By Jude Atupulazi
Over time Nigeria has become a metaphor for all that does not work. Things which work seamlessly in other African countries simply fail to work here. I’ve chosen African countries because comparing us to the west or America will be too wicked as those ones seem to come from outer space.
For instance, while neighbouring countries like Ghana enjoy twenty-four hour power supply, we seem to have become worse than we were fifty years ago. Thus, while others have been progressing we have been retrogressing.
The situation is even so bad that when noble ideas are given flesh, implementing them becomes another thing. So it is not just about ideas but executing them. This has given rise to what we call the Nigerian Factor which represents all the absurdities and oddities seen in Nigeria, a country with the potential to be among the world’s greatest but which has chosen to become the world’s worst.
Really, the Nigerian Factor has destroyed our reputation before others. You cannot go to the airports and be treated respectfully once you’re known to be Nigerian. To them, in every Nigerian lies a potential thief or fraudster, no matter the garb worn by the person.
It is even more comical that when there is a chance to make amends by choosing the right people to salvage our country, such people are resisted even by those who have been at the receiving end of their misrule. But sadly, we have all come to live with all these things.
Coming nearer home in Anambra State, those absurdities also play out here. I have just chosen to dwell on one which is a body created as a response to the unhealthy and unclean environment we live in. that body is called OCHA Brigade.
OCHA Brigade: How not to do a Job
The above body is indeed a popular one in Anambra State whose mandate is to ensure a clean and healthy state; hence its name: Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra (OCHA). OCHA itself means clean, so everything about the body revolves around cleanliness.
However, I’ve observed a worrying trend whereas they seem to concentrate on one aspect of their job which does not even dwell majorly on cleanliness and health. That is the aspect of bullying and harassing roadside traders and, as is the case in these parts, extorting money from them. Even traders whose goods don’t cross the gutter often fall victim to some overzealous officials of OCHA Brigade.
On Thursday morning I saw two of their officials having an altercation with newspaper vendors at Aroma Junction in Awka over where to place their tables. I had to alight from my car to confront them and tell them what I’ve been writing about without response from the government of the state.
I reminded them that every ten minutes of the day, urchins and touts openly defecate inside the gutter dividing both lanes of the expressway at the Unizik Temporary Site Junction in Awka, the supposed capital city of the state. And on both sides of that road are food vendors of all types. Flies that feast on the faeces in the gutter perch on such edible items there as bread and food and spread all manner of diseases.
But I’ve not seen or heard about the OCHA Brigade taking action against the open defecators who spread diseases by their action. I even told the governor this after we had a session with him at ABS last year and he promised to take action (it’s obvious he forgot).
One is forced to believe that OCHA Brigade officials refrain from arresting those open defecators because they can’t generate revenue from them (really, how much can you make from touts and street urchins?). But they delight in harassing shop owners and seizing their wares to make money.
This is very bad because they’re shying away from their major duty of safeguarding the health of citizens. I’d rather have a trader’s table cross the gutter than have a swarm of flies descend on food stuffs after feasting on faeces.
The number of people who defecate in that gutter at Unizik Junction in a day is not less than fifty and you know what that means. This odious practice is not restricted to Awka as it also happens around motor parks in Onitsha.
It is a shame, as well as being outrageous, that a group saddled with the task of ensuring cleanliness and healthy living in the state can be turning a blind eye to what should be their major concern. Hopefully, this should be looked into this year. But that is if the government deems it important enough.
The Plateau Massacre and its sad reminder
In Nigeria, especially since the regime of former president, Muhammadu Buhari, human life has been worth nothing and has been valued less than that of a cow. Scores would die under the Buhari Administration and the Federal Government would carry on as though nothing happened. The highest it would do would be to make an empty noise in the form of condoling with the families and to promise to arrest the perpetrators after which that would be the end of story.
That is why till today, the killing of people persists across the country. But by far the worst are the killings by herdsmen of innocent folks, mostly in the Middle Belt of the country. The people of Benue have been worst hit but their cries for justice have yet to be listened to.
The latest of such mindless killings was the one that happened in Jos, Plateau State, where an estimated number of over two hundred men, women and children were slaughtered by herdsmen. It was a national calamity which caused great outrage across the country.
As usual, the government at the centre spoke and charged the police to fish out the culprits. It is close to two weeks now and nothing gives hope that a different result would be got in terms of arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators.
We know the Bola Ahmed Tinubi Government is still new and therefore should not be judged yet. But this should be a test case for the Tinubu Regime. The killers must not only be arrested but prosecuted.
Tinubu must show seriousness in stamping out this menace because it was Buhari’s perceived tacit encouragement of these killers that exacerbated the situation. How can it be told that in the eight years of Buhari, not a single killer herdsman was arrested and prosecuted? Tinubu should also probe why it was so and those responsible brought to book.
The Fulani elite should also talk to their people and have them educated. They can never develop if their sole interest remains to ransack communities, rape, maim and kill. Tinubu should see the recent killings as a national emergency and if no arrests are made after some time, those responsible should be held accountable.
It is time all this pretence stopped. We can’t tolerate another Buharist Approach to the handling of killings by Fulani terrorists. Government should ensure that not one of them lives or walks free to perpetrate another such crime.
Combating the menace of kidnapping and gunmen
It’s a new year and a time when people prepare to think, talk and act differently. It is very crystal clear that a major problem that confronted us in the Southeast Zone last year was the menace of kidnappers and those referred to as unknown gunmen. It was gratifying that by and by, this menace began to whittle down, thanks to the valiant efforts of the governments of the zone. But it is not yet Uhuru.
Any hope that this menace had been curtailed was brutally quashed by the yuletide attack and killing of policemen and a vigilante operative in Uga in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State. That however happened to be the only sore point during that period. But then lives were lost and that will never be good enough.
In this new year, the governors of the Southeast should prioritize working together more, to stamp out the menace entirely. They should know what to do in order to secure our zone. That is why we elected them. But then we should also play our part by chipping in with information as the job of security belongs to everybody. The task of restoring the peace and serenity of the Southeast before the setting in of this madness must be accomplished.
May this new year change our fortunes for the better.
ides January 7-13, 2024 Edition
