Nigeria is on the brink of total
economic and security collapse as the leadership of the nation has all but lost
total control and boycotted its responsibilities. State corruption is now
presenting a final and ultimately irreversible blow to the viability of
Nigeria; its economy and security apparatus. Over 18 billion dollars defense
budget under the Ihejirika and now Badeh/Minimah regimes is mostly
unaccounted for and with preoccupation with looting as against developing
serious strategies, the Jonathan government finds itself unable and unwilling
to tackle the Boko Haram cash-cow.
As the Jonathan leadership plays
games with the security of Nigeria, deciding to beg and bribe Boko Haram and
publicizing a meaningless unilateral cessation of fire; Boko Haram continues to
occupy large portions of the nation’s northeast and continues to capture
territory. Latest to fall is Mubi in Adamawa State.
CNN analysts have substantiated
ENDS’ earlier position that the so-called Ceasefire, better called a cessation
of fire by the government as not more than a political ploy and a provision of
opportunity for Boko Haram to regroup. Quoting David Cook on CNN, October 29th,
2014:
“It remains to be seen whether this truce will actually
materialize, whether it is merely an election ploy for Nigeria’s embattled
President, Goodluck Jonathan, and most crucially whether it will bring about
the release of numerous captives taken by Boko Haram during the past year,”
he wrote in an
analysis for CNN.
“While Boko Haram has suffered some
reverses during the recent past, there is no indication that the group has
suffered any mortal damage. The most plausible interpretation of the truce is
that it is a bought one (probably in tandem with the Cameroonian release of
captives), and that Boko Haram is merely using it (assuming that it holds to
the truce at all) as a respite in order to regroup.”
This is desperately treacherous and an extremely dangerous reality for the
people of Nigeria. President Jonathan who recently obtained approval for a loan
of a whopping sum of $ 1 billion to allegedly combat Boko Haram has now rather
run from the war we were winning and turned the crises on its head , reversing
the #VictoryForNigeria campaign to one of #VictoryForTerror. It follows a
recurrent pathway for the past six years of this administration where Boko
Haram is always protected and encouraged to regroup, rape and conscript our
youth and continue is campaign of death to the residents of the northeast.
Rather than fight terror, the president continues to court the very sponsors of
the terror.
Why would the Nigerian president
decide to sabotage the army and people of Nigeria in such a way? It is further
seriously worrisome considering what offers the leadership is making to placate
Boko Haram. How much money is being offered to the terrorists? What type of
arms will the Jonathan government give the terrorists in this truce illusion?
(are these the arms our private jets were sent to smuggle in?) How many of
their brutal, murderous members does the Jonathan government intend to free to
bargain the temporary “peace” period it desperately seeks ahead of the February
2015 Presidential elections?
Nigeria has recently been disgraced
internationally with cash smuggling scams and alleged arms deals in South
Africa with companies that have no license to sell weapons. Seized funds were
only released after the Nigerian leadership publicly blackmailed the South
African government. Our international credibility is at an all time low.
While Boko Haram crisis is spinning
out of control, the economy of Nigeria is now officially in the red. The
Minister of the economy can hardly deny this preventable collapse. Ngozi Okonjo
Iweala has been making public statements in this respect every day, resisting
to her utmost the temptation to spell out the actual severity of the crises.
Global oil prices have tanked and with the constant looting of over half of the
nation’s oil income by the current leadership and their Cabal cronies, and
failed real developmental strategies, Nigeria is relying on depleted reserve
cushions. The Minister this week declared that Nigeria needs $ 5 billion to
survive.
Meanwhile the missing $ 20 over 18
months reviewed (estimated at up to 127 billion for all 6 years) which the
Senate President David Mark described as not missing but “unaccounted for,”
which of course has the same meaning; remains unaccounted for. The nation’s oil
minister now hired as a finance director of President Jonathan’s re-election
committee continues to plunder $ 4 million every day from the poorest Nigerian
families, in the kerosene subsidy scam. That is over a billion dollars a year
that she pockets.
The administration has plundered so
much especially ahead of the elections in which billions of dollars would be
used for “stomach infrastructure,” to buy the broke masses’ votes, that now the
nation can no longer sustain itself. Internal debt is at an all time high as
the Jonathan administration struggles to coast the sinking ship till after
February 15th if it can get there before a full and total collapse. The 1
billion USD borrowed which by most expectations is not for the war on Boko
Haram but was borrowed for use in the elections is the beginning of a borrowing
streak that the current leadership is geared towards. Ngozi Iweala is prepping
Nigeria for this.
February 14th and the hand over
period may not be realistic. As more Nigerians die every day in the hands of
unhindered terrorists, enjoying Jonathan’s unilateral cessation of fire, and
more fellow countrymen die from suffocating poverty and lose all hope of
prosperity, urgent local and international action to arrest this reckless
leadership is requisite.
Nigeria is under siege. It is time
for a resistance of the people, statesmen and global players.
Dr. Peregrino Brimah
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