In recent weeks, several communities in
Lagos and Ogun states,
mostly riverine ones, have been the victims of
ferocious and murderous attacks in an ascending order by bandits,
variously identified as Ijaw militants, vandals or simply freelance
rogues in possession of automatic weapons. Although there is controversy
regarding the ethnic identity of the militants and why they have
suddenly chosen to escalate their escapades, what is not in doubt is
that they have left in their trails a high number of casualties, with
some ravaged communities in Ikorodu witnessing for the first time the
phenomenon of Internally Displaced Persons.
The PUNCH, Wednesday, August 3,
2016, quoting eyewitness reports, informs that eight landlords were
killed in Ikorodu in one fell swoop with several other persons, wounded,
dispossessed or simply decapitated. Similar attacks have occurred in
the Igando and Arepo areas of Lagos as well as communities in Ogun such
as Imushin. It is salutary that naval and aerial counter attacks have
been deployed by government to shore up the inadequate capacity of the
police to resist these challenges, although it is far from clear whether
the coast is altogether clear.
Yoruba militia groups such as the
Reformed Oodua People’s Congress have also mobilised to beat back the
advance of the militants. The PUNCH, Thursday, August 4, 2016,
reported the storming of Imushin by 5,000 of their members to announce
their readiness to assist the counter offensive. The involvement of the
militia introduces conceivably the spectre of ethnic clashes and the
possibility that residents may increasingly feel that regular law
enforcement is unable or too weak to quell the repeated attacks.
To be sure, rising insecurity is a
national problem that has passed the danger mark. On Tuesday, Fulani
herdsmen in Adamawa State waylaid communities around Kodomun, killing
over 30 people and maiming several others. In the same vein, there are
upsurges in virtually every part of the country with the rate of
kidnapping hitting an all time high. Nonetheless, Lagos, Ogun and the
entire South-West demands particular attention because of the dense
concentration of human population in the major cities, the higher tempo
of industrial and commercial development and the salad of ethnic groups
that reside in Lagos which remains the commercial and industrial
heartland of the country. In other words, if insurgent groups
successfully target Lagos and reduce it, such an event will fatally
injure a major artery in the country’s biological system. It is for
these reasons and more that close attention should be paid to the
unfolding saga of violent attacks in Lagos and Ogun communities.
Before elaborating on the topic, I crave the reader’s indulgence to offer a short take.
A day after The PUNCH complained
editorially about “Buhari’s parochial appointments”, the Federal
Government announced the appointment of 17 new heads for parastatals
under the Ministry of Education. Eleven of these, in a pattern
characteristic of this government, are from the North. This of course is
not necessarily a comment on the competence of the appointees but
indications of how seriously or otherwise the administration, which came
to power on a trans-ethnic bandwagon takes the inclusive mandate of our
federal character. That however is a matter for another day.
For now, this columnist congratulates
and welcomes to his job the new Executive Secretary of the National
Universities Commission, Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, a former Vice
Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano. In the light of several
controversies over the powers and mission of the commission, which
dogged the Prof. Julius Okogie administration, Rasheed is admonished to
operate within the legal imprimatur of the commission whose main
assignment relates to quality assurance as well as licensing of new
universities and accreditation of programmes.
The NUC under Okogie
appeared to have got itself involved in too many things outside the
purview of the commission, including on some occasions seeking to impose
vice-chancellors on some private universities as well as usurping the
authority of the Senates.
Worse still, he fell short of moving the
commission in the direction of institutional coherence and maturity by
failing to apply the rules fairly and evenly across the board. I mention
these pitfalls not to put Okogie who had his good points on the spot,
but to suggest the need to institutionalise the NUC by freeing it from
the whims of its leaders and running it in a fair and transparent
fashion. Importantly too, while the commission is not set up to solve
all the nation’s tertiary education problems, it is well-positioned to
counsel government and the universities on what and what needs to be
done to place our universities on the global knowledge map in an age of
declining resources.
To return to the main discourse,
government and the rest of us should do our level best to prevent a
deterioration of the ongoing siege on Lagos and Ogun communities, if for
no other reason than the domino effect which failure to beat back the
militants may have on other theatres of conflict. Similarly, it will be
shortsighted to view the challenge as a purely law and order one,
without situating it in broader social and economic contexts. For
several years, before the current recession began to take its bite, the
country recorded impressive levels of growth. But it was mainly growth
without development in the sense that it did not create jobs on any
significant scale or meaningfully reduce poverty, neither did it prepare
us for the youth bulge which is fast turning to a demographic disaster
instead of an upturn.
That is not all. Regarding the
quality of life as contained in the Millennium Development Goals, such
as access to health care, potable water, electricity and reliable
infrastructure, the country went from bad to worse. A veritable
underclass of desperately poor people, some derelict and homeless was
the underside of increased growth and expansion of the millionaire class
brandishing private jets. Add to this depressing scenario, our recent
economic convulsions manifested in worsening unemployment, upward spiral
in the inflation rate, the abasement of the salaried elite caught in a
debacle of lengthening defaults, the virtual wiping out of small scale
businesses, and you get a social explosion waiting to happen.
On the supply side, the unrestricted
circulation of small and light weapons through porous borders, and the
expansion in the group of youths who are unemployed or unemployable
should be taken into account. It is possible then that part of what we
are witnessing is a hidden class war in which those marooned by years of
rapid growth and the so-called change have come to inflict vengeance on
the rest of society. I make this point because in a particular raid in
Igando, Lagos State, the militants reportedly made away with food items
such as rice and garri as well as frozen food, which are obviously
priced out of their disastrously low reach.
Hence, and by way of conclusion, what is
required is a holistic approach to the emergent peril, which combines
increased law enforcement adapted to local exigencies and initiatives,
with a social vision which understands that the war cannot be won on the
battlefields or the creeks but in the interstices of counterinsurgency
and social engineering.
Source:The Punch
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