10 Dec 2008 |
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RESPONSIBILITY: THE NIGERIAN WAY Henry I. Okoro For the better part of last week, I kept trying to reach a couple of my friends in Jos on the phone, all to no avail. Fearing the worst I decided to call some of our mutual friends outside Jos to find out if they had any information concerning those I was tying to reach in Jos. You can imagine how I felt when I was eventually told that Azi, one of the persons I had been trying to reach was killed in the crisis that engulfed the city of Jos penultimate Thursday. He had been shot in the head and was confirmed dead on getting to the hospital. Azi and I met at the Kano campus of the Nigerian Law School and having successfully completed the program we proceeded to do our national service in the month of November 2007. The last time I saw Azi was when we met at a motor park in Jos, while he was on his way to Delta state where he had been posted, I was going to Yobe state where I had also been posted. I remember we both wished ourselves the best of luck. Having completed his national assignment September of this year, Azi had gone back to his home state to start a career only to be cut down prematurely in a rather senseless crisis. More than a week after the crisis and it's supposed containment by the security forces we are still not sure of the number of persons who died and going by past experiences we may never know and you can be sure there are families and friends both in and outside Jos who still don't know what has become of their loved ones. Most ironic but nonetheless painful of all is the death of the three corps members who were killed trying to fufill one of the objectives of the - a better understanding and integration between Nigerians from different parts of the country. It is ironic because they died in a conflict between two communities, (the Hausa Fulani on the one hand and the Beroms, Asizires and Anagutas on the other hand) that have lived together for decades yet they still regard each other with a great deal of suspicion to the extent of killing themselves and others. But why would anybody go to the extent of shedding blood for these politicians, knowing full well that as soon as they get into office, their priority in descending order is as follows, me, my family and my friends. Or do Nigerians still have that erroneous notion that once a person from my tribe is elected into office he will better my lot? My answer to such a person is to look at the North, which without a doubt has produced the highest number of heads of state than any other region in this country, yet the poverty level in that part of the country is worse than that of any other region. Our so called leaders have only succeeded in enriching themselves at the detriment of those they claim to lead. So it is not a question of hate but rather, the poverty, corruption and frustration that comes with dashed hopes has made Nigerians to cling to their primordial sentiments which makes them to vent their anger on their perceived enemies at every given opportunity. I am inclined to take the latter view, this is because going by all indices Nigeria is a country on the verge of becoming a failed state. This is is more so when we have a federal government (which actually controls more than a significant proportion of the nation’s wealth in this fallacy called a federation) that is lethargic to say the least. The administration of President Yar'Adua is absolutely bereft of ideas on how to move the country forward. The president seems to glory in the appellation of 'being baba go slow', whereas it has displayed remarkable ingenuity and sagacity in hounding the members of the press for daring to talk about the president's health. How I wish the administration will display such energy in tackling the energy problem or our economic problem. Little wonder the country is at a stand still and those who are supposed to be accountable keep on shirking their responsibilities. That is why more than a week after the crisis that has at least claimed the lives of three hundred Nigerians nobody has taken responsibility, nobody has offered to resign rather the police commissioner has been transferred, (thus while acknowledging that he failed in his duties we are rewarding him by a transfer to another place for him to repeat his failure). We have not heard anything about his counterpart in the SSS, even after the Governor, Jonah Jang was reported to have said that he was assured by intelligence reports that there would be no problem. so much for intelligence reports. That is why armed bandits have laid seige to the city of Ibadan over the past several days with arrogant impunity; nobody has taken responsibility for the security failure. That is why kidnapping is now the order of the day in the eastern part of the country and nobody cares. That is why six naval ratings will beat up a woman and strip her naked on the streets of Lagos, yet the naval officer on whose behalf this dastardly act was committed has not deemed it fit to resign. Soon after the Mumbai attacks in India a host of government officials resigned while some others who tendered their resignation had them rejected. In the past couple of days in Greece, following demonstrations that greeted the death of a 15 year old boy in the hands of the police, the interior minister and his deputy have both submitted their resignation thereby accepting responsibility for what happened. In Nigeria however, nobody is responsible for anything, things just happen on their own. It makes you wonder why we even have a president, ministers, governors, local government chairmen etc. It just makes you wonder... Adieu Azi. This article was contributed by Okoro I. Henry, a legal practitioner at Ekpoma, Edo state.
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