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Nigeria would have recorded yet another “Proudly Nigeria” product, #ENDSARS, if the sophistication of the organised protest were anything to go by. The protest which took off peacefully and was in the air for eleven days unfortunately landed in the hands of the miscreants, whose actions including jail break, looting, killing, arson, denigration of the traditional institutions, etc caused colossal loss to individuals, businesses and government. According to the protesters, SARS police had a well-defined market i.e fresh looking boys in possession of high valued gadgets (iphone, laptops, high pads)and good bank account balance, which they confirm from short messages on their phones. The miscreants who took the protest to a mindless proportion ironically did not fall into the targeted segment of the youth population. The question now is, “why did the miscreants hijack the protest? Could it be that they found themselves unfit and depressed with the thoughts of lacking the sophistication and exposure required to belong to the #ENDSARS group? Could it be that they are also frustrated with the lack of hope and change to their poor condition?
The ENDSARS protesters broke their silence in the most courteous and polite manner and the authority has responded, promising to attend to their 5-Point demand. The hungry and angry miscreants have also expressed their frustration, though in unspeakable manners; expectedly there have been condemnation from all circles for the carnage and destruction perpetrated by them. However, before we blame the miscreants, we need to fully understand what could have triggered the mindless looting and unprecedented expression of hate, by answering the “W” questions below.
1. Who are they? They are our sons and daughters, neglected by families, friends, religious organisations, communities, and government at all levels.
2. Where do they live? They live in the little chamber, in shanties around our medium and high-brow areas. They are our neighbours. In Lagos for instance, every medium and highbrow area has shanties in less than 5-10 kilometres radius. In Ikoyi, they live in Obalende; in Victoria Island they are in Isale-eko; In Lekki, they are in Jakande area; in Apapa, our neighbours live in Ajegunle and Badia area; in Surulere, they live at Orile; in Ikeja GRA, they are in Agege; in Ogudu GRA our neighbours are in Ojota; in Festac and Satellite, our neighbours live in Agboju, to mention but a few. Interestingly, occupants of these shanties have outnumbered us due to years of neglect. We churn them out in millions out of schools across the country year on year.
3. When did they become miscreants? They were bundles of joy and celebrated by sharing food and drinks upon their arrival on mother earth, as it is customary in this part of the world. What then went wrong? Dolamu, being a product of this environment can testify that everything went wrong from the 70s. What we are witnessing today is an accumulation of neglect of 50 years (1970-2020). We christened our children miscreants when we began to neglect family values, when the community stopped to train the child, when religious institutions began to lack focus and government failed in their responsibility of provision of basic amenities and infrastructure for her citizens. How can one describe a failed state than one that has earned N29.8Trillion in about fifty years (1958-2007)- source African Journal, but failed to provide basic amenities for her citizens i.e good roads, regular supply of electricity, public water, public transportation, affordable housing, quality education, good healthcare system and security of life and properties. An average Nigerian is left with no choice than to find means (legal or illegal) to provide quality education, healthcare, housing, etc for his family. Consequently, we have become a nation where everyman is for himself and God for us all. Many go to churches and mosques with a checklist of requests, to pray over what God has already provided; unfortunately, the custodians of our wealth have failed to distribute them equitably.
4. What do they do? In the absence of quality education that makes our future-leaders to be future-ready, they can only explore the only asset they have – their body. The girls raise cash from the opposite sex through prostitution while the boys build their bodies in readiness for thuggery to fend for themselves. The “lucky ones” are recruited as political thugs and militia groups; some render parking services in car parks, garages and during social events; they wash our cars and secure them in the absence of the police. We look for small currency denomination in our purses and bags to pay for their services. They hail us as we zoom off in our beautiful cars and drive off to our cosy houses within the neighbourhood, oblivious of their presence around us.
5. Why do they hate us so much? The truth is that some people will still fall by the wayside no matter how much we try to help them, even within the family setting. Amongst the miscreants are those who failed to do the right thing at the right time, due to family circumstance, whereas some join the group due to sheer neglect by the society and government. The so called privileged few, who strived and broke the shackles of poverty and glass ceilings are seen as enemies as they mirror their failure. The miscreants see the privileged in their neighbourhood displaying luxuries they feel they can never own. They feel bludgeoned into poverty while the privileged are busy sorting themselves out in their ivory towers. They feel short-changed in our refusal to change the system we inherited to improve their lot. We represent the authorities that failed them. We therefore became their target because they feel we do not care, so why should they?
We would be making a fatal mistake if all we do right now is to discredit the miscreants, clamp down on them and make them face the law for the atrocities they have committed. Whilst punishing them to serve as deterrents is in order, we should also focus on what matters to them. It was Martin Luther King that said, “our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”. The menace of the miscreants will not go away unless we do what matters right now, which include:-
· Rehabilitation of the miscreants in our neighbourhood. We must have a deliberate plan to move them out of the poverty line through provision of adult education and skill acquisition programme sponsored by groups, religious bodies, and government.
· Provision of basic amenities which will be a veritable source of employment for them. One can only imagine employment opportunities that would be created for our teeming youths engaged in construction and management of our public utilities i.e roads, electricity, water, schools, hospitals, housing estates and rail system across the country. Consequently, many Small and Medium Enterprises and Large Local corporates could be established to employ them, and we would also attract foreign investors if we had enabling and secured environment.
· Provision of life-long educational system that will absorb school dropouts. Our 6-3-3-4 educational system should be reviewed to accommodate students who failed their West Africa School Certificate Examination or JAMB. They should automatically proceed to Technical college to acquire technical skills for 4 years, as against roaming street in search of next steps that remain a mirage, while we employ artisans from neighbouring countries for our construction works.
· The private sector needs to show more commitment and allocate more of their earnings towards Corporate and Social Initiatives (CSI). Their CSI should impact their environment to truly demonstrate that we care.
· Businesses cannot thrive in a state of insecurity. A major concern is the low police to population ratio at 1:540, which is below UN standard of 1:450. We need to increase the police force in number and improve their working condition and renumeration; otherwise they will serve themselves with the arms in their possession, as we currently experience.
· We need to be very deliberate about our poverty alleviation programmes by borrowing a leave from China. Whilst Nigeria began to experience decadence after the oil boom in the 70’s, China’s prosperity began to tick. “China began to open up and reform its economy in 1978….and more than 850million people have been lifted out of poverty” (source-World Bank). China which did not feature as one of World exporting countries in 1990 (Ranking royals), is ranked Number 1 exporting country since 2016. Today, there are more wealthy people living in China than the United states and Beijing is the world’s billionaire capital. If we ask their leaders how they broke world records to become the 2nd super-power in less than 20years, they will tell us they focussed on people in their lower chamber.
If China with her aging population can achieve so much in less than 40years, Nigeria has the capacity to do much more with “half its people under 30years of age”(Bloomberg); coupled with her endowments in oil and gas, 50% uncultivated arable land, rich and unexplored 44 solid minerals, and good weather. However, the missing piece in our puzzle of greatness is the WILL. Nigeria will be at peace if we are committed to doing what matters today to save our future. The Prophet (PBUH) says, “Whoever of you sees evil, let him change it with his hands; and if he is not able to do so, let hm change it with his tongue; and if he is unable to do, let him change it with his heart- and that is the weakest”-Muslim.
Abass Latifat
