Extreme Measures

Hello everyone,

I hope you’re all well. I’m great these days – I’ll bet that you all know why (Hint: read my most recent posts). Anyways, I was just thinking today that I haven’t written about what’s going on in the country for some time. I guess it’s symptomatic of how I feel – a lot of terrible things are happening in Nigeria right now but I’m so removed from them, so insulated in my own cocoon, that I have failed to realize that they affect me. The frequency of these events has also served to desensitize me; I have found it increasingly hard to muster the outrage and empathy required when these things happen. I think that is a sad state of things – a sign that I have resigned myself to the situation as it is. I hesitate to speak for the general public but I have a feeling that they also feel the same way. A sad situation all around.

The recent abduction of 276 girls in Borno state has whipped up the sentiment of the public. Social media platforms are blowing up. Sadly, I have found myself unable to identify with them and it makes me feel terrible. In fact, I found this post very difficult to write and thought about it for several weeks. I guess it has been a good thing – it has forced me to take stock of what’s important. I also didn’t get caught up in the storm when all the blogs were coming out with outrage pieces. I’ve had a lot of time to think about the situation and now I have something to say.

I’ve had a chance to live in the US and I used the opportunity to study their way of life and their approach to solving problems. In fighting terrorism, one thing that stood out for me was that their measures were largely preventive, proactive and involved the use of intelligence. Now, to do this, you need the cooperation of your people. The catch here is that you don’t earn that cooperation overnight – it is built over years (In the case of the US, centuries) of performance. The government must be seen to be on the side of the people in everything it does. If the people see this, then they are more willing to cooperate with the security agencies when the time comes to fight crime in all its forms. I guess you can see where I’m going with this: there is no trust between the people and the government of Nigeria, most especially in the north. Those people have been oppressed callously for decades and now, the whole area is a breeding ground for terrorist organizations.

That this is a fact isn’t new information. What irks me is the fact that the government has used the excuse of not wanting the kidnapped girls to be harmed as an excuse for inaction. They are twiddling their thumbs and hoping this thing will go away. It took international pressure generated by the “bring back our girls” initiative to force the government to accept international help. While I’ve always believed that protests don’t work, I was pleasantly surprised that it did in this case. You see, protests put you at the mercy of who you are protesting against. You are essentially appealing to their good nature. For a believer in the fact that people respond to incentives, you can see how I’d be skeptical about the effectiveness of protests. I digress.

For the last two weeks or so, US specialists have been in the country and today, I read that 80 troops have been sent by President Obama to help. While I appreciate his help in this matter, let’s not be stupid enough to believe that this doesn’t make him look good. Finding these girls will do wonders for his public image – he killed Osama, after all. In the midst of all this, there was another bomb blast which, at the last count, has killed over 200 people. This situation is becoming untenable. This government has shown time and again that it is unable to deal with this boko haram problem. In any civilized country, the president would have resigned or been impeached. This is Africa however. Presidents don’t resign and the legislative arm is too corrupt to impeach them. They are making out like bandits; why would they impeach? Have you noticed that the legislative arm has been very quiet? This has taken attention away from them and they are content to keep it that way. Occasional attempts to show they are still working include probes into the oil minister’s extravagant lifestyle and other things. If I believed that anything would come of it, I’d be interested but I know nothing will. See? Trust.

Over these last few weeks, I’ve heard some very disturbing news regarding our military. There have been reports that Jonathan is scared of them. He is the commander-in-chief but he’s afraid of them. I also heard from one of the military chiefs on the radio that the military needs money to fight book haram. The army needs money… I have no words. If I’m correct, the defense allocation is the biggest item in the national budget. And the army needs money. We need to look at ourselves because it is getting ridiculous now.

I am going to recommend something drastic. I believe that the government knows exactly where these girls are being kept or at least have a good idea – for goodness sake, they have satellite imaging technology at their fingertips. 300+ people in a forest will probably stand out. The government should adopt a scorched earth policy against these guys. The problem with this policy is that the girls may be killed. That is a horrible scenario and while I would be the first to rejoice if they are released, I’m not sure that’s going to happen. I understand that people may be hesitant to embrace this idea but the girls are a buffer for boko haram whether we like it or not. Torch that forest. Smoke these guys out. Enough is enough. Since intelligence is not an option anymore, extreme measures are needed. Boko Haram is a cancer and it will get even more virulent unless drastic measures are taken. Like any cancer, treating it may mean removing a part of yourself so you can survive. Coming to this conclusion was very hard and while I cannot begin to imagine what the parents of these girls must be going through, it is up to the president to take such decisions. I will liken it to cases where patients have relatives who are doctors. Those people are usually told not to be involved in the patient’s care because they cannot be objective. This is because sometimes decisions need to be made that involve some cost to the patient but could save the patient’s life. I think that’s where we are now as a nation. Unfortunately, Jonathan has shown that he is incapable of fully grasping the situation. The immediate future looks very bleak.

This is the longest post I’ve written and with good reason too, I think. That’s all I have to say however. Till next time, I remain your fantastic Mr. Fox