BASHORUN J. K. RANDLE
QUOTE:
Further worries for the US secretary general was the front page of “Vanguard” newspaper of June 19, 2019: “This Nigeria must die for true Nigeria to rise”
“Ifeanyi Okowa, governor of Delta state made a startling but sobering declaration recently. In paraphrase, the governor declared that the only thread holding Nigeria together is the indecision or prevarication of the South-South states of the Niger Delta zone over where to belong.”
According to him, any day the zone decides to join forces with the pro-Biafra protagonists of the Southeast zone, the current Nigeria will cease to exist. In the mind of the newly reborn vocal governor, the life of the present Nigeria hangs in the balance awaiting the final decision of the South-South states. The governor went on to lament the fact that in a nation with about 300 ethnicities, only one ethnic group, the Fulani, controls all the security, political and economic forces available. For him, this will ultimately determine what will tilt the balance on whether Nigeria survives or not.
There is no faulting Okowa’s analysis in this regard. The final decision of the Niger Delta region is crucial towards solving the grave problem of the Nigerian nation. They have the power to tilt the balance and save our nation that is on a perpetual life support. If the people of the zone continue to play their wartime and post-civil war subservient role to the Fulani oligarchs, Nigeria will die eventually but quite slowly. But if they rise and assert their God-given right as equal citizens of Nigeria and not continue to present themselves as slaves to any other region or ethnic group in Nigeria, then they will be respected and our nation will survive. Currently the minerals underneath their feet are being taken as booty by the oligarchs.
They have endured this pillaging for more than 50 years now. If they wish to continue enjoying being pillaged by the conquering oligarchs, let them continue with their indecision. This is most painful as Okowa lamented because while the minerals of the Niger Delta are being carted away and employed in the development and urbanisation of western and northern cities, the south-south zone is littered with primitive villages that have no hope of seeing any glimmer of civilisation until the turn of the fourth millennium.
If this is not enough incentive for the south-south zone to call off their indecision, then their fate with that of the entire nation of Nigeria is forever sealed and hopeless.
While the minerals of Niger Delta are being “officially” exploited for “common good” of the “the nation” the precious minerals of the north like gold, diamond, uranium, platinum etc, that have the capacity to turn the entire economy of Nigeria around are tactically left in the hands of a few prominent members among the oligarchs who have become international millionaires by mining them.
If this type of information does not help those in the south-south zone make up their minds on where they should belong; if they cannot realise that those they serve as slaves in Nigeria are even their worst enemies, then nobody should weep for them because they are forever doomed.
But back to Governor Okowa’s declaration. The real danger that spells imminent death for the present Nigeria is the concentration of all security apparatuses in the hands of one ethnic group. This is the clear and present danger for the nation of Nigeria. If this concentration had been in the hands of any other ethnic group besides the Fulani, it could be treated as benign. But for it to be in the hand of the Fulanis with all their history of invasion and conquest in Nigeria, the matter is far more serious than ordinary Nigerians are willing to concede.
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The only reason why an ethnic group would seize all the security powers of a multi-ethnic country like Nigeria is because they are planning a conquest. They see war on the horizon. And this is what will kill the present Nigeria sooner than any one of us could imagine. Any day the Fulani that have all the powers in present-day Nigeria decide to use it according to their customary way of invasion and conquest, Nigeria will exist no more. If Nigerian politicians cannot find ways to decentralise and redistribute Nigerian security apparatuses, we can as well begin a requiem for this hobbled and beleaguered nation of ours.
The current Nigeria of power-concentration in the hands of one ethnic group, of election manipulation to perpetuate incompetence in power, of economic blockade and strangulation of one section of the country, of political marginalisation of nearly one half of the nation, of booty-taking 50 years after the civil war, etc. must die and die soonest for a new Nigeria to rise…”
By nature, and based on his previous posting, Antonio Guterres has massive empathy for refugees. He does not subscribe to the cynical view that one refugee is a disaster but one million refugees are a matter of statistics. Hence, he has a keen interest on the global refugee situation and the likelihood of any fallout from the deterioration in Nigeria further compounding what is already a heart-wrenching problem.
His morning was ruined by the United Nations Refugee Agency report carried on June 19. 2019 by CNN which stated “African migrants denounce conditions at Mexico border.”
“More than 70 million people have been forced to flee their homes due to violence or persecution, the United Nations has said, as the global migrant crisis pushed the number of refugees and displaced people to an all-time high.
The world’s displaced population is now almost double that from a decade ago, and includes an estimated 13.6 million people who fled their homes in 2018, according to the UN Refugee Agency’s annual Global Trends Report.
It is a rise of 2.3 million on last year’s figure, and includes 25.9 million refugees also the highest number ever recorded. Overall, an average of 37,000 people are forced from their homes every day, the report said, and one in every 108 people on the planet is now displaced.
Released ahead of World Refugee Day on Thursday, the body’s findings paint a bleak but predictable picture of the rate of displacement around the world – as conflicts in several corners of the earth continued to tear people from their homes. The Syrian war remained a major driver, while Venezuela joined the ranks of the worst-affected countries after tens of thousands fled the humanitarian and economic crisis roiling the nation.
More than two-thirds of refugees came from just five nations: Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia. A further 41.3 million people worldwide were displaced within their own countries, and 3.5 million were recorded as asylum seekers.
Announcing the figures, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi criticised rich, “inward-looking” countries for failing to share the burden of resettlement that currently falls disproportionately upon poorer nations.
“Very often we tend to think of the one big refugee crisis affecting the rich world. This is the perception that many people have – and it is wrong,” Grandi said at a press conference Wednesday.” The statistics tell us another story. That is, it very often unfortunately a crisis of the poor.”
The only reason why an ethnic group would seize all the security powers of a multi-ethnic country like Nigeria is because they are planning a conquest. They see war in the horizon. And this is what will kill the present Nigeria sooner than any one of us could imagine.
“This attitude translates practically into a very inward-looking, very restrictive attitude towards people coming to seek safety here … rejection, pushing back, building walls does not solve the problem,” he added, in a swipe at populist governments that are attempting to shut their borders to migrants around the world.
But Grandi also praised efforts to tackle the crisis, which he called “one of the great challenges of our times.”
“While language around refugees and migrants is often divisive, we are also witnessing an outpouring of generosity and solidarity, especially by communities who are themselves hosting large numbers of refugees,” he said.
Another 5.5 million Palestinian refugees were recorded, though these fall under the mandate of the UN’s Relief and Works Agency. In total, around half of the refugee population in 2018 were children.
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The United States received more asylum claims than any other nation, with 254,300, despite repeated attempts from the Trump administration to curtail the flow of migrants into the country. For the fifth straight year, Turkey hosted more refugees than any other country; its take of 3.7 million dwarfed that of Pakistan (1.4 million), Uganda (1.2 million), Sudan and Germany (both 1.1 million). Germany, by some distance the greatest taker of migrants in the European Union, noted the “important contribution” it is making to refugee protection after the figures were released.
“Germany has taken in many refugees who have experienced suffering and war,” Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said. “However, we must not forget that 91 percent of the refugees do not live in the European Union, but are often admitted to developing or emerging countries. These people, too, need our support. And they need a new life perspective. Human dignity is inalienable. This applies for everyone.”
The report’s figures highlight the dramatic escalation in displacement that started in 2012.
A decade ago, one in 160 people around the world were displaced, and last year the number stood at one in 110, but the rate now dropped to 108. But the UNHCR warned that its numbers were conservative and said it was still grappling to count those fleeing from Venezuela.
The recent crisis in that country threatens to cause another acceleration in refugee rates. More than one million Venezuelans have crossed into neighbouring Colombia, the report said, with others heading to Peru, Chile or Brazil. More than 460,000 Venezuelans have sought asylum, including about 350,000 in 2018 alone, the UNHCR said. In total, an estimated four million Venezuelans have left their country.
“With every refugee situation, wherever it is, however long it has been going on for, there has to be an enduring emphasis on solutions and removing obstacles to people being able to return home,” said Grandi. This is complex work in which UNHCR is constantly engaged but which also requires all countries to come together for a common good. It is one of the great challenges of our times.”
