The Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Army, Senator Ali Ndume, recently brought the tragedy of the unending Boko Haram insurgency in the country into bold relief with the revelation that 847 Nigerian soldiers killed by Boko Haram terrorists from 2013 till date are buried in the military cemetery in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. The Senator broke down the cost of the insurgency into the flesh and blood of our soldiers who were cut down in their prime over a needless war that is devoid of any reasoning. Ndume was not talking about the cost of guns and other military hardware whose purchases constitute a huge drain on Nigeria’s finances. He spoke about mostly young men who have families -– wives, parents and children – who had high hopes for them, but are now left in pain, to mourn their sad loss on the battlefield.
And, that figure is not the total loss of Nigeria’s military to the insurgents. The figure is solely for the military cemetery in Borno State, while the figures for other military cemeteries in the North-East geo-political zone of the country are yet to be announced. When a full tally is finally made, it will be seen that Nigeria has lost thousands of soldiers and even more civilians to terrorism.
These soldiers are human beings born with great expectations for their lives and their future by their parents only for such dreams to be suddenly cut short by terrorists, with hardly any succour or meaningful compensation for their families, or even reasonable appreciation from their countrymen and women. Thousands of our compatriots have been lost to Boko Haram, but life goes on like nothing is happening in virtually all parts of the country.
There appears to be no national appreciation of the efforts of the ordinary men and women who face Boko Haram in battle. Even in the midst of the Boko Haram massacres, tales of massive corruption and trading on the Boko Haram insurgency are rife. But for the January Armed Forces Remembrance Day, there is hardly any thought spared for the victims and their families, who should rightly be national heroes and so treated by the authorities and ordinary Nigerians. Even some non-governmental organisations and some highly placed individuals are now trending for having not so altruistic intentions in their involvement in the efforts to provide succour for Boko Haram victims. The huge human losses to Boko Haram should ginger the Federal and State governments to find a real solution to the insurgency.
Military top brass should look beyond the billions of naira earmarked for prosecuting the Boko Haram war and bring the needless bloodshed to an end. Let the nation publicly recognise and celebrate the sacrifices and gallantry of our fallen soldiers and the huge sacrifices of their families.
This Boko Haram insurgency is not insurmountable, if the government can demonstrate the will to end it – be it through diplomacy or a decisive military action. What is clear to all is that Nigeria, with its dilapidated infrastructure –roads, hospitals and bridges — cannot afford the huge financial cost of fighting this insurgency.
The high death toll signposts the need to end the problem speedily. The reports of the connivance of some NGOs with the insurgents, especially their supporting of the insurgents with information and logistics, should be dealt with. The insurgency should not become an avenue for the supposed NGOs to continue garnering funds from all parts of the world, with only a little of such funds committed to the effort to provide succour for the victims of Boko Haram, while at the same time cooperating with the terrorists.
The insurgency should not be a trading business for anyone. This is the time to stop the endless loss of lives and restore peace to the troubled parts of the country so that the thousands of Nigerians now living in Internally Displaced Persons Camps can return to their homesteads, and carry on with the rest of their lives.
The greatest tribute that the country can pay to the memories of the Boko Haram victims, particularly the fallen soldiers, is to bring this insurgency to an end and ensure the return of normalcy to the troubled areas.
Lagos’ famished roads
WHAT, exactly, is up with Lagos roads? Suddenly, many of the roads for which the recent governors of the state received accolades have become so terrible that the people cannot but ask the quality of roads they bequeathed to the state.
From Lawanson Road, to Mushin Road, Oshogbo Street and, indeed, so many other roads in the state, motorists cannot but lament their sorry fate. Lawanson/Itire Road, a major arterial road that has witnessed its own share of “rehabilitations” in recent times, has become a horror. Sections of this road are so terribly flooded whenever it rains that it has become a huge problem to the traders who deal mostly in refrigerators and other electronic items there. This is more so as water and electronics do not mix. Whenever it rains, the traders can be seen bailing water out of their shops.
The same situation applies in many parts of Lagos, including Ijora and the highbrow Lekki, where flooding has become life-threatening. The Lagos State Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Environment have a huge task on their hands to get the Lagos bad roads, flooding and garbage problems solved. Luckily, our dear colleague, Mr. Tunji Bello, is back on the environment beat, and he can be trusted to do justice to the problem at hand.
But Lagos is also fast developing a dangerous social problem. On the way to visit a friend in a hospital a few days ago, I chanced upon a part of Lagos off Aborishade street, off Lawanson bustop. What I saw was a truly blighted community divided into two by a canal.
A huge mountain of garbage; dozens of weed-wielding, dangerous looking young guys puffing at their Indian hemp wrapped in papers, in broad daylight; dirt all around. Was I scared? Trouble, certainly, is brewing in Lagos. Not even in Ajegunle, in my days as a young reporter, did I see so many young boys smoking weed with abandon, and strolling up and down pot-hole riddled roads, with abandon, at 5pm.
It is no wonder that this part of Lagos has become synonymous with cult clashes between rival gangs. Let Lagos wake up to the care of its roads, the environment and the youths. Luckily, Governor Sanwo-Olu has said the road repairs will start soon. Unfortunately, the roads listed so far for repairs are the major roads. What happens then to the blighted inner roads? Let the local governments stand up and be counted in the effort to make Lagos roads motorable.