The Need to Compensate Victims of Boko Haram
We live in a world today that is increasingly threatened by human excesses riding on the back of religious terrorism. The worst of human depravity is constantly exhibited by those who believe that their mode of religion is a better model that the rest of the society must be forced to follow. The failure of the sane majority to toe the line of religious fanaticism then drives the misguided bigots to resort to unleashing relentless deadly attacks and bloodletting on us in the name of fighting for their religion. Such is the modern-day damning reality of our extremismchoked world where heartless, barbaric and blood-thirsty religious insurgent groups like ISIS, Al Qaeda, Al Shabaab and Boko Haram have become potent terror to humanity.
It is rather a sad irony that the practice of religion which should normally help breed better human beings imbued with virtues of love, compassion, tolerance, kindness and everything good, has been turned upside down to destroy mankind. It is even a sadder paradox that some people in the society who should join hands with the rest of us to fight religious terrorism are aiding and abetting the same evil cause. Such is the case with Boko Haram in Nigeria today. There are still some misguided minds in the North who are sympathetic to the twisted ideology of Boko Haram. And this aberration of support for Boko Haram due to faith affinity is softly killing Nigeria and frustrating efforts to halt the madness that has lingered for so long.
It is little wonder then that right-thinking patriots like Profes- sor Wole Soyinka recently said that if we don’t tame religion, religion will kill us. Perhaps we should say it in another way: if we don’t all join minds and hands to stop Boko Haram now, this evil sect will kill us. God forbid.
As an active participant in the collective fight against the scourge of Boko Haram, a leader of the Christian Women Against Boko Haram and a concerned Nigerian, I have long come to agree with the truism that evil will proliferate in a society where good men and women stand by with folded arms, doing nothing. The major reason for the evil of Boko Haram still waxing stronger in Nigeria is that we did not promptly nip this seed of terrorism in the bud early when it was germinating. Now, the barbaric insurgents have grown in strength, wasting lives, razing whole villages and communities, and kidnapping for the past 8 years. The case of the abducted Chibok school girls is still fresh in memory.
Today, some of us helping in our own little civil ways to fight Boko Haram are being threatened by the sect’s sympathizers in town. We in Christian Women Against Boko Haram are constantly under threats to back off the struggle. But we would not be intimidated or deterred until Nigeria takes back her sanity and stability from the destroyers called Boko Haram and their sponsors. Really, our concern at Christian Women Against Boko Haram even goes beyond our personal safety. As women, we are also deeply bothered that the government is not doing enough to compensate all victims of the Boko Haram insurgency over the years.
Eight years of the insurgency have caused widespread untold suffering across gender, religious and ethnic lines. There are estimated 1.8 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the North East. And widespread killing of civilians, the destruction of towns and villages by Boko Haram, loss of livelihoods and lack of food in an increasingly recessed economy have worsened the humanitarian crisis. But while the government, international aid agencies and concerned stakeholders in our society try to cater to the needs of IDPs in designated refugee camps across North East, there are other displaced Nigerians of different ethnic stock who have been left out in socio-economic desolation due to no compensation for their loss of livelihoods and businesses in Boko Haram ravaged areas. We hope the government can give urgent consideration of compensation to such displaced people who are not in refugee camps but are Boko Haram-affected Nigerian victims struggling to survive with their families while still stranded in the North or are relocated to their villages and home towns in South East, South South and South West.
In all, we really hope the government of the day can muster the political will to tackle the Boko Haram conundrum from all angles, especially dealing with the sabotaging enemies within. Aside catering to the rehabilitation of the IDPs and other victims of the insurgency, and increasing military operations against the stubborn Boko Haram militants, there is the critical need to address the problem of some elements within the Nigerian military who allegedly provide covert support to Boko Haram. If Nigeria would achieve real victory over Boko Haram and recover to experience lasting national stability necessary for socio-economic development, the alleged subversive antics of some pro-Boko Haram officers within the Nigerian military must be checked and dealt with without fear or favour.
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