15/08/2024
*How to organise a protest that yields positive results*
By Faruk Ahmed
I run a private school in Kano. Alhaji Sani Hamma (not his real name for privacy), one of the parents of our pupils, sells live chickens in one of the state's markets for a living. Usually, once schools resume for a new term, Alhaji Hamma is among those who make full payment in the first week of resumption. But recently, he couldn’t pay until the fourth week, and this was even after one of his kids had been sent home. Even when he paid, it was a part-payment which he balanced after about two weeks.
However, Hamma’s situation is on the bright side of things in Nigeria today because, in the same school, some parents didn’t pay until the last week of the term. Some moved their children to schools that charged less, while others pulled their kids out completely to remain at home.
Recently, I have been contemplating shutting down the school to find something else to do. This is because the finances have been strained, and the school has found it difficult to meet its obligations. But with the persuasion of staff and some parents, a truce was called wherein all hands will be on deck to salvage the school, with compromises from the owners, teachers, and parents.
*Dire situations*
If you ask yourself, “Why are parents finding it difficult to pay the school fees of their wards?”, you will find that the answer isn’t far-fetched. Nowadays, from the lengths and breadths of Nigeria, most citizens have been turned into beggars. Everyone you meet is either coming from where they went to seek food but couldn’t get it and hence moving on to the next destination whose positive outcome is not certain.
If the Nigerian state had left us with just unending hunger, the misery could have been a little bit bearable. Instead, insecurities spiral everywhere in the country in the forms of banditry, kidnappings, herder-farmer clashes, rituals for money, economic sabotage, cybercrime, and more. Nowhere is safe in the country. But you cannot pinpoint anything the government of the day is doing to nip the problem in the bud.
Today, while travelling on any major road in the country and a roadblock is sighted, Nigerians now fervently pray to God that the attackers are armed robbers. This is because they know any other alternative is dire.
And while the winds of hunger blow through the nation, the last refuge of the citizens would have been the farm. But today, farmers dread going there. Those who dare are either fined or have their hands cut off by the parallel government of the bush.
*Sorry state*
A friend narrated to Nigerian Track Magazine how after painstakingly harvesting the produce of his farm, which numbered about 40 bags of grains, a farmer in Katsina was accosted by the ‘real government’. They told him if he valued his life, he should leave the grains behind and go. Quickly, the man left without looking back.
Far away from the bush, the farmer stooped and eagerly looked on to see who the bandits would sell the fruits of his labour to. Suddenly, he saw a plume of smoke rising from the direction of his farm. Even though he wanted to rush to the farm, he held himself back. So, he waited till the next morning and crept in. What he saw made him fall down, paralysing one part of his body.
“So, what happened next?” I restlessly prodded my friend after a long silence. He replied, “All the grains in the farm were burned down by the bandits.”
*Money for hand…*
In another related story, Aisha, the mother of five children, was arrested for allegedly being one of the informants to bandits in Sayaya, a village in Katsina State. While being interrogated, she confessed that she was paid just N20,000 to leak information on a kidnapping operation that fetched over N7 million for the captors.
When further pressed on what she does apart from being an informant, she replied, “Sai dai in ba da gabana a bani kudi!” meaning that she fornicates just to be paid to feed herself and her children. Women like Aisha are those whose husbands have been driven away or killed by bandits and thus had to resort to prostitution or other vices.
Talking about prostitution, in one of the viral videos made by Teaser Pranks, a YouTube channel, a graduate was videoed prostituting in Casablanca, Port Harcourt. When queried why she ventured into the ‘bottom business’, she replied that after her business failed, she had nothing else to resort to. She further narrated that she had younger ones and a mother whom she supports.
A group of policemen who were arrested in Delta State were said to be the kidnappers that terrorise the region. Another police officer was arrested in Katsina for killing his colleagues and selling their rifles to bandits. And the list of criminal activities goes on.
Essentially, Nigerians are turning to criminality just to survive.
*The fat cows*
While Nigerians are wallowing in abject poverty and bearing the brunt of the unending insecurities, the nation’s lawmakers live in luxury at the expense of her citizens. Just recently, the 469 members bought for themselves what they call “operational vehicles” at an exorbitant cost. This is when the Nigerian government was saying it couldn’t pay more than N50,000 as minimum wage.
_To be concluded…_
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