How did we get here?

Aliyu Musa

Last week a five-year-old schoolboy was abducted in Kano in one of many kidnap for ransom cases that have become part of the myriad security challenges our society wrestles with. The kidnappers’ plot to siphon as much money as possible from the little boy’s father unsurprisingly worked. Sadly, even after receiving a ransom of N2 million, they killed and dumped Aliyu’s remains in an uncompleted building.

Many Nigerians are notoriously fascinated with the idea of ‘get rich quick’ regardless of the source of the wealth. This, in part, explains why nobody raises an eyebrow even when people in positions of trust questionably become wealthy. It also partly explains why greedy people like Aliyu’s kidnappers are always on the prowl, hoping for a sudden chance to make a big escape from poverty.

A day after Aliyu’s lifeless body was found I was telling a friend who called from Canada about the incident but he was shocked that it happened in the north. Truly, abductions like this one are not very common in the north, apart from deliberate targeting like those carried out by violent groups like Boko Haram to fund their criminal activities.

The business of abduction flourishes more in the south. In July 2010, for example, four officials of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), including chairman of the Lagos State Council of the NUJ Alhaji Wahab Oba, and their driver were snatched in Aba, Abia State after attending a meeting in neighbouring Akwa Ibom. The abductors demanded a ransom of N250 million. A couple of months later in Aba, gunmen ambushed a school bus and took hostage 15 schoolchildren on their way to school. And like all such cases they made a demand for an outrageous amount to secure the kids’ release.

In the north the Boko Haram violence is enough to make people lose sleep each night. But a rise in hostage-taking makes the problem twice as challenging. So, how did we get to this point, where we have become comparable only to beasts?

The temptation is to blame such criminal acts on poverty. Poverty, no doubt, plays a big role but our obsession with sudden wealth could be an incentive. And that is why nobody really cares where one’s money comes from provided it sufficiently elevates one to the status of the ‘high’ and ‘mighty’, the cream of society. That is why even known criminals are beatified and share rostrums with clerics; and they are given medals and infinitely enjoy the people’s ovations.

Honesty, diligence and merit no longer count. Otherwise, why would a university undergraduate be part of a kidnap or an armed-robbery gang? Truth is we have veered off too far and need to steer back fast before it gets totally irredeemable. Our society is not totally devoid of genuine role models. The only problem is their voices are suppressed and their accomplishments hardly acknowledged. But the more they brace up to be heard the more hope of redemption we have and the better for us all.

Man’s imperfection

Despite the perplexing disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing manufacturers and engineers still insist the Boeing 777 aircraft are one of the world’s most reliable jets. They say they have two giant engines that enable them fly for 16 hours nonstop (7250 miles) and economise fuel consumption. And that the MH3570 scheduled flight to Beijing, which should have taken 5.30 hours, was one of the shorter routes worldwide of the 777.

So, its reliability is unquestionable and because it was flown by a first rate captain with engineering expertise it should not have disappeared as it did. Again, the world’s best known air accident investigators have put heads together and because they have unraveled similar puzzles in the past they, by now, should have found out what went wrong with the plane and/or what has become of it and its 239 passengers and crew. But this has not been the case.

It tells us how imperfect man is. No one knows exactly what happened to the plane after it lost contact with the control tower. No one knows how long it will take to find out. And, although experts say in such circumstances humans are able to survive for only 72 hours, they may be proved wrong once again. My heart goes to families and friends of those onboard. It’s a long, difficult wait.