oriented · Drugs abuse aid crime. Beer parlors, seedy hotels, and lodges are the places to look for criminals not on the streets. Those who fight religion want a destroyed citizenry · The fight against poverty should go beyond micro- credit. If workers cannot save and invest, then poverty would grow. There should be more Nigerians in employment than in the distributive trade. Commercial drivers should be more with companies than with individuals. Such types as obtain now do not have time to supervise the lives of their children. · Give tax holidays to all whose income is below N50,000. However continue with the deduction, but invest on behalf of the employees. This way you start re-creating the destroyed middle class. I am sure others would also enrich the discourse.
Abdullah Musa
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