#dnaEdit: Africa: Out of focus

It is estimated that hundreds —possibly over 2,000 people —were killed in a single day by the Boko Haram last week in Nigeria. But till date, few details, and that too sketchy at best, have emerged about the massacre. Despite the death toll representing, perhaps, one of the most horrifying acts of killing in recent times, the global news media appear to have glossed over the genocide. Coincidentally, the same media outlets, whatever be the reason, have covered the French terror attacks that claimed 17 lives, comprehensively and in a responsible manner. For over two years, Boko Haram has unleashed a wave of ground assaults, suicide bombings, kidnappings, and horrific gender violence. But the international community has remained a mute spectator even after last April’s spine-chilling abduction of 276 girls from a school and the ensuing threat to sell them in the slave market. Most of the girls remain untraced and with Nigeria’s democratically-elected government and military proving incapable of matching the rebels in motivation, resources or firepower, another humanitarian tragedy is being allowed to play out in Africa. Other than periodic statements expressing concerns, the United Nations, its listless secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, and the world’s nations appear to have abdicated all responsibility. A social media campaign, #BringBackOurGirls, has lost all steam after momentarily raising awareness.

In the latest attack, the insurgent Islamist group overran Baga, a strategically located town in North-East Nigeria’s Borno state, in a sign that the group is veering towards territory acquisition. A multinational joint task force, manned by soldiers from Niger, Chad and Cameroon besides Nigeria, simply disintegrated leaving civilians at the mercy of the better-equipped insurgents. Boko Haram’s rise, ironically, coincided with a time when many Nigerians have reiterated their faith in democracy after decades of corrupt civilian and military regimes exploited the country’s oil and natural gas wealth. These regimes, predictably, failed to distribute this wealth or rein in ethnic and sectarian tensions. As a result, Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is crippled by poor health and education indices. Life expectancy is just 52 years, potable water and sanitation are available to just half the population, infant mortality is 97 per 1000 live births, attendance rates at schools are low, illiteracy appears on the rise again, rural infrastructure is crumbling and the crime graph is rising. With oil prices falling, another spell of chaos cannot be ruled out. It appears that Nigeria may have squandered all opportunities to find a place in the world’s development paradigm. For long, lulled into complacency while riding on its petroleum exports, the country has failed to develop its other sectors, primarily agriculture. There is certainly a correlation between Boko Haram’s rise in Nigeria’s north-east, the endemic poverty, and the disillusionment that has set in among young men against the absent State. 

However, little comfort is to be drawn by painting Boko Haram as a fringe group operating along Nigeria’s porous borders with Niger, Chad and Cameroon. It has struck at will even in the capital city of Abuja in central Nigeria. It is such borders that have helped insurgent groups, globally, to mount attacks. The US, which allowed similar conflagrations in Syria and Iraq to go uncontested until the Islamic State (ISIS) emerged out of the conflict as a more potent threat than the al Qaeda or the Taliban, must understand that the Boko Haram is headed the same way. Whatever the outcome of the upcoming presidential polls and incumbent Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan’s fate, it is important that West African nations close ranks against the fundamentalist threat and evolve collaborative strategies to meet security, developmental and economic goals.