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Leah Sharibu, republic of wailers and burden of truth

By Ladesope Ladelokun

 

SIR: Christian faithful across the world will once again celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in a matter of days. Except a miracle happens, it may be another Easter without Leah Sharibu – the Christian schoolgirl kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists alongside 109 others in Dapchi, Yobe State, in 2018.

Now, it is over three years since her abduction, and her whereabouts remain a riddle. Despite assurances by the Buhari government that Leah would be free from the grip of her abductors, the distraught Sharibus are still languishing in the prison of hope.

It is apposite to state that in the run-up to the 2015 presidential election, General Buhari had promised the electorate that “our school children would be safe in their schools”. But six years after that campaign promise, the mention of school provokes fear. The plight of the Sharibus and the current unremitting attacks on schools by bandits signpost doom for the education sector and the entire country at large.

Recently, a tally by a national newspaper revealed that 618 schools had been shut in northern Nigeria as of March 15. It is another eloquent testament to the fact that a place of learning has morphed to a place of fear. Indeed, education is under severe attack.

With spiralling cases of abduction of school children in the beleaguered region, it is only commonsensical that the number of out-of-school children put at 13.5 million by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will balloon.

Already, the Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, had at a recent event claimed that the number of out-of-school children climbed by over three million in three months from 6.946 million to 10,193,918. Though it is unclear how Nwajiuba arrived at the figures he quoted, what is clear is that Nigeria

arguably has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world.

It is no doomsday prophecy. We have time bombs waiting to explode in our faces; something that would dwarf what we currently experience in cataclysmic consequences.

When children are compelled to choose between life and school because of insecurity, peace is ruptured.  Destinies are buried. Dreams are shattered.

Read Also: Adeboye seeks release of Leah Sharibu three years after

 

From Dapchi to Kankara, Kagara to Jangebe, gory tales of stolen children mock the campaign promise of Buhari. In a desperate move to find partners in failure, Nigeria’s Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, recently stated that the abduction of school children also happens in advanced

countries. He mentioned that the United States recorded at least three or four cases of school kidnappings in 2020 alone. What the minister has yet to tell Nigerians is that Nigeria has probably shattered that record in just three months in 2021 and respite is nowhere in sight!

While one must concede that the crime of kidnapping happens in most advanced countries, the response to such crime is what makes the difference between a responsible government and the one that pays lip service to the security and welfare of its people.

No doubt, Nigeria is a country under siege. Wailing is the order of the day. Nigerians are on a daily basis pummeled by the incompetence and carelessness of their elected and appointed leaders who have failed to

make Nigeria livable. Wail, they must.

If we are ready to accept reality and not whistle in the dark we should admit that Nigeria became a failed state shortly after President Buhari came-in for a second term in office. A state fails when the political body disintegrates to the extent that the sovereign body can no longer meet its responsibility to the people.

But Nigerians must live and be safe in their country, even if governments at all levels fail in other responsibilities to the Nigerian people. At least, life guarantees hope of freedom from the shackles of poverty, unemployment, bumbling leaders and all the problems that beset Nigeria.

It is time the Nigerian government invested massively in technology to expedite the process of arresting and prosecuting the criminals among us. Banditry and kidnapping will continue to flourish if there are no consequences, especially when offenders are pampered. Nigerians have a right to live. But, we are not winning the war against insecurity. It is one reason we must seek help from developed countries and tackle the alarming rates of poverty and unemployment.

 

  • Ladesope Ladelokun, ladesopeladelokun@gmail.com


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