Also, with a proper network, there won’t be the insecurity of lives and property. Security is an intellectual thing. You are not doing vigilance in which you will bring everybody you see, even criminal groups, and say, join us as security agents.
They know where the criminals are. Understand me. the military is very technical. You don’t play with it, because that is where the problem lies.
But with all these agitations, how do you want the government to act altruistically? The agitation from IPOB, Igboho, and Boko Haram is a result of being shut out of governance.
Let me tell you, the Nigerian security system is bad. These people that are insurgents, who are they? Have you asked yourself who they are? Where did they come from? Why can’t the government sit up and fashion out ways to reconcile with the groups threatening the nation? Dialogue has a way of checking this drift to anarchy.
Political Scientist and
Public Affairs commentator.
As for me, I don’t think their desire for agitations is enough for the approval of what they want. The unity of the country is paramount. No group should hold the nation to ransom. I am not saying that agitators should not be listened to if they present their agitations through their elected representatives in the parliament. Nigeria is running a presidential system of government. Those elected from these regions are fully in love with one Nigeria. Why should this set of people interested in dividing the country? If they succeed in their demands via arranged dialogue, it might spark more reactions and quest to tear the country apart. Nigeria should remain one, but subject of justifiable negotiations.
Other countries with separatist threats are not faring better. It is one problem or the other. Hunger, disease, and frustration have been a challenge to contend with. It is bad that we are unable to find a common route to challenge these issues. We should not be discussing this now because there are more important things to look at. Nigeria is for everyone. There is no doubt that there is a palpable fear pervading the country.
Let us join hands and ensure the country remains one. There should be more devolution of powers to the states or regions. If dialogue is accepted, then other groups will capitalize on it and there will be more agitations. This should not be given an opportunity because it is against the law to dialogue with dissidents who are bent on destroying the country before they can repair something. Ask some of them what they have contributed in their ways, apart from inciting the citizens.
Graduate Uber driver.
Those who are feeling cheated and excluded from the government and its workings reserve the right to say, allow us to go, because it appears we don’t belong here. It is a basic concept.
Right from time, since the civil war broke out, there has been this suspicion amongst all the ethnic groups in the country. It is not like these regional demands are misplaced intentions. The government at times also needs to wake up to this reality.
Holding a dialogue with these agitators will assist in providing and promoting a template that will heighten the sense of mutual respect for one another.
It will enable the warring parties to have a common footprint for better negotiations. It will also help to close the gap that was allowing the fears and animosity to grow among them.
It will make the call for purposeful co-existence become a rallying point for genuine settlement. People will live without the fear that they can aspire to be anything they wish to become.
Their views and contributions to all issues will be reckoned with. They will no longer be seen as a second fiddle or second-class citizens.
It will allay the fears and enthrone better lifestyles. If they wholeheartedly seek for dialogue, yes, most especially as it threatens the peace of the country.
Those seeking secession may have been denied their fundamental human rights, particularly the security of lives and property or freedom of movement in a particular region.
If bandits, Boko Haram, and so on can get government attention, those seeking secession, we should be able to dialogue with them too.
Visual artist.
One idea I have concerning the issue of dialogue from this agitator in the country is that if the government can create jobs to take these agitating people from the streets. It will go a long way.
If there are jobs, the youths won’t have the time for agitations.
It can only lead to more frustration. It is against rationality for a large number of people not to be sufficiently engaged without expecting negative output from them.
There won’t be uprisings once they can fend or take care of themselves. I want to advise the government to look for creative individuals with ideas on how to create jobs.
The government should go after industrialists, investors, and captains of industry to turn around the economy for good.
We are too held back for no reason. To find able-bodied men and women wasting away calls for urgent attention. The youths are the energy of any nation.
They are specifically endowed with potentials that can turn around the fortune of the nation for the good of all. Those who have also made it can be invited to be part of these efforts by contributing their experiences. Nigeria needs to be industrialized.
Another Nasarawa lawmaker defects to APC
We cannot continue like this. Things are spiraling out of our predictions with strange rapidity. Dialogue and negotiations are common tools to make agitators feel they are being recognized.
The demands might be strange, but they can be addressed because war or violence usually leaves a painful taste in the mouth of the victims. It doesn’t always evoke good memories. So, dialogue should be seen as a beautiful way of the doom lurking behind.
