Since the declaration of a state of emergency in the Northeast states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe last Thursday, a lot of water, as they say, has passed under the bridge. The power equation seems to have changed with the tide turning against the perpetrators of violence. By perpetrators, I mean the Boko Haram elements, who had until the coming of emergency rule turned that part of the country to a killing field.
The killings have not stopped though, but Boko Haram is no longer having the upper hand. The sect has met its match in the special forces deployed in those states in the wake of emergency rule. Before the declaration of emergency, Boko Haram held sway virtually everywhere in the North, killing, maiming and looting. The sect ran rings round Borno and Yobe states, especially. At the height of its madness, it appeared it was untouchable.
That was where the sect got it all wrong. Because the government did not want to match force with force then, Boko Haram saw itself as unstoppable and those who could intervene did not help matters with their undue silence. Despite entreaties from the government and many concerned people that they should talk to the sect to let reason prevail, they failed to take up the job. The feeling many had was that they were happy with what Boko Haram was doing.
This was the political thinking in many quarters, especially in the Southsouth, where President Goodluck Jonathan hails from. It became a we versus them thing. This was the dangerous dimension the Boko Haram insurgency was taken then. The core leadership of the North deigned from lifting a finger to stop the sect, pretending that it didn’t know those behind the group. That was a ruse. The northern leaders, at least, some of them knew the brains behind this deadly group, but for their own safety, they kept a safe distance.
In choosing self above country, they allowed evil to thrive. Boko Haram is evil, no matter how you look at the matter. The sect never came up to tell the world its grievances it just woke up one day and unleashed terror on the country. Granted that a grave mistake was made in the killing of its leader, Yusuf Muhammed, by security agencies in 2009, but does that make its bombing of churches; invasion of prisons; kidnapping of people and robbing of banks justifiable? Two wrongs, they say, do not make a right. The sect has spoilt a good case by its resort to violence. A man, the law says, cannot be a judge in his own case.
With what has been happening since the massive deployment of troops in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, Boko Haram now knows that it has no monopoly of violence. The military has not given the sect a breathing space since it entered those states. It has been making things hot for the group. This emergency may turn out to be a blessing at the end of the day. If not for it, we will still be at the sect’s mercy, but now the group is on the run with its tail between its legs. Between last Wednesday and today, it has lost so many of its members and this is just the beginning of the battle. The war is yet to start.
I am not gloating over the fate of Boko Haram; no far from it. The sect got itself into this bind and it is also the only one that can free itself from it. The best thing for it to do in the present circumstance is to lay down its arms. It is time for Boko Haram to surrender if it does not wish to continue to suffer a loss. There is no way it can take on the military and win. After over four years of being allowed to do whatever it wanted, the party, I am sorry to say, is over for Boko Haram. Let it lay down its arms now so that the nation can begin the grim task of rebuilding all the states, particularly Borno, which it destroyed in its madness.
The rice cartel
Despite all efforts to curb it, rice smuggling is still thriving. It is thriving because those in the business have devised ways of passing through our porous land borders. And then, they enjoy the support and cooperation of the border guards, that is the Customs and Immigration. Let’s face it, if these paramilitary agencies are up and doing, rice smugglers would have been run out of business by now.
But because they benefit from this illicit trade, they have shut their eyes to what the smugglers are doing. Unfortunately, the country is at the receiving end. We are losing a lot of revenue, which could have helped in the growth of our gross domestic product (GDP), to rice smuggling. Today, the country, according to reports, is losing about N9.7billion monthly to this illegal business. The amount is the cost of 80,000 metric tonnes (MTS) or 1.6 million bags of rice smuggled into the country. This means that in a year, the country loses N116.4billion just on rice smuggled into the country through Benin Republic.
The smugglers make use of different routes to bring in the commodity. In the North, they are said to come in from Niger and Cameroon through the Maradi and Zinder borders. In the Southwest, they come in through Seme, Ajilete and Shaki from the Benin axis. These routes are also used to smuggle cars. The ban on rice has been rendered meaningless by this thriving illegal trade. How can the government achieve its plan for the country to be self-sufficient in rice production by 2015 when its efforts are being thwarted by these heartless smugglers?
These smugglers do not have the love of their country at heart. If they do, they will not engage in activities that will rob the country of revenue that can boost the GDP. They have by their actions turned themselves to economic saboteurs and they should be so treated when caught. No country folds its arms and watches when unscrupulous people come together under the guise of doing business to rob it of revenue. If we really mean to diversify our mono-economy so that we will no longer rely only on oil as a major revenue earner everything must be done to stop these smugglers before they destroy the economy.
If they are genuine businessmen, they will not evade the payment of the 110 percent duty on the commodity. A few weeks ago, a vessel carrying 22,750 MTS of rice was said to have moved to Cotonou, Benin Republic, to offload in order to evade the payment of N2.6billion duty on the commodity. Why did the importer do that when Beninois do not consume long grain parboiled rice as we do in Nigeria? He did it to evade payment of the N2.6billion duty since he knew he could use a fraction of the sum to bribe Customs and Immigration and also pay some smugglers to get the commodity in through the borders.
If things continue like this, Nigeria will continue to be the loser, while smugglers will be smiling to the bank. Government should move fast to stop this illicit trade before much damage is done to the economy.
Let the Rhodes-Vivours go
Mother and daughter were kidnapped on May 10 and since then, nothing has been heard about them. Nobody knows where they are being held by their abductors, who are said to have demanded a N200million or N300million ransom. I am talking about Mrs Adedoyin Rhodes-Vivour and her daughter who were kidnapped on their way to Benin, Edo State 13 days ago. They are the wife and daughter of Supreme Court Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour. The police are on the trail of the kidnappers, who are believed to be somewhere in the thick forest between Ondo and Ekitii states. The Rhodes-Vivour family has been through a lot in the hands of kidnappers. Justice Rhodes-Vivour’s son Rotimi was said to have been kidnapped last September and was released after the payment of a ransom believed to run into millions of naira. What has the family done to be haunted by kidnappers? What do they want from this family? My appeal to the kidnappers is to let mother and child go today. Why hold the poor women hostage for this long? Let them go.
