Mr President, The Country is Falling Apart

Leadership

28 August 2011

Mr President, The Country is Falling Apart

column

If no one is deliberately trying to help the doomsday prognosticators accomplish their prediction of the disintegration of Nigeria in 15 years, the frightening incompetence of the captains of the Nigerian ship to provide leadership surely will.

There is no country in the world that does not have its own fair share of outlaws, miscreants and felons. The raison d'etre of government is to guarantee the safety of the life and property of law-abiding people from the menace of such people. When it becomes incontrovertible that government cannot fulfil this basic incumbency, then such government becomes the harbinger of a failed state.

With what happened in Nigeria on Friday, I do not know how many people would still be shameless enough to declare that Nigeria is not already in the same league as the failed states of Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It does not matter whether the bombers of Friday were Boko Haram, al-Qaida or whatever they call themselves.

What should trouble every Nigerian at this point, as well as foreigners who live in our midst, is whether the government of Nigeria is capable of protecting them.

So far, it has been proved plausibly that Jonathan's government has no idea what steps it must take to make the country safe for everyone.