Insecurity And Challenges Of The North West

By Abdu Labaran Malumfashi

When you do not have much to do with your time except to pray, eat, take your medicine and lay down, one but has all the time in the world to reflect about their immediate and remote environments, which in my case, are the North West and the North in general, and their challenges.

As a victim and patient of a stroke for the past two years plus, I do a lot of staying at home, whether in Abuja or in Katsina, where the begging voice of the many army of almajirai can sometimes be irritating and worrying.

Some of the almajirais can be as young as three years old, which means that they are barely out of their diaper. And most of the almajirais do not take ‘no’ for an answer, if they do not see in person the one who is telling them to go and look elsewhere.

But the almajiri is a double edged sword, who begs to survive or becomes a criminal for the same reason. And more often, they become the recruiting targets of the enemies of the society, especially the terrorists, the bandits (if there is any difference between them and the bandits), the hardened criminals and the sundry criminals.

Most of them these days are the products of the insecurity that is perverse in the North Western part of Nigeria. And security, if it must be said, is on the Exclusive List of the nation’s Constitution, which means it is the responsibility of the Federal Government. In our wired way of doing most things, this means that it is the responsibility of Mr. President, because on these shores, we operate what is called ‘the winner takes all’ type of democracy.

In the states, where the governors are called the Chief Security Officers, they are so only in name, because the various chief security officers operating in the states take their orders from their bosses in the federal capital or wherever they (bosses) are based.

The only things they take from the governors are the unsolicited and, at times, the solicited ‘assistance’, in cash and kind or both, from the governors. The real people in charge of ’saving lives and properties’ live hundreds of miles away, in most cases.

Still, the governors do not stop doing their best to arrest and stop the insecurity besetting their area. Recently, the Northern Governors Forum, under the leadership of its chairman and Governor of Katsina State, Dr. Dikko Umar Radda, visited the US Capital, in the quest of ways to find the solution to the most common problem affecting the area, which is insecurity. While there, the governors brainstormed with the US security officials on ways to stop the menace of insecurity.

This write up is not about the merit or demerit of the US trip undertaken by the Northern Governors. That is for another time when enough facts are available so as to do justice to the topic.

The insecurity situation in the area is caused by the beastly activities of the bandits, who not only terrorise the places they operate, but also kidnap for ransom, people in the area, mostly, but in the country as a whole. And the most unfortunate thing is that, even where ransom is paid, the abductors often murder the abducted persons.

This is a cause for concern to any mind with a grain of conscience, which most of my compatriots, Nigerians, are. We express concern wherever anything negative happened or is happening, regardless of where it has happened or is happening.

The insecurity situation in the northern part of the country has also led to the emergence of many refugees camps in the area. These are on the account of the sackings by the bandits of the original towns and villages of those settled in the camps. The camps can be found in the state capitals and some urban centres.

However, not a few ‘lazy’ people belonging to both genders, hide behind the camps and call themselves ‘refugees’, which they capitalise on and beg. In most case, these kind’s of ‘beggars’ want only money because they beg where there is no food to give to them. This therefore, accounts for the preponderance of the so-called beggars on the streets of many state capitals and urban centres in the north west.

Another debilitating effect of the insecurity in the northern part of the country is the fear by investors to do business in the area. The embassies or foreign missions of the white man’s countries are constantly issuing out their so-called ‘advisory’ about insecurity in Nigeria They however, obey the so-called advisory at their own risk of not doing fortune making businesses in Nigeria.

A video trending in the social media of late shows a US man telling the world that the place to do a profitable business is West Africa, particularly Nigeria. According to him, life for the average rich US person is not a bed of roses. He claimed that only the very rich enjoy living in the US with the rest burdened by so many debts, including house and vehicle debts.

But the north is so blessed with the abundance of in-demand mineral resources, which include but not limited to crude oil, gold, diamond, platinum, iron ore, zinc, aluminium and barium. Barium, in particular, said to be the main component in the manufacture of battery used in electric vehicles, is found in vast quantities in many parts of the north west. It is alleged that the quantity of barium found in the north western part of Nigeria has no equal in any part of the world.

The worrying aspect in the illegal mining of some of these resources is the fact that the white foreigners have hardly been victims of the rampaging banditry in the area, either as victims of murder or victims of abduction for ransom.

This gives rise to the suspicion, and in some quarters, even allegation, of the complicity of the white man in the insurgency, so widespread and therefore very disturbing, in the area.

The finger is always pointed at one European country and former colonial ruler as supporting the bandits with sophisticated weapons and, at times, some mercenaries. In most cases, the mercenaries do what they do strictly for the money and the adrenaline that rushes through the body, not for any ideology.

One of the bandits caught by the Police in one of the north western states, told his interrogators that he and his comrades in the banditry infamy got some of their (sophisticated) weapons from the helicopter. According to him, the helicopter was always piloted by a white man.

Again, there are several colonial time underground tunnels which run through some capitals and other big towns in the neighbouring countries. It is alleged that these tunnels were used to smuggle foreign terrorists to northern Nigeria by the suspected country. The entrances and exits of the tunnels were said to be guarded by white soldiers.

The country in question, not known to have any in-demand mineral resource on its land, has however, denied the allegations. The denial did not stop the finger- pointing, for the reasons outlined earlier, and the fact that its military was recently driven out of some African countries, who felt that the presence of the foreign base in their midst was distracting to governance. Many of the personnel in the foreign base are allegedly interfering in the affairs of the governments of the host countries.

However, if the alleged fear of insecurity does not discourage investors to the North, the lack of regular electricity supply in the area could well make them think twice before they come calling with their investments.

Malam Malumfashi wrote from Abuja.