ADDRESSING NIGERIA'S SECURITY CHALLENGES
NIGERIA'S CURRENT SECURITY CHALLENGES: I SHARED THE ARTICLE BELOW ON JULY 09, 2015, LESS THAN TWO MONTHS AFTER THE BUHARI GOVERNMENT TOOK THE REINS OF GOVERNMENT...
The article basically looks like a prophecy now - of course, some will say that the government actually responded by setting up the North-East Development Commission, but here are questions we need to reflect on:
1. In our understanding of the linkage between poverty and violence, how far did we go in terms of focusing on Human Development challenges in the North from Education, to Healthcare, to rehabilitating and providing access to vocational training for the Internally Displaced People?
2. How far did we go in discouraging cultural practices that encourage violence such as open grazing and unregulated animal husbandry that often lead to things such as communal clashes, cattle rustling, and banditry?
3. Did we put a security architecture in place to recover the sophisticated weapons being carried by herders and other unauthorised persons?
4. Beyond pardoning and seeking to rehabilitate and reintegrate the so-called "repentant" Boko Haram Terrorists - which I think was a wrong strategy - did we put a structure in place to monitor the movement and activities of these so-called "repentant" Terrorists?
WHILE WE BATTLE THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE LAPSES WE ALLOWED, I ENCOURAGE YOU TO READ MY JULY 2015 ARTICLE BELOW:
"BEYOND ENDING BOKO HARAM, WE NEED TO FIND A WAY TO JUMP-START THE DESTROYED ECONOMY OF THE NORTH:
While all the bitter politics over the Boko Haram issue is going on, we seem to be forgetting one critical fact - poverty is deepening its hold in the North East and by extension, the entire Northern Region.
ALLIED TO POVERTY IS VIOLENCE -
The effect of violence and insecurity on the socio-economic development of Northern Nigeria is glaring. From threat to lives and properties to wanton killings and destruction, violence hinders business activities and discourages local and foreign investors, and all these stifle and retards Northern Nigeria‟s socio-economic development. Even with the coming of the Muhammadu Buhari Presidency, this wave of insecurity has not abated but has assumed a dangerous dimension that is threatening the corporate existence of the country. It is glaring that there is a development gap between the North and the South. All the same, the North has a lot of potentials that need to be salvaged. And now with armed insurgency, the North is beginning to mirror the Hobbesian state where life is short and brutish.
BORROWING FROM THE MARSHAL PLAN EXPERIENCE: NIGERIA NEEDS A DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR NORTHERN NIGERIA:
After the 2nd World War, most of Europe's economic infrastructure was ruined and poverty was wide-spread. In this state of affairs, Communism was able to get a foothold, just like Religious extremism is gaining a foothold in Northern Nigeria. America under the Presidency of Harry Truman, decided to intervene, hence the adoption of the Truman Doctrine in 1947. Soon after the Truman Doctrine promised to ‘support free peoples’ (March 1947), General George Marshall went to Europe and he saw excruciating poverty, given the destruction of the economic infrastructure of Europe as a result of the 2nd World War. General Marshall witnessed the squalid living conditions of Europeans during the nasty winter of 1947, and upon his return to America told President Truman that all Europe would turn Communist unless the US helped. The Marshal Plan - a plan put together for the revival of the Economy of Europe was born. And with a 13 Billion Dollar fund from America, Western Europe was able to fund its way out of poverty.
NIGERIA CAN DO SAME FOR NORTHERN NIGERIA - ALL IT TAKES IS A PLAN.
The truth is the North has a lot of potentials - from Agriculture to Mineral Resources and People. All it needs to come to the table with is a plan for arresting the decay caused by years of feudalism and a lips service to education and development. All the Soldiers of this World may Guard against the current Boko Haram insurgence, but the only way to sustain peace is to bring on the table, a development plan which will arrest the current state of excruciating poverty in the North. Until that is done, Boko Haram will continue to get new recruits. "
- Bolaji Okusaga (July 09, 2015