It is doubtful how far a country so poorly secured as Nigeria can travel along the path of national development. What is in no doubt is that in the last decade, terrorism has whipped up insecurity in Nigeria, giving a dangerous bend to the many problems Nigerians had become accustomed to grappling with.
The slow infiltration of Boko Haram into the country which began around 2009 instigated the slow and painful disintegration of Nigeria`s security architecture. If Boko Haram`s ruthlessness was a sign of what was to come, that which was to come has since come and is evident in the devastation splinter terrorist groups and others have caused in rural communities all over Nigeria.
Of course, some communities have and states have taken more hits than others. While Nigerians in some parts of the country like the South-east have only been affected by the occasional security breach, for Nigerians in states like Zamfara, Kaduna, Sokoto, Yobe, and Borno States, terrorism has become a frighteningly daily experience. So emboldened have the terrorists who comb parts of Nigeria sowing terror have become that they now threaten the country`s seat of power and most powerful persons.
These days, Nigeria hardly ever fails to turn up in less than illustrious ranks. Whenever scandalous statistics are bandied about these days, Nigeria is almost always mentioned. When talk turns to the number of children currently out of school, Nigeria posts figures in millions. Same is the case when people who languish below the poverty line are numbered. Global hunger harvests rich figures in Nigeria as does the number of children who grapple with malnutrition.
In the same vein, inflation continues to rise. It appears that in the last seven years, while Nigeria has dropped out of the company of countries doing well, or just managing to keep its head above water, it has lost its place among countries who post positive statistics.
This traumatizing trend recently continued when Jihad Analytics, a globally acclaimed international terrorism research and analysis group which specializes in collating data on terrorist activities worldwide disclosed that Nigeria is the second most attacked and terrorized country in the world only after Iraq and Syria, with Iraq being the first and Syria being the third.
This does not come as much of a surprise given everything that terrorists who started out as a group of ragtag militias have continued to throw at Nigeria for more than a decade now. Their relentless probing of Nigeria`s security architecture which was never watertight to begin with continues to bring in bounteous fruits. This ranking is further proof of that.
Iraq continues to be tormented by both domestic and international terrorism. Since the United States invaded the gulf nation at the turn of the century, the country has remained all over the place.
The Syrian war which has gone on for more than a decade now has plunged a once peaceful and prosperous country into the abyss of insecurity, poverty and despair. And now, it is with such beleaguered and benighted countries that Nigeria, once Africa`s great hope, now competes with for international honours, not along the lines of anything remotely illustrious, but for something as devastating as terrorism.
It tells a hauntingly heartbreaking story that today, it is terrorism that is defining Nigeria`s narrative on the international scene. It paints a portentous picture that when the devastating footprints of terrorists are traced across the globe many of them will lead back to Nigeria.
It may only be a figure, albeit one which serves to carve out a figure of fun from the Giant of Africa, however, if will take decades of painstaking work and sacrifices if Nigeria is to ever recover what terrorism has stolen from it.
Kene Obiezu,
Twitter @kenobiezu
