No doubt the spate of kidnappings and terrorism across the Country is more alarming than was ever pre-empted. The swarming unemployed youths in various parts of the Country are fast migrating from the streets to play some sort of antisocial ‘money-spinning’ trades in hide-outs that seem to profitably engage them; they prefer it to roaming around in search of ‘very scarce’ daily bread. Though tough a trade, it is still easier to make a fortune from kidnappings today than working in a multi-national company.
The same goes with smuggling drugs, oil theft, politically motivated riots, sponsored terrorism, extortions, impersonation, engaging in contact scams, running illegal baby factories, evil ritualism, sponsored anti-government rallies, vandalizing public utilities and selling stolen items in the black market, obtaining money from the international Community’s unsuspecting victims, NGOs, donors, and agencies by false pretence, etc, the traditional ‘snatch-and-run’ form of theft rampant in the past (very common in busy Markets, on lonely streets, in public buses, etc) that used to spark public lynching and multiple extra judicial killings have been substituted with more sophisticated variants. With a dwindling economy fortune, a poor justice system, a seemingly weak internal security, a disenchanted people, and an unsettled government, today’s crime is taking a whole new dimension.
Talking about the problems without proffering solutions is like giving the issue a ‘scalar quality’ status- magnitude without direction. The punching shear of all the menace on our hands today is ‘corruption’ and ‘terrorism’. While corruption can only be curtailed because it is endemic and deep-rooted in character, terrorism can be phased out using short, medium, and long-term approaches.
In Nigeria, more short term than medium and long-term solutions have been proffered to achieving victory over the war against terrorism by concerned persons especially with specific reference to the dreaded Boko-Haram sect, most of which border around the use of extreme force or meaningful dialogue, perhaps without necessarily taking into cognizance the fact that this popular sect is just one out of a large number of troubles, concentrated especially in Northern Nigeria waiting to explode. The agricultural revolution embarked upon by the present administration vigorously pursued over a long period of time can get more youths profitably and meaningfully engaged than otherwise.
A huge accolade must, therefore, be given to the government and the relevant agencies for championing this course. However, the incidences of violence across the Country should not distract stakeholders from pursuing this worth-while vision as the project backed with privately-driven industries revolution which characterizes the submissions and recommendations of several local and foreign economic analysts have the tendency to reduce the local human capacity of insurgents which is vital in carrying out their dastardly operations.
Young makes are the most vulnerable to initiate into terrorist organizations and other anti-social vices; the same people are in much demand in various farming activities. By making farming and agro-allied trades more attractive and lucrative, and ensuring that there are deliberate or conscious efforts to engage the youths and women in these areas, we may over time, achieve a paradigm shift from political thuggery, terrorism and related crimes to immeasurable domestic productivity; indeed a condition that will see a conscious move from planting bombs to sowing seeds, from building tension to building co-operation and from killing fellow Nigerians.
