Fairly Used Bombs For Sale In Nigeria

[Prince Charles Dickson]

Fairly Used Bombs For Sale In Nigeria

By Prince Charles Dickson

I would start my admonition in this essay qouting a very unlikely source, speaking recently in Geneva, former Nigerian President, Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo had the following to say...

“When I was growing up and I had to go to university, there was only one university in Nigeria. Today, 120; there are other tertiary institutions; polytechnics, colleges of education, when you take all of them together they are more than 200, much more than 200.

“If you count that they are graduating about 3000 every year and some are doing more than that for one tertiary institution. You have well over 600, 000. We are not creating 100, 000 jobs every year for graduates of our tertiary institutions; that is a tinder box on which we are all sitting and the fuse can be ignited anytime,” he said

“can we really have social justice with 50 percent of citizens of a country being unemployed or being under employed? Can you really have social justice in a situation where democracy, rule of law and popular participation are absent? Obviously the answer will be no.”

I do not whether when Obasanjo said this at the 100th Session the International Labour Organisation (ILO) which held recently in Geneva, Switzerland, if he meant it, or it was just a honest speechwriter at work. Either way its good see these individual institutions in the Nigerian polity ringing the alarm bells.

The other day it was IBB talking about victory for democracy and all that sweeties about elections, you cannot but agree with me that with bombs available off the counter, these men are now cases of once a man, twice a child, reality is slowly staring them in the face.

Which is why with those words of Obj, I will just make the following points and hope that Jonathan and his band of the boy-is-good group will listen...I do not expect them to anyway, but endless hope is the opium of the hopeful.

Whether the president and his supporters agree, today Nigeria is threatened more than ever by separatists’ movements. The whole drama of amnesty is a case of putting forward the inevitable.

The MEND phenomenon continues despite the best efforts at Public Relations, a fact remains that the issues at the bottom of the conflict has not been addressed, is not being addressed and at best is being massaged in a way that sends wrong signal across board.

The Nigerian young person that makes up Obasanjo's statistic knows today that it is more productive to be a militant, kidnap personnel or go join Boko Haram than wasting four, five and six years in school.

The amnesty program has become a goldmine for many, it’s become a case of all that is gold does not glitter, monies are just flying and vamoosing like candle in the wind...dead on the last puff of the candle wax, or smoke end of the wick.

Boko Haram is now giving terms for ceasefire, who would have thought it would get to this, it’s made even worse by the sheer size of the nation, so the Nigerian in Lagos and Calabar, or Abeokuta and Umuahia, and (with Abuja playing host to suicide Boko bombers shortly after this was originally penned) may not fully grasp the height of lawlessness in Borno.

Jos, Plateau is either in hibernate mode or is just tired but the economy there is practically comatose, as government can barely raise few millions in internally generated revenue.

The level of arms proliferation in the nation is high, in Lagos; robberies are executed with movie-like precision and with same movie-running time of an hour and forty minutes and you wonder where the security is.

After recess, the kidnappers are back to business, as I pen this, the whereabouts of five corp members are still not known, even as the business men responsible for their disappearance are asking for N100M non-negotiable.

When in Jigawa a basket of tomatoes that sold for N400 had risen to N6, 500, a measure, from N50 to N500 within a month, based on a report by the Vanguard Newspaper, in Jos, Plateau home of tomatoes and potatoes it is a similar story, I cannot imagine the situation in Lagos.

But I know that my father in Lagos had asked me to send him onions as it was extremely expensive and in some cases almost unavailable.

In addition to this, you talk about the unavailability of cooking fuel called Kerosene, and the fact that almost every state government owes its workforce under one guise or the other.

While Bankole and his ilk pocket N40billion in loans and get bail, Kano government refuse to pay its workers in the name of audit, Imo sacks, Plateau says it has no money; South west governors meet to see how and if it will pay.

Meanwhile Senators have pocketed some N4 million for accommodation, N2.7 million for furniture and N3.5 million for car Each senator before now got the sum of N8.5 million as housing allowance, N6.5 million as furniture allowance and another N7.5 million as car allowance. And you ask, all these monies for doing what... catching the fun of their lives. You ask where is the social justice, an absence of which breeds an insecure society.

Can someone provide the figures for the number of bombs and explosives that have gone off in an eighteen month period, how many arrests, and convictions? What happened to the Iranian bombs saga, how far has the Charles Okah matter gone?

No arrests for the Mogadishu Barracks, Jos Bombs, how about the recent ones in Suleja, Zuba and Bauchi? How safe is the Nigerian life.

Bombs are not sold off the shelves, who are those behind the high level of insecurity, the bombs game is not one played by just alamajiris or some uneducated insolent idiots.

We have a state security agency that cannot be proactive; the best is some walkie-talking-carrying-running-shielding-boy wearing bullet proof and dark glasses.

The agency is run based on quota system, just like every other thing Nigeria, full of intrigues of promotion exams, state of origin, secondment and postings.

The Police is only a luxury for the rich as escorts and on the roads as toll services, apart from receiving cars and gadgets from state governors and recruiting personnel with baptism certificates, they have been overwhelmed by the situation. While the army seems to be more-like watching and saying we remain loyal, anyhow una want am.

On matters Nigeria I am not a pessimist, I do not sit, observe and participate with intent only on pulling government down and seeing no good in them.

Whenever I write silently I pray--O Lord help government, the person or persons so that truth they may see, and so that if truth is on my side, they may make correction and if they respond with superior truth, I may follow them".

Mr. Jonathan you have done nothing, that’s the truth, do not allow sycophants fool you. I am cautiously optimistic that you will disappoint many of us unbelievers in you. Do one thing, just one thing.

Epilogue

Just to add, this is from my friend Chinedu Akuta, it says it all "Make no mistake; Nigeria’s insecurity level has gone beyond the critical stage. The bomb blast of today (16th June 2011) at the nation’s police headquarters has said it all. There is no security in Nigeria. Last December 31st 2010; there was a bomb blast at Sani Abacha Barracks or Mogadishu Cantonment killing over 14 people. The question is; if bombers can wreck these kinds of havoc at the bases of our security services, what then will happen to ordinary Nigerians? This year alone, Nigeria has witnessed over 5 bomb blasts.

Last year (2010) the following bomb blasts were recorded. Warri Bomb Blasts, March 2010, about 8 died and many casualties. Abuja Bomb Blasts, October 1st 2010 and 31st December 2010. Over 25 people died and too many casualties. Jos Bomb blast on Christmas Eve (24/12/10), about 80 died and many injured. Yenegoa Bomb blast on Wednesday 29/12/10.". Bombs in Borno have not been added to this list. Almighty Allah save us from this path.

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[emj]

Can someone provide the figures for the number of bombs and explosives that have gone off in an eighteen month period, how many arrests, and convictions? What happened to the Iranian bombs saga, how far has the Charles Okah matter gone?

No arrests for the Mogadishu Barracks, Jos Bombs, how about the recent ones in Suleja, Zuba and Bauchi? How safe is the Nigerian life.

Bombs are not sold off the shelves, who are those behind the high level of insecurity, the bombs game is not one played by just alamajiris or some uneducated insolent idiots.

We have a state security agency that cannot be proactive; the best is some walkie-talking-carrying-running-shielding-boy wearing bullet proof and dark glasses.

The agency is run based on quota system, just like every other thing Nigeria, full of intrigues of promotion exams, state of origin, secondment and postings.

PCD.......everyone is asking same questions, no answer.....the state of insecurity is so unbelievable.

The FGN is just so lackadaisical about it all.