It is December; that time of the year that heralds the almighty Christmas, a celebration that Christians all over the world hold dear. It is without doubt the most popular celebration in the world. Added to the glamour is the fact that it falls within the end of the year which means many things to different people.
In Nigeria, the people of the Southeast Geographical Zone do not joke with this period, even if they do not understand the real essence of Christmas (a very sad development on its own). But suffice it to say that it is a period which peculiar timing allows many people from all over the world to come home. Indeed, wherever the people of the Southeast of Nigeria reside, they mostly do not joke with coming home occasionally and the Christmas Season offers them a huge opportunity to do so in their numbers.
Expectedly, the various cities and communities in the Southeast Zone will witness an upsurge in population, owing to the expected influx of people from various parts of the world. While some are just coming to reunite with family and friends, others are coming to hold activities such as wedding or title taking. It is thus usually a very busy and exciting period.
However, one thing is threatening to cast a huge slur on this year’s Christmas Season, also known as the yuletide. That thing is the insecurity ravaging the zone which has since made some people to fear coming home. More than ever before, the safety of people has been undermined by the nefarious activities of criminals.
The major crimes now are kidnapping for ransom and armed robbery. Sadly, the various governments of the Southeast appear to have run out of ideas on how to combat this twin menace. Consequently, the zone is fast becoming a ghost town.
A situation where schools and businesses shut down every Monday for fear of violating the sit-at-home directive of some felons masquerading as Biafra agitators, leaves much to be desired. This has led to a down turn in social and business activities in the beleaguered zone.
But since the major duty of government is to ensure the security of the citizenry, it behooves the various governments of the Southeast to marshal out plans to ensure the safety and security of its people.
This means that if they have not thought about this, now is the time to put things in place to ensure that those coming home and those who already reside at home fully enjoy the season. Criminals cannot and should not be allowed to overrun the public space as long as there is a government in place.
What is playing out in the Southeast by way of government providing security for the people is nothing to write home about. If anything, crime has increased three-fold and people are left to their own devices. This should not be the case. The governments of the zone should collaborate to checkmate crime in the zone, not just now, but all the time.
The need for collaboration cannot be over stressed, given that these criminals keep moving from one state to another in the zone. Thus, any individual effort by any state becomes isolated and fails to achieve the desired result. It is really a shame that the entire Southeast governors have up till now, not been collaborating effectively against criminality. That should stop.
The people of the zone deserve better and denying them a chance to reunite with their kith and kin will be the unkindest cut of all by the governments of the zone.
We therefore appeal to them to urgently come up with measures to make life easier for their people. We need a peaceful Christmas and New Year and it is only the government that can ensure that. Southeast governors, over to you.
