Now That Oyo School Children Are Free
There is jubilation all over from the President to the little known kids on the street of Ogbomoso-the town where warriors who kill elephants are made.
Not that the jubilations are out of place but that after 55 gruelling days under captivity of evil men from unknown quarters the innocent school children and their teachers safe for the late Mr Michael…the mathematics teacher, who was killed by the evil men, all the 39 returned home to the waiting hands of their parents, relatives and friends.
For the President Bola Tinubu’s administration, it was a reason for jubilation that unlike the Chibok girls who experienced similar fate with some released, some escaped while others have become mothers in the kidnappers den, the 39 school children and their teachers gave Tinubu a victorious smile.
For the Ahoro Esiele and Yawota communties in Orire local government area where the three schools were located, it was a mixture of sorts.
The kidnapping incident drew world attention to the backwardness of the local government in spite of hundreds of millions received every month from the federation account but which Oyo state government withheld since Governor Seyi Makinde didn’t believe in local autonomy.
His attitude to local government autonomy has deepened the local poverty of the residents of this community as other social amenities that could make life meaningful are also non-existent.
The 55 days experience of the innocent children and their teachers is an exposition of the sorry state they and others in the communities lived as a result of government wicked neglect.
Hence, now that Ahoro Esiele and Yawota communities in Orire local government has earned national and international exposure for wrong reasons, it is time for Oyo state government and indeed others of its ilk denying the local people of their right to live to have a second thought and change of heart.
Like a Yoruba people saying: Ina esisi ki joni lemeji. Esisi fire shouldn’t burn you twice. It is time to take action and give meanwhile life to residents of the backward local government.
It is also a good coincidence that the unfortunate Oyo kidnap has strengthened the call for creation of state police and indeed made the National Assembly to grant expeditious vote and approval for community policing which state police represents.
It is ironically that Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, thinks less of the importance of state police by his politicisation of the issue.
Nemesis has a way of catching up with insensitive leaders and Makinde has made himself a good example of how not to be incentive.
Now with the latest development, South West region by the uproar and anger that greeted the abduction has sent a strong message that kidnapping and terrorism has no place in the region.
It has also sent signal to other states in Nigeria that they must seize the initiative and ignite their lawmakers to act fast on state police bill so that criminals of no identity will know that time is up for them.
Approval of Bill for state police must ginger the various state governments with vast ungoverned spaces, thick forests and other unholy habitats to act fast and safe their environment.
The Oyo kidnap experience must be a reminder to all state governors in Nigeria that their first responsibility is to guarantee safety of their residents and refrain from politicising security.
Only an irresponsible government will sleep with both eyes closed when it’s citizens live daily in fear that they might be the next victim.
If nothing else, the Oyo kidnap saga while it lasted, has allowed residents of the South West states to feel firsthand what the parents of the 271 Chibok girls and other too felt when their innocent children were kidnapped over a decade ago.
The Oyo kidnap saga is also a constant reminder especially to the South West governors that their region is neither immune nor safe from the insurgency, kidnapping and banditry that has made most Northern states unsafe over the years.
The saying, He who feels it knows it, has now become golden truth to governors and citizens in hitherto safe southern states that in Nigeria of today, the rain beats everybody.
To the South West governors, the Orire local government where there is no sign of urbanism, like provision of infrastructures electricity, roads, pipe borne water and above all functional Police presence is an eye opener for them that neglect of rural areas is counter-productive to whatever infrastructures they provide in urban cities where the elite resides.
The example of Orire local government no doubt exists in all the so -called urbanised states of the South West and it is an indication that the states are only hiding their dark spots for evil men to trample on its dwellers.
The Orire episode is an opportunity for the people to challenge and demand minimal living conditions for aspiring politicians who come asking for their votes in January next year.
Since a larger percentage of the populate still dwell in rural areas which also doubles as the regions agricultural zones, it is incumbent that for our security imperative, Governors must focus on integrated rural development.
If successive governments in the region had followed the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s development initiatives of the former Western region, by now ungoverned places would’ve become a thing of the past in the region.
Now that vulnerability of the region have been proved by the Orire kidnap saga, both government and local communities must reinvent local security outfit which made the region a safe place to live and work.
It is without painstaking that the safety valve in the region also attracted other economic and social migrant population from other parts of the country.
This incidence unfortunately has turned the accommodating spirit of the indigenous people to seeing all new comes as posing security threats to living..
Baales, traditional rulers and locals who indulge in selling lands to anybody if the price is right must have a rethink.
While it is true that been accommodating is an incentive to development, they must as a matter of urgency document those migrants in their locality if Orire experience must not repeat itself.
The upgrade and development of National Identity Management is a tool which all localities in Nigeria must embrace to safeguard against criminals who migrate from other countries to perpetrate their criminality.
A Yoruba saying that, Eternal vigilance is crucial for survival..Oju Lalakan fi nsori…is a credo that must resonate in the minds of Baales, local leaders as they accommodate migrants from other regions different from their own and the ethnic and social diffusionism which from recent developments tend to compromise communal security.
What is more, the boldness of the Federal government in approving recruitment of Forest rangers is a realistic and laudable move which would go a long way to complement the State Police in the respective states.
There is a way which multi-level policing can reduce if not eliminate criminals who choose not to live among the people but in unpoliced forests.
A stich in time saves nine.
