Slogan and Reality: Is the Secure North Slogan Working?

Do you feel disturbed, furious, and eager to take action when you find out the outrageous number of people dying daily, weekly or monthly for unjustified reasons? Or, as is the case for some, you have developed a coping mechanism to avert your reflexive, emotional and intuitive response in the face of absolute insanity. It would be an understatement to say that every sane person would be furious with the slightest negligence and disregard for the first and foremost fundamental human right, the right to life. The sanctity of life is intuitively, logically, intellectually and religiously grounded. Saying it’s as apparent as the sun’s light to the naked eyes would be stating the obvious.

Billions are invested in both the reproduction and preservation of life. Unfortunately, some seem not to agree with us on the significance or the sanctitude of life. To them, killing a mosquito becomes harder than killing a person and taking the trash out turns out to be more difficult than taking someone out. The fact of the matter is that one way or another, people will cease to exist whether you interfere or not. But the perpetual and rampant occurrence of the invasion of something as private as life is heinous, disturbing and substantial enough to make me wonder if the superficial consequences we see have no fundamental precedencies. I believe there are essential preparatory elements to what we are witnessing. If not addressed, slogans and hashtags would be nothing but a mere symbolism of virtue signalling.

I am not quite sure what triggered the attention and reactions of the “Arewa Social Media Users” to the continuous killings and kidnappings. But it arouses one’s curiosity as to why we witnessed a cluster of reactionary hashtags and slogans on social media at the time we did. For, under our eyes, people, goods and shelters have been destabilized and bombed catastrophically. However, I am not saying it is our fault or arrogantly claiming that we are not standing up against what’s happening in Arewa. But one theory is that, unless things happen to you or your close ones or, in this case, to people you consider more privileged than yourself, doing what’s required doesn’t become peoples’ priority. Unfortunately, we don’t become aware and concerned about an alarming danger till it crawls towards our doorsteps and starts knocking.

If randomly picked and asked, how many people do you think would cite insecurity as the significant problem-consuming Arewa? Except in the case of an immediate outburst, it doesn’t seem like a grave problem to many of us because our actions speak louder than our words and hashtags. Which all insinuate its non-existence nonchalantly. Sadly, the issue of insecurity in Nigeria has always been multifaceted and a consequential one. Tackling insecurity is a governmental case. In return for our votes and obedience, the sworn in authorities represent the general public handling issues related to managing and improving the country, not worsening it. If we were to be left harming and killing each other, what is the essence of government? Are we the ones to teach our representatives what is expected of them? Weren’t they once in our shoes? Are they that oblivious of what is happening in the country? And many more political, economic, social, financial and strategic questions could be posed to the government. But by the recent events in the country, we are now somewhat aware of the victims and whose interest insecurity and its siblings serve. It is brutal but, unfortunately, factual. Being the victim of malaise and mischief of the country calls for a rationale to heed what could be done on an individual, communal and organizational level. We submitted our interests to the government to serve us. However, it’s our absolute responsivity to take care of ourselves in the broader sense. That’s why we should always think of ways to protect ourselves despite or in addition to the government. Tackling the issues engulfing Arewa isn’t going to be a piece of cake. Regardless, we could do things instead of or in addition to slogans and hashtags.

Social media users are aware of the continuous tweets and hashtags of the End SARS movements. Did the government hear them? Was any action taken to promote their cause? Yes, that is the obvious answer. What about in Arewa? Have we ever achieved any positive result due to any protest? It might be pointed out that we are not used to protesting, and we tend to handle our cases in other ways. Be that as it may, are we witnessing any significant result diminishing the crippling actions on our part?
As mentioned earlier, the issue of insecurity in Nigeria is manifold, ranging from religious, social, ethnic and economic. Arewa is especially battling with mainly religious and socio-economic related insurgencies. Deeply rooted as they may be, they are not irresolvable. Religion is Arewa’s foremost identity. So, its role is undeniable. But the question is how? How are the teachings going to impact how we act? This is a significant question that is beyond the scope of this article. Religion can’t and shouldn’t be studied superficially. It’s a deep system requiring in-depth knowledge, research and analysis. When not done, the consequence is most definitely going to be bitter. One of the things we can do to barricade ourselves from religion-related insurgencies is to sieve our options and sources of religious knowledge before embarking. It may deem trivial, but it isn’t. The backbone of extremism is rooted in the fundamental ideological relationships between teacher and student. I don’t mean teacher and student in the conventional sense, but any form of influence a particular religious leader has on us. Because our actions are governed by how we think and feel. And to tackle this, we must be careful with whom we trust with ourselves and children in terms of education and influence. This is at the individual level. Communally speaking, we could take our neighbouring children like ours as our previous generations did cater for them with care and love. If viable and capable, sponsor their education. When they do wrong, scold and reprimand them. Do to them as you would to your children. Organizations aiming at the nourishment of our dear society are gearing up. We hope to see their positive impact in this regard. We are fully aware that your child is your child. But others’ children, when not brought up well, may become our hindrance. If able, we better prevent what may become a disaster tomorrow. Religious education is mentioned earlier. But formal education as well goes without saying. We have seen the catastrophic consequences of separating religious and legal education.

Generally speaking, Arewa is an arena of farming and businesses. Which, if corrupted and exterminated, would be socially and politically costly. A significant portion of banditry, kidnapping, the clash between farmers and herders, and even Boko Haram owes its existence to the latterly mentioned reason. There might be some who are orchestrating and benefiting from the insurgencies. But believe me when I tell you that’s not you nor me. There existed a clash between farmers and herders in the southern part of the country. But it never escalated to something as nefarious as kidnapping. Another issue is that banditry doesn’t require many skills and technical know-how. But a kidnapping, I believe, does. And seeing the type of people conducting it begs the question of its origin. How is it possible for people to run a complex task like kidnapping alone? How do we wrap our head around the fact that Ahmad Gumi, a prominent scholar in Nigeria, met the actors of the mentioned abhorrent actions while our government couldn’t? How is this group playing hide and seek with the government!?

Government should be for its people for the relationship to reciprocate. Peoples’ problems should be prioritized. There won’t be any government (at least active) if the country is in a chaotic state. As for businesses, they are somewhat thriving, but farmers and herders are not benefiting from the economic boost the country is witnessing. In our history, people reacted to the unequal share of our gaining. Nowadays, people are still actively responding in different forms. This type of insurgency requires a collaboration between the government and the private sectors. Which, when conducted correctly, shall be fruitful. However, an analogy shall be helpful to fully grasp the depth of inaction in terms of all kinds of insurgencies facing us.

In a broader sense, education is the core of fixing the present and the future. Political and historical knowledge serve as a filter, helping, shielding and stopping us from repeating our previous generation’s mistakes. Science and technology, on the other hand, empower our prosperity. Nevertheless, the pursuit of education is allied with motivation and incentive. Which, when lacking, leads to the mere acquisition of a certificate. We are all aware of our country’s educational system. Thankfully, some people are trying to revise and improve the slackened motivation and incentives by taking control in one way or another. But to treat the malignant disease of all sorts of insurgencies. We need to actively engage with our society and people. We should study them and offer the utmost of our support to pursue a better Arewa and Nigeria. Hopefully, we will one day wake up to witness the tremendous outcome of our togetherness! Hurray togetherness. Hurray, a better Arewa. Hurray, a better Nigeria!!!