Nigeria: Irresponsible government, inhuman citizens

Minister of transportation Rotimi Ameachi’s reaction to Monday’s terrorist attack on the Kaduna-bound service of the Nigerian Railway Corporation is as painful and heartbreaking as the incident itself. At the end of that avoidable event, official records indicate that at least eight people died, tens lay on hospital beds, and the psyche of every Nigerian is perpetually bruised and assailed with fear and uncertainty.

There are so many ways we could have avoided this tragedy. A national tragedy of multiple dimensions is when the innocent souls of servants and kings are lost to the bombs and guns of soulless night marauders.

A young medical doctor, whose parents must have tales about their toil to send to school; her suffering from prolonged academic tenure courtesy of incessant industrial disputes between university teachers and the government, the battle to enrol in the obligatory housemanship programme for new doctors, and the ultimate warfare to secure a job, loses her life violently while travelling to her place of work. And, while in the throes of untimely death, her last memories were of compatriots trivialising her plight and mocking her! How else do you describe the tragedy of a nation?

But it gets worse in Nigeria! A downcast Amaechi visited the scene in company with some of his colleagues and media men on Tuesday. He confirmed what most Nigerians already know as the lack of value for Nigerian lives.

Hear him: “The cameras in the train cannot pick up what is happening outside. What you need is a camera that shows, 100 metres away from the train, that there are unknown persons carrying guns. Then, we can take precautions, but we have done all we need to do in the ministry of transport, and we have forwarded to them for approval, but we have not gotten approval. The process is tedious, and the approval is also tedious. We have not been able to get that approval that will lead to purchasing those items. If those items were here, drones alone will tell you that there are people around the rail tracks because there are drones, there are equipment that picks sensors if you touch the track… The solution is not in running away from the militants or the bandits. The solution is providing the technology that lets you know that they are around. The equipment was just N3 billion and we are about to place an order for the one in Lagos…”

Hmmm

Above is just one of many examples of the terrible state of governance and the level of irresponsibility and buck-passing that comes with it in Nigeria. The Abuja-Kaduna train service took off in July 2016, and you ask yourself, how does a responsible government launch such a service without a comprehensive surveillance infrastructure? There could be an argument that this happened because Nigeria was not as unsafe six years ago. And even though that is not correct (given that the essence of the train service became more pronounced because of the level of insecurity on the Kaduna-Abuja Expressway), let us even accommodate the argument.

However, insecurity in that axis became so alarming lately that a responsible government that cares for the lives of its people should have deployed all possible means of surveillance and security. This fact is more so because the terrorists gave enough signals, starting with an attack in October 2021. Last weekend, terrorists were said to have stormed the Kaduna International Airport and left one person dead. Although the authorities denied that the assailants did not disrupt airport operations, the two airlines on the Kaduna route, Air Peace and Azman, have now suspended operations to Kaduna. More than all of that, the chairman of the NRC, Ibrahim Alhassan, confirmed that this attack was anticipated!

As part of Amaechi’s entourage on Tuesday, Alhassan reportedly said: “Two months back, we got information that some people were carrying out cognisance of the tracks…. And the information was passed to the relevant authorities, and I think (emphasis mine) some things were done…” The NRC chairman did not even have the presence of mind to follow up on whether someone did something! The point here is, how did the authorities fail to be proactive and forestall this attack?

Amaechi laid the blame at the doors of some unnamed agency, but isn’t that agency part of the government? Don’t all ministries, departments, and agencies exist to serve and protect the interests of Nigerians? How is it impossible to mobilise and fast track the procurement of such critical needs? In any case, isn’t it true that ministers and heads of government agencies find ways to bypass or circumvent these procedures when their interests are concerned?

But assuming without conceding that the procurement process is so rigid that protecting the lives of Nigerians does not even stimulate concessions, what about deploying more easy-but equally sensible options in the aftermath of intelligence that was available?

Amaechi mentioned one of such possible interventions when he said on Tuesday: “We are thinking about the possibility of employing natives until we get that equipment. We also need helicopters. Beyond the drones, we need helicopters”. Why does it always take so long to think before we act? If we cannot secure these rail tracks, why not suspend night journeys until there is a bit more sanity? Why endanger the lives of innocent Nigerians? However, it is possible to concede that to err is human despite all this. Since human beings populate the government, there will be moments of error that may even cost the lives of innocent citizens, but then, what does the government do after that?

For this Monday accident, how has the government shown respect for lost lives, solidarity with the families of the dead, and remorse cum reassurance for Nigerians? Has the president even made a statement? Has he ordered that the national flag be lowered? Has anyone been sacked or queried over this matter?

The best recognition was a one-minute silence before the kick-off of the Nigerian-Ghana football match on Tuesday. Given the event’s international nature, would it have been too much to ask that Nigerian players wear black armbands in memory of those who have died, as many of their counterparts in European leagues do in support of the #blacklivesmatter movement? But this is Nigeria, and there is not likely to be anything beyond the usual rhetoric. This is a sad commentary on governance in Nigeria, a testament that life means nothing here and that government takes Nigerians for a ride.

There is a more heart-breaking dimension to it, however. That is the inhumanity of the average Nigerian to the other ordinary Nigerian. And Monday’s event illustrated this in such a patently distressing manner. A young medical practitioner, Chinelo Megafu, a passenger on that train, tweeted about being shot and coveted prayers. Nigerians threw all sorts of jibes at her, from the derogatory to the lewd, the spiteful and the sarcastic. In the end, she died. So, if the government doesn’t care about the people, have we also become so unfeeling that life no longer means anything?

That, to my mind, is the ultimate tragedy of this country. And here, one must commend Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who put off the celebration of his 70th birthday in respect of the victims of this sad event.

May the departed souls find rest, may their people and all Nigerians of good conscience be comforted, may the heartless ones amongst us find grace for repentance, and may we all be saved from more tragedy.

Adedokun can be reached on Twitter @niranadedokun