The Killing Fields

I borrowed this title from a movie about the deathly dangerous rule of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia which resulted in the death of over a million people. While I am desperately hopeful that we will never see anything like the sort of numbers registered by that reign of senseless bloodletting, I simply cannot think of Nigeria without seeing in my mind's eye the gory images of the mutilated corpses of victims of bandits, hired killers, terrorists, kidnappers and sadly, the Police. The picturesque tranquility of remote locations is rudely ruptured as Southern Kaduna, Birnin Gwari, Lagos, Katsina, Benue, much of the North East and pretty much everywhere in Nigeria really, degenerate into killing fields.

I realize I have painted a grim picture but believe me it is in fact understated as the reality is much worse in terms both of spread and severity. What is more? There appears to be no end to the blood-letting and it has become normal to hear of such incidents daily; no news broadcast is complete without the perfunctory announcement that once again, in one corner of Nigeria or the other, blood has been shed. Whatever demon-god is being worshipped with these killings is very satiated. How can we go on like this? There must be an end! Unfortunately, instead of taking the problems head-on, we have adopted symbolism, tokenism and rhetoric-speak as the official strategy of Government. The real answers are not easy but they are out there. They will however not yield their benefits to the uncommitted and insincere. 

I do not expect miracles because no-one no matter how sincere and competent can “fix” Nigeria within 2 electoral terms of office. I do expect leadership that lays the foundation for long term gain by institutionalizing development and taking any short-term gains that accrue as extras. The “wait and take” approach to governance which builds boreholes and schools that will end up as campaign promises in another 4 years has led us where we are today. 

Let us plan NOW where we want to be in 20 years. Whether we are talking about bandits rustling cattle and shedding human blood in the process, terrorists killing soldiers in ambushes or aid workers and other civilians dragged out of their vehicles and shot or ghostlike gunmen wiping out villages or robbers and kidnappers killing their victims, what it boils down to is a failure of governance. Why do so many unauthorized persons and groups have access to weapons, ease of inter/intra State movement and violence without context or consequence? If we must get the answers we so badly need, we have to begin by asking the right questions. We must meaningfully engage over the hard issues, about the state of the union and how to make it work better, about the value of life and human dignity, about governance and what the people can expect as a bare minimum from their leaders, about carving out a national identity and purpose we all can get behind, about citizenship and ethnicity and about the right to own land and access other factors of production. We must talk about education and electoral reform and primary healthcare and control of resources and social imbalance and the inherent injustice of the system! Surely we must iron these out, lest we continue to drift further down the abyss as we have been doing since we gained independence in 1960. Surely there MUST be an end.

 

Can it begin now?