The lost future generation of Africa

When people usually look at an old picture, they marvel at how time has changed circumstances in a good way or bad. For the people of Nigeria, it has been the latter. A never-ending déjà vu of bad memories that keep compounding like a never-ending abyss.

On November 29, a number which started as 43 decimated farmers rose up to a total of 110 butchered Nigerians — some with their throats slit open, others with their heads chopped off. Boko Haram, an offshoot of Daesh, was quick to claim credit for what the UN has described as the most violent attack against civilians in 2020.

For over more than a decade, the people of north-east Nigeria have become conversant with the horrors of this group, whose name literally translates into ‘Western education is forbidden.’

Ever since its launch in 2009, the group’s constant conflict with the Nigerian government has affected more than 15 million people. In 2015, the Global Terrorism Index ranked Boko Haram as the deadliest radical group. This is the same terrorist outfit responsible for kidnapping more than 100 girls in 2018 and 270 girls in 2014, many which to this day remain unaccounted for.

Upholding its name, Boko Haram has targeted the Nigerian education system. Its activities include unparalleled acts of debauchery such as the harnessing of bombs on children before detonating them in public spaces, damaging and destroying schools and burning students and teachers. Research shows there are two main channels through which the group has tried to beset the country’s education system. Firstly, by a reduction in household income which forces children to drop out of school and either start work or join a militia group. Secondly, by reducing the number of available schools and teachers altogether.

According to the World Bank, in the backdrop of Covid-19, personal incomes in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy will be set back by four decades. Before the pandemic hit, the country was already experiencing high rates of unemployment and inflation. The Nigerian economy is likely to contract by 3.2% this year — which considering it was expected to grow by 2.1%, is a reduction in growth by more than five percentage points.

Nigeria is placed in the bottom 10 countries in terms of child flourishing based on measures such as health, education, nutrition and equity. Even though in 2003 Nigeria signed the Child Rights Act into law, millions of Nigerian children (an estimated 43%) undertake physically challenging and exploitative work as a means of survival.

Showcasing global outrage and incensed statements only help fuel the idea that such acts get publicity. Children are the future of a country. If this keeps on increasing, what then will the future of Nigeria be?

On December 12, a large number of attackers on motorbikes ambushed an all-boys school in the Nigerian state of Katsina. Of the 800 pupils, more than half remain missing. Though, early on the government had blamed the many bandits operating in the country, saying they were emulating Boko Haram’s mandate. However, Boko Haram claimed responsibility for this abduction as well, adding to another conquest for perpetrators fighting to keep children from education.

Even regional states in Africa have done nothing to diminish trigger factors such as bad governance and corruption which have afforded fertile ground for militant conscription. It is important to realise that most radical groups do not prey upon poverty, but rather on a loss of hope and confidence in the idea of a better future. It is far-fetched to think that development can occur overnight. However, necessary reforms and government support can help bring any country back from the precipice of complete obliteration. Instill hope, not through mere proclamations but through solid action. This goes across the board not just in Nigeria.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2020.

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