The security situation in the country is not the best now. Instead of improving, it is fast degenerating to the worst state ever. There is no hope that it is going to improve so soon. Despite the Federal government’s promise to deal with killer herdsmen, the marauders said to be from North Africa or wherever are still having a field day.
They just killed 78 people in Nasarawa State within the week and some others in Benue State. Benue State is so far the worst victim of herdsmen menace or what in official parlance is called herdsmen/farmers clashes. While the Boko Haram insurgency has been with us since 2009 and still killing and kidnapping people, especially young girls and women, despite government’s claim that it has decimated ad technically defeated them, nothing is seemingly being done to tame the herdsmen murderous menace.
The herdsmen with AK-47 rifles can just kill and go and nothing happens to them. They have now started killing some security agents in the North-Central zone. The recent robbery incident in Offa, a rural town in Kwara State, where heavily armed robbers raided five banks in a bloody operation that left 17 people including nine police officers and eight civilians dead and several others seriously wounded, underscored the growing insecurity in the country.
There are strong indications that the casualty figure in the Offa robbery may be higher than the figure officially supplied by the police. Reports on the incident revealed that the heavily armed men came with high caliber rifles and even grenades and forced themselves into the banks and made away with millions of naira and other valuables without any confrontation by the security agents. They had a field day and left traces of sorrow, tears and blood. It is good that the police were able to arrest some of the criminals after the deed had been done. Let them be prosecuted.
We had expected a situation the daredevil robbers were challenged in the heat of the operation by our police. That should be the ideal situation but not in Nigeria where some policemen even dread the robbers, who are said to be well equipped with sophisticated weapons than our police. This is exactly where the government should come in and do something urgently before the pervading insecurity overwhelms Nigerians. The Offa incident was so brutal but it is by no means peculiar.
It is no longer news that dreaded armed robbers’ strike almost every day in different parts of the country killing people and dispossessing them of their hard earned money. Besides, kidnappers are also on the rampage and demanding high ransom from their hapless victims. The problem is that most of such cases are underreported. The primary function of government is to protect life and property of the citizenry and all those in its care. But this government is failing in this capacity.
Nigerians now live in fear more than ever before. That is why they erect high fences to secure their houses from robbers and killer herdsmen and other criminals in the country. While Nigeria is being overtaken by insecurity, our politicians are all warming up for 2019 election. What is uppermost in the minds now is how to come back in 2019 when the promises that gave us in the last election are yet to be fulfilled.
Nigerians are indeed watching the evil situation where what our politicians think always is only how to win the next election instead of how to tackle the nation’s myriad problems, including rising insecurity. In fact, some of them would be disappointed come 2019. Some of them, including those nursing the ambition of coming back, will be utterly defeated if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducts a free, fair and credible poll. And if it does not, there will be serious problem and our democracy will be in danger.
The snatching of the mace this week at the Senate demonstrates clearly that there is insecurity in the country. If some men can freely work into the chambers of the Senate and take away the mace, the symbol of authority of the house and easily walked away without any molestation by security agents, then everything is, indeed, wrong with our security architecture.
Most Nigerians watched with dismay the Nollywood-like movie. Perhaps, there will be Part 2 and Part 3 of the action soon. What happened in the Senate is a mockery of our democracy as well as our lax security system. The legislators were apparently dazed and rattled by the thugs’ bravado and rudeness in taking away the mace, which the security agents claimed to have recovered. To avoid thugs stealing the mace next time, let more maces be made so that if one is stolen, there will be a ready replacement. It does not cost much to make a mace. We have plenty woods to make them in the country.
The Senate should watch it. There is no smoke without fire. Adequate security should be provided for the lawmakers before other sinister things happen there. In fact, all Nigerians should be adequately protected. This is the right time the Federal Government should consider state policing as the current centralized policing has collapsed. There is no way the present police structure can ensure the security of all Nigerians.
Let me end this article with the audacious ‘telephone conversation’ not Wole Soyinka’s poem by that title between a female undergraduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and one randy lecturer over alleged sex-for-marks audio that has been trending since. The summary of the erotic audio is that the lecturer has demanded from the lady in question five good rounds of sex for seven marks to get an ‘E’ grade pass.
The lady scored 33 marks in the lecturer’s course. The startled lady was surprised that for seven marks, the lecturer will “knack” her five times, which will mean five different occasions. What the audio contained is not novel. It is, indeed, in vogue in most higher institutions in the country. The romance between female students and lectures is as old ad the university system in the country.
The problem is that such cases are unreported. But in this particular case, the lady in question wants her poor marks to be upgraded to a pass mark, which in itself is immoral. But the lecturer’s insistence on five round of sex for seven marks is utterly reprehensible. To the lecturer, one round is equal to one point something marks. This is evil and unethical.
While some female students may be guilty of asking for such favours, some lecturers also go all the way to have them. Government should save the female students by enacting laws that will check sexual harassment in our campuses to save woman dignity and girl-child education.
We cannot treat the females as mere commodities or material objects that can be used and dispensed with. They are human beings like us. They should be treated with respect and dignity. They are our daughters, sisters and our future wives and mothers. Let their dignity and human worth be respected.
Their sexuality must not be violated or abused because of mere marks to pass an examination. Every student must work hard and earn his or her marks. There should be no favouritism, whether for a female or male student.