Tackling terrorism intelligently

Also published in Daily Trust

A fortnight ago, I wrote in this column, about the dramatic resurgence of the Boko Haram insurgents, in a piece titled “Taming the terror”, and how the resurgence was obviously intended to challenge President Buhari who had vowed to eradicate them for good.

Yet, now that the terror attacks have not only persisted but have actually escalated over the past two weeks, I felt prompted to take another look at the situation from a tactical perspective, this time around, to assess the viability of the ongoing preparations to raise multinational troops from among the Nigerian military and its immediate neighbours, in what appears to be a massive military buildup to engage the insurgents in a conventional war that involves the deployment of regular combat soldiers and heavy military hardware.

Consumerism in Ramadan

Also published in Daily Trust

Muslims often look forward to the month of Ramadan not only for spiritual rejuvenation but to also break away from the usual routine of life in their individual lifestyles. In addition to the phenomenal increase of the acts of charity and generosity in Muslim societies during Ramadan, the dramatic rise in food consumerism among them is also one of the easily noticeable trends during the month.

Though during Ramadan people understandably develop high appetite for a wide variety of foods for obvious reasons, the way both rich and poor develop unnecessary insatiability for lavishness particularly in the provision of Iftar meals is simply disproportionate. This situation is particularly phenomenal in the rich Arab countries where, during Ramadan in particular, people go on shopping sprees for not only food provisions but for many other things also e.g. expensive household items, vehicles etc.

Taming the terror

Also published in Daily Trust

The resumption of the escalating wave of Boko Haram terror attacks, which the group had apparently timed to coincide with the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari as President, was a calculated war strategy designed to challenge the President who, a day after his historic election victory, had resolutely declared that “Boko Haram will soon know the strength of our collective will”.

Unlike in the past when Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau would contemptuously dismiss similar warnings by the then President, Goodluck Jonathan, Boko Haram must have taken President Buhari’s warning seriously, they consequently decided to audaciously intensify and sustain their terror attacks from the very day he assumed the presidency, in order to challenge his declared resolve to crush them, and, of course, to preempt the anticipated unrelenting military onslaught against them.

On Customs’ raid in Kano

Also published in Daily Trust

Considering the phenomenon of indiscriminate smuggling, the sheer volume and the monetary value of smuggled items flooding Nigerian markets, one shouldn’t be surprised at the alarming rates at which the country’s already struggling industries collapse, which discourages entrepreneurship, creates unemployment and consequently unleashes grinding poverty.

The surprising, or rather, the unfortunately ironic aspect of the situation is that, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), which is supposed to prevent and tackle smuggling, has not only failed to deliver but many of its officials are actually involved in facilitating the smuggling of contraband items into the country.

The blatant involvement of the officials of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), of course with the exception of a few honest and patriotic personnel, in facilitating systematic smuggling into the country undermines and will inevitably continue to frustrate the country’s efforts to build a competitive economy. Their occasional intensification of their purported efforts to curb smuggling is a mere ploy designed to further extort the smugglers and in the meantime show off their hypocritical commitment to fight the phenomenon.

The distraction Buhari can’t afford

Also published in Daily Trust

Though the recent political intrigues that culminated in the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara as Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively were indeed dramatic, the event must not be allowed to distract the promising, though, admittedly, so far rather slow, government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

After all, such post-election interparty political machinations and intraparty feuds are quite common even in developed democracies where elected politicians seek to outmaneuver one another in power tussle, while vested interests equally struggle for influence in the process of the formation of political power equations. Yet, governments out there don’t get unnecessarily distracted.