In the last few weeks I have told anyone ready to listen that we are a nation at war. Dozens of young Nigerians who went to the write the JAMB exams for entry into the university last Saturday were attacked and killed in Borno State, Monday morning (14^th April, 2014) at least 71 Nigerians were killed in a bomb blast in Nyanya, Abuja. In the last few weeks the news has been about bloodshed from Borno to Benue, from Nassarawa to Abuja. We have soldiers deployed on internal security operations all over the country. Even states like Lagos are no longer safe as we hear stories of kidnaps and people disappearing daily. Just last week 4 students of the University Lagos were reported missing and till this moment they haven’t been found.

When insecurity starts to spread quietly all over a nation and there seems to be no resolve in sight then there is cause for serious worries. This situation requires a complete and total rethink of the strategies being adopted in solving the problem of insecurity in the country. At this moment we do not need any divisions, what we need is a unified response from everybody irrespective of your party, tribe or religion, this monster is consuming us all and has no respect for our differences. We all must therefore put aside our differences and work together to find a solution.

I believe the problem of insecurity we are seeing is just a case of the chickens coming home to roost, the government at all levels have failed the people, the federal, local and state governments. However, the first point for finding a solution is at the feet of the President Goodluck Jonathan. He is the President and Commander in Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces; he needs to find a way to solve this problem. The Nigerian constitution section 14 (2b) states that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”. The President must stand by the constitution and start to show that he is capable of keeping Nigerians safe. Below are a few points I believe can help us solve this monster that threatens to devour us:

1.       The government needs to start telling us who the sponsors of Boko Haram are. We have hundreds of Boko Haram suspects captured and I want to believe they must have given valuable information, what is happening to all the information? Who is being arrested, the government must begin to get serious with insecurity.

2.       We must start to find both economic and social security solutions to the Boko Haram menace. We must start to empower the core north economically. We must start to make farming a lucrative business for the farmers, we must start to make education attractive, and we must start to make direct economic impact in those regions. This is where the government must cooperate at all levels. We must drop the PDP/APC cloaks and pick up the Nigerian cloak and work with the local, state and federal governments to make this possible.

3.       I will suggest that all elected officials from these regions leave Abuja immediately and return to their communities. These people voted you into power and are being slaughtered every day while you sit in your air conditioned offices in Abuja. All elected officials including ward councilors, local government chairmen, state governors, house of assembly members, house of rep members and senators from these troubled regions should all return home with immediate effect. What are you legislating in Abuja when the people that voted you into power are being slaughtered by the day? What are you doing in the senate chambers when your children who go to write JAMB are being killed? When secondary schools are being raided and young girls taken away as sex slaves? They should all go back home and be a part of the solution to this problem.

4.       Lastly and most importantly the President must start being the Commander in Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces. He must start being presidential with his decisions and actions. If he believes there are people out to discredit his government then he should be man enough and get them arrested and charged to court. We have heard enough of the excuses; this is now the time for action.

This is a Nigerian problem. And we must all come together to fix it.

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Ife Adebayo is an IT Consultant with work experience in Germany, United Kingdom and Nigeria. He currently runs his own IT firm in Lagos, Nigeria. He is an ardent believer in the Nigerian project and encourages all Nigerians to become actively involved in making Nigeria a better place.

Ife is a registered member of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Epe Local Government, Lagos State. He was an active member of the UK branch of the party, holding the post of Youth Leader for the year 2010/2011.

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.