A former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, has said while many might argue with those who described Nigeria as a failed state, no person would dispute that the country was fast failing.
The politician, who is also a former Vice Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano said this on Wednesday in a lecture he delivered at the Owolabi Afuye Memorial Lecture organised by the Nigerian Bar Association, Ibadan Branch as one of the events to mark its 2021 Law Week.
A copy of the lecture was sighted by POLITICS NIGERIA.
“Specifically, on insecurity, a combination of militancy, insurgency, banditry, farmer-herder conflicts, kidnapping for ransom, and ethno-religious or communal conflicts, with evident lack of competence and capacity to address these challenges, has unleashed generalised individual and collective apprehension, palpable insecurity and fatalistic resignation,” Jega said.
“Many citizens have been killed, maimed, raped, displaced, and properties stolen, confiscated and/or destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of citizens have been staying in Internally Displaced Persons camps for long, with the future of children compromised by malnutrition, diseases, and prolonged abandonment of schooling.
“In some areas of the country, notably North-East and North-West geopolitical zones, famine is imminent, as insurgents and/or bandits have obstructed farming and agrarian food production and destabilised the rural economy, with outright killing of whoever ventures out to their farms, or imposition heavy taxation on those allowed to farm.
“Indeed, things have been so bad for so long that, some scholars are beginning to perceive Nigeria now, perhaps exaggeratedly, as a ‘failed state.’”
The irony is that the people running the country who are actually causing the failure and the destruction can’t see anything wrong. I have no doubt that there is a secret specialist tasked with inventing ways of making life as difficult as possible for Nigerians. Just look at BVN, NIN/ SIM and now TIN. So what is next? Apartheid style permission before people can move about?
I STAND TO BE CORRECTED IF WRONG BUT I’M WELL CONVINCED THAT PROF. JEGA IS PART OF THE PROBLEM WE ARE FACING TODAY IN NIGERIA. HE SOLD HIS SANCTITY, INTEGRITY AND RESPECT IN 2014, WHEN HE BETRAYED HIS THEN PRINCIPAL GOODLUCK JONATHAN AND USHERED IN THIS TORMENTOR CALLED BUHARI., JUST BECAUSE OF TRIBAL SENTIMENTS. PEOPLE ARE REALLY SUFFERING IN NIGERIA BUT GOD WILL SURELY JUDGE ALL OF THEM.