Nigerian amnesia: Rann, Lawal-Oke, and the flood in our stars

A few months ago, March to be precise, I sat across a brilliant doctor of philosophy as he examined a part of an international test I was taking at the time. He asked me what I did for a living, I was all excited to tell him I was a journalist, and went on to explain what I did in details.

He looked on as I went from pillar to post, speaking about my experiences and the change I thought I brought to my own sphere of influence. After what I thought was a brilliant defence of the profession, the doctor said: “The media really never gets to bring about real change”.

I argued. I told him about a trip I took to Adamawa in 2015, and how it “saved” about 275 women and girls from being attacked by Boko Haram. On that same trip, I met a displaced man in Adamawa, whose family read the story and contacted TheCable to get in touch with him and put him back on his feet. I spoke of story I wrote as a student in 2011 about the absence of women on the Nigerian naira, save for Ladi Kwali, the legendary potter, who  has a place on the rear portion of the N20 note.

I told him the story — which was conceived in a banking hall — led to conversations about a new N5,000 note, which was to carry the faces of notable Nigeria women. The plan was shut down by the national assembly, due to inflation. Whatever the case is, I believe the next Nigerian note will have the faces of women, if we press on for a gender sensitive nation. This is what the media does.

I said all of these to say that, sometimes I have doubts, when I reflect over the potency of the media in leading a nation to development, especially when I re-examine the Nigerian example. I will quickly touch on some examples.

COMPENSATION FOR VICTIMS OF RANN ACCIDENTAL BOMBING

On January 17, the Nigerian Air Force misfired, and killed at least 126 civilians in Rann, a small village in Kala Balge local government of Borno state. Of course, the media took it up, and ensured that Rann victims were well treated. The government and the military did not treat them well initially, but after a series of investigative stories, change came.

The air force set up a panel to investigate the Rann bombing and said the report from the panel will be available in six weeks. It has been about six months since the unfortunate incident, yet not a word from the air force. The air force can count on Nigerians to forget. No report, no compensation for victims.

LAWAL, OKE INVESTIGATION PANEL

At the height of the fight against corruption in April, President Muhammadu Buhari set up a panel to investigate Ayo Oke, the director general of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), and Babachir Lawal, secretary to the government of the federation. Both men were suspended while investigations went on.

By the day Vice-President was to present the report to President Buhari, the president was already out of the  country to the United Kingdom on his most recent medical vacation. As a result, that report remains shelf property as both men stand suspended.

Of course, as time passed by, most of us neglected conversations around this and moved on. What this effectively means is that we are comfortable with governments being built around persons, rather than offices and institutions. We are fine with it when the acting president  can do nothing more about Lawal and Oke, until President Buhari returns.

That wheel of justice is still till the president returns. The government again counts on us to forget, and let “sleeping dogs” lie.

THE FLOOD IN OUR STARS

The Nigerian amnesia or our ability to forget controversial issues as time passes is really a vice against our national development. Virtually every year in the country, there is continous downpour of  rain for about seven days. At this time, many states are flooded and many complaints are made after a dozens lose their lives here and there.

Two weeks after the floods, we move on. Little or no plans are made to remedy the situation in anticipation of the next streak of rainfall to come the following year.

In 2017 however, the flood was “magnanimous” in visiting the high and mighty in Lagos state. Floods took over Lekki and Victoria Island one of the most powerful regions in Lagos state. As expected, Nigerians made jokes about the flood in Lagos’ star locations, while also calling on government to act promptly to avert future occurence.

Today, the water in VI and Lekki has subsided, all things are returning to the state of calm, and the stories are fading off the pages of the newspapers. Soon, we may forget again, and move on. It will be extremely sad if we have to still discuss flooding in Lagos, Nigeria’s major megacity, in 2018 or 2019. It will be awful if innocent people still have to die in Suleja in 2018 or anywhere else across Nigeria as a result of “mere rainfall”.

We must decide this time not to let the Nigerian amnesia have its way; the media must stay on government and citizens alike, to make amends where necessary. Nigerians must continue to drive conversations around these floods until action is taken by all involved.

I still speak with victims of Rann accidental bombing, and not one of them has been compensated, yet we move on. Families lost their breadwinners, and now have to live all by themselves. Children who watched their mothers die under the pressure of military might have gone without mental treatment and compensations, yet we move on.

Our job as the media, as citizens, and as nation, will never be totally done, until we cease to move on, until we really tackle the floods and faults in our national life to its very root.

You can reach Tijani across major social media platforms @OluwamayowaTJ.