These are testy times for the Nigerian nation state. She is
variously buffeted on all sides by the scourge of insurgency in her North-East
geo-political zone, the murderous ogre of Fulani herdsmen in the north–central
axis and in the southern states of Enugu, Ekiti, Oyo and Delta, the brimming
militancy in the South-South exemplifying itself in incessant bombings of oil
and gas pipelines in the Niger Delta, the revamped agitation for
self-determination by restive youths in the South-East, an all-time low crude
oil price, the irritable upsurge in price level, the plummeting exchange value
of the national currency, unbridled unemployment and the abysmal failure or
non-functioning of public infrastructure e.g. electricity, etc.
Of all Nigeria’s
contemporary difficulties, however, the Boko Haram attempt to take control of
the country by force to foist on her its own brand of rabid or unconventional
Islamism and the Niger Delta militancy directed at the nation’s economic
jugular have understandably taken the centre stage. Both militant agitations must
be understood as natural human responses to a perceived unfair or unjust
political or social order even as they are a stark reflection of how remiss
successive administrations have been regarding the requirement to resolve the
contradictions inherent in the Nigerian pastiche. Only half-hearted attempts
have been made to interrogate the Nigerian national question.
The
socio-economic injustice in the Niger Delta finds unrefreshing or disturbing
parallel in the criminal neglect of the fortunes of children and young persons
in many parts of Northern Nigeria. Generally,
the Nigerian state manifests smug indifference to the plight of her people even
as the people are consequently provoked to question the legitimacy or
appropriateness of those who have been put in authority over them to resolve
the crisis of the status of their stake-holding.
Self-help is resorted to as government marshals state security and military
resources to combat the “audacity” of the aggrieved people. For instance, the
hubris or overweening pride of the state often displayed by her power wielders
defines the response of the state to the people’s protestation of the
environmental degradation or ecological scandal that is the plight of the
residents of the Niger Delta. Troops are promptly mobilised and deployed just
to put out or “crush” any protest.
The people
may be quietened but the rumbles remain loud. The Adaka Boro and Ken Saro-Wiwa
memorabilia fore-shadowing today’s restive agitations in the Niger Delta region
offer a ruminative opportunity for the present occupiers of state offices. The
impending battle in Oporoza is the a la carte or regular response of
government: make no distinction between the culpable and the innocent, the
young or aged; lump all together for violent punishment or mauling as they have
not been able to restrain their children or wards from becoming threats to the
national economy. Afterall, “All have sinned…”
