By:Meikudi Ashiat
In recent times, Nigeria has recorded an unprecedented security challenge which has attributed the country as one of those where terrorism is now part and parcel. It is correct to say the country is in its worst situation.
Insecurity remains Nigeria’s biggest challenge and confrontation. The rate of insurgency in the country is alarming, especially in the Northeastern cardinal hemisphere of the country where insurgency attacks are frequent.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, ‘Insecurity’ refers to the state of being open to danger or threat; and lack of protection. Insecurity is a feeling of general unease or nervousness that may be triggered by perceiving oneself to be vulnerable or inferior in some way or a sense of vulnerability or instability that threatens one’s self-image or ego. It is characterized by unsafe, unhappiness, and fear of vulnerability.” These features fit into the garment each of my countrymen put on every day.
The supposed giant of Africa has been attributed as one of those whose terrorism is now part and parcel. The 2023 global Terrorism Index(GTI), ranked Nigeria 8th among the top 10 countries with the highest level of terrorism in the world.
However, the most deteriorating form is the recurrent echoes of bandits’ attacks on Nigerian students which have instilled inflamed fear and trepidation in Nigerian students. The verily* abduction of the Federal University Gusau Students on September 22 raised unscrupulous trials of terror and panic among Nigerian students. Life is worthwhile, it can never be traded with education, while we continue in the daily trembling of banditry rifles at Nigerian students, it is crucial to take all necessary measures of safeguarding.
Insecurity has not only threatened peace and harmony but has rendered the once home, haven of refugees a harbor of bandits and terrorists Meanwhile, Nigeria used to be a home of peace, a blessed nation with abundant resources: natural, human, and material.
The country’s leaders claimed to be combating insecurity that has refused to recede despite all the confrontations. Like the monstrous Boko Haram terrorism that began in 2009, an armed rebellion against the government is rampant, especially in the Northern part of the country. Not to talk of other devious act of discrimination killing of a particular tribe, attacks on Nigerian students, kidnapping-for-ransom, rape, and armed robbery, these recurring crisis has rendered many citizen homeless, making women a widow, and children become orphans with no hope for the future.
There is no race that is as enduring and accommodating as Nigerian, imagine we are suffering yet we are smiling. Here you will know the lack of peaceful existence in the country is triggered by none other than our leaders. Education is no longer valuable; over 70% of Nigerians are living in extreme poverty aggravated by the persistent inflation on daily commodities. If our country’s education is difficult and too demanding to the extent of exterminating our lives and rendering our effort in vanity, it will be best to seek an alternative. our parents send us to school with their hard-earned money only for us to graduate and become useless.
To stop here is to put down the pen, the history of Nigeria is a long tale that can neither be finished nor ceased, it’s a glowing ember fueled by gallons of diesel. It’s a tale of Clover in ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell and the rest of the animals who went through hell at the hand of Napoleon’s guile after their long-term quest for freedom.