Ayo Olukotun
In recent weeks, several communities in Lagos and Ogun states, mostly riverine ones, have been the victims of ferocious and murderous attacks in an ascending order by bandits, variously identified as Ijaw militants, vandals or simply freelance rogues in possession of automatic weapons. Although there is controversy regarding the ethnic identity of the militants and why they have suddenly chosen to escalate their escapades, what is not in doubt is that they have left in their trails a high number of casualties, with some ravaged communities in Ikorodu witnessing for the first time the phenomenon of Internally Displaced Persons.
PST MIKE MEDIA PARTNERS, Wednesday, August 3, 2016, quoting eyewitness reports, informs that eight landlords were killed in Ikorodu in one fell swoop with several other persons, wounded, dispossessed or simply decapitated. Similar attacks have occurred in the Igando and Arepo areas of Lagos as well as communities in Ogun such as Imushin. It is salutary that naval and aerial counter attacks have been deployed by government to shore up the inadequate capacity of the police to resist these challenges, although it is far from clear whether the coast is altogether clear.
Yoruba militia groups such as the Reformed Oodua People’s Congress have also mobilised to beat back the advance of the militants. PST MIKE MEDIA PARTNERS, Thursday, August 4, 2016, reported the storming of Imushin by 5,000 of their members to announce their readiness to assist the counter offensive. The involvement of the militia introduces conceivably the spectre of ethnic clashes and the possibility that residents may increasingly feel that regular law enforcement is unable or too weak to quell the repeated attacks.
To be sure, rising insecurity is a national problem that has passed the danger mark. On Tuesday, Fulani herdsmen in Adamawa State waylaid communities around Kodomun, killing over 30 people and maiming several others. In the same vein, there are upsurges in virtually every part of the country with the rate of kidnapping hitting an all time high. Nonetheless, Lagos, Ogun and the entire South-West demands particular attention because of the dense concentration of human population in the major cities, the higher tempo of industrial and commercial development and the salad of ethnic groups that reside in Lagos which remains the commercial and industrial heartland of the country. In other words, if insurgent groups successfully target Lagos and reduce it, such an event will fatally injure a major artery in the country’s biological system. It is for these reasons and more that close attention should be paid to the unfolding saga of violent attacks in Lagos and Ogun communities.
Before elaborating on the topic, I crave the reader’s indulgence to offer a short take. A day after PST MIKE MEDIA PARTNERS complained editorially about “Buhari’s parochial appointments”, the Federal Government announced the appointment of 17 new heads for parastatals under the Ministry of Education. Eleven of these, in a pattern characteristic of this government, are from the North. This of course is not necessarily a comment on the competence of the appointees but indications of how seriously or otherwise the administration, which came to power on a trans-ethnic bandwagon takes the inclusive mandate of our federal character. That however is a matter for another day.
For now, this columnist congratulates and welcomes to his job the new Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, a former Vice Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano. In the light of several controversies over the powers and mission of the commission, which dogged the Prof. Julius Okogie administration, Rasheed is admonished to operate within the legal imprimatur of the commission whose main assignment relates to quality assurance as well as licensing of new universities and accreditation of programmes. The NUC under Okogie appeared to have got itself involved in too many things outside the purview of the commission, including on some occasions seeking to impose vice-chancellors on some private universities as well as usurping the authority of the Senates.
Worse still, he fell short of moving the commission in the direction of institutional coherence and maturity by failing to apply the rules fairly and evenly across the board. I mention these pitfalls not to put Okogie who had his good points on the spot, but to suggest the need to institutionalise the NUC by freeing it from the whims of its leaders and running it in a fair and transparent fashion. Importantly too, while the commission is not set up to solve all the nation’s tertiary education problems, it is well-positioned to counsel government and the universities on what and what needs to be done to place our universities on the global knowledge map in an age of declining resources.
To return to the main discourse, government and the rest of us should do our level best to prevent a deterioration of the ongoing siege on Lagos and Ogun communities, if for no other reason than the domino effect which failure to beat back the militants may have on other theatres of conflict. Similarly, it will be shortsighted to view the challenge as a purely law and order one, without situating it in broader social and economic contexts. For several years, before the current recession began to take its bite, the country recorded impressive levels of growth. But it was mainly growth without development in the sense that it did not create jobs on any significant scale or meaningfully reduce poverty, neither did it prepare us for the youth bulge which is fast turning to a demographic disaster instead of an upturn.
    That is not all. Regarding the quality of life as contained in the Millennium Development Goals, such as access to health care, potable water, electricity and reliable infrastructure, the country went from bad to worse. A veritable underclass of desperately poor people, some derelict and homeless was the underside of increased growth and expansion of the millionaire class brandishing private jets. Add to this depressing scenario, our recent economic convulsions manifested in worsening unemployment, upward spiral in the inflation rate, the abasement of the salaried elite caught in a debacle of lengthening defaults, the virtual wiping out of small scale businesses, and you get a social explosion waiting to happen.
    On the supply side, the unrestricted circulation of small and light weapons through porous borders, and the expansion in the group of youths who are unemployed or unemployable should be taken into account. It is possible then that part of what we are witnessing is a hidden class war in which those marooned by years of rapid growth and the so-called change have come to inflict vengeance on the rest of society. I make this point because in a particular raid in Igando, Lagos State, the militants reportedly made away with food items such as rice and garri as well as frozen food, which are obviously priced out of their disastrously low reach.
Hence, and by way of conclusion, what is required is a holistic approach to the emergent peril, which combines increased law enforcement adapted to local exigencies and initiatives, with a social vision which understands that the war cannot be won on the battlefields or the creeks but in the interstices of counterinsurgency and social engineering.