The boko haram group is a reflection on the distaste of a group of
Nigerians to the idea that another group "runs" the country. Since The
Brits "divided and ruled" the Niger area (Nigeria) since 1914, the tug
of war between North and South, East and West etc have continued
unabated. While Nigeria became the identity of a people, generations
later, the issue of spoils continue to dodge the nation and its people.
For years, it was the Ogoni's in the delta area, and then it was the Ijaws. For a while the Ijaws and the Urhobos were at each others throat, just as so many of the different groups that were clobbered into a nation state have been at each others throat at some time or the other over the last 100 years.
What Nigeria, and indeed many of the states created as a result of European empires need is a rethink of what it means to be a nation state. Is there an overriding reason why oil discovered on Isoko land must be used to fund development in Niger while the people on whose land oil was discovered are subjected to abject poverty? Is there a reason why a well connected scions of the Northern Nigerian elite class must get automatic access to wealth, national wealth, while the average talakawa in Kano has no access to good school or health care?
Boko haram is a scourge, one that must be removed, but the underlying cause still remains the so called amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914.
Security meeting in Nigeria as Boko Haram attacks intensify
For years, it was the Ogoni's in the delta area, and then it was the Ijaws. For a while the Ijaws and the Urhobos were at each others throat, just as so many of the different groups that were clobbered into a nation state have been at each others throat at some time or the other over the last 100 years.
What Nigeria, and indeed many of the states created as a result of European empires need is a rethink of what it means to be a nation state. Is there an overriding reason why oil discovered on Isoko land must be used to fund development in Niger while the people on whose land oil was discovered are subjected to abject poverty? Is there a reason why a well connected scions of the Northern Nigerian elite class must get automatic access to wealth, national wealth, while the average talakawa in Kano has no access to good school or health care?
Boko haram is a scourge, one that must be removed, but the underlying cause still remains the so called amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914.
Security meeting in Nigeria as Boko Haram attacks intensify
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