The President, Muhammad Buhari, was in Borno yesterday to pay a condolence visit to the people of the state over the killing of 30 persons on Sunday. Some youth came in their numbers to booed the President.
Certainly, the President cannot be happy with insurgency and killing, but more certainly the people cannot be happy too. We must not forget that, the primary purpose of government is the; security and wellbeing of the people.
The people of Borno are Nigerians, and they ought to be protect as sworn by the President.
In my own humble opinion, the booing of the President was not meant to slight his personality and it is certainly beyond politics of opposition. But to tell him the plights of the people of the region. The people of the region transcended from being a little but pissed to a point where the are beginning to loose hope. It is very unfortunate, that thus far enemies of the State are winning and that portends grave danger to the country.
I must acknowledged the fact that, about 20 Local Government Areas were resettled under the present administration, but we cannot ignore the current unfortunate situation, there seems to be resurgence.
And most unfortunate story, is that the government of Nigeria is planning to “renovate” the Nation Assembly complex with a whooping 37 billion naira, at a time we are finding it hard to fight insurgency, money that could be used to purchased sophisticated weapons for the security forces.
An interesting fact you may not know; the drone used by the American to kill Iran general, Qaseem Solaimani is known as MQ-9 Reaper (Predator- B). It is the first hunter-killer, high-altitude surveillance. And it cost 5.56 billion naira, meaning that the 37 billion naira meant to renovate the NASS complex could buy 7 of such drones. That could say a final bye-bye to Boko Haram, kidnapping and other crime merchants.
Time for action is now, the government needs to act fast, so that Nigerians could sleep with two eyes closed and travel at night without the fear of molestation.
In conclusion, we must not forget that, poor community policing, poor intelligence gathering is highly responsible for the continuous killings in the country. A total overhaul of the country’s security architecture will be of great benefits. I am also of the opinion, that it is time to let go of the Service Chiefs, we need new ideas and new approach, and failure to do so will be unfair to the men and women of our security forces who have given their all including paying the supreme sacrifice to keep us all safe.
God bless Federal Republic of Nigeria.
– Ojiah Ridwan, a public affairs analyst.
ojiahridwanonoruoyiza@gmail.com
