#SECURENORTH: The North is bleeding By Muhammad Sagir

 

Sir Adam Smith, in his famous book, “An Inquiry into the nature and causes of wealth of a Nation”, discussed a topic that dragged the attention of some prominent scholars. The topic is titled as “Water-Diamond paradox”.

As we all know, without water, one cannot live, even if there is diamond; but today, diamond is more valuable than water, despite that it is unessential in human life. With that, Smith concluded that “Value in Use” and “Value in Exchange” were irrationally separated.

Adam Smith is a proponent of labour theory of value, a theory which states that, “the price of a good reflected the amount of labour and resources required to bring it to market.” Therefore, diamond requires huge resource before bringing it to market, unlike water that requires less resource before reaching society.

Even though, human can live with or without diamond, they can’t live without water.

Before the invention of paper money, diamond was the means of transaction in the good old days, because of its scarcity and value.

Security is defined as the state of being free from danger. This means that, there’s security when one has no iota of fear of losing one’s life, right and property in the society one lives.

Security provides peace of mind, job opportunities and encourages investors; therefore, every society that loses security, has lost those three things mentioned.

Achieving food security is one of the main objectives of the present Muhammadu Buhari and Northern Nigeria’s main pride is farming. But today, many farmers in some vast sections of Northern Nigeria are afraid of visiting their farmlands, for the fear of losing their lives; then, how can food security be achieved?

Before the 2015 general election, the North-Eastern part of Nigeria wished for nothing more than peace; that was what gave Northerners the gut to come out enmass to vote out the then administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, with an almost certainty of hope that their security problems could be solved, and glory be to God, it was reduced to minimal level for some period of time. But as time went on, the security situation deteriorated to the extent that bandits are openly giving the inhabitants of some villages the option of paying taxes if they truly want to engage their farmlands, in their own “villages”! How can food security be achieved in such a situation?

Recently, in Zabarmari village in Borno State and over sixty people in other local government of the state were slaughtered like animals, for no other reasons but for not paying Boko Haram levies and living under the Nigerian government . Yet, the C-in-C only expressed “grief” over the unfortunate incident that claimed the lives of more than a hundred, despite the fact that the President comes from the same region with the victims. But during the l#EndSARS protests, he was quick to address the nation and expressed his sadness over a viral “audio massacre” that was said to have occurred during the protest! Does this mean that Northerners’ lives are not too important to him or are second class citizens that don’t deserve prompt action?

Throughout Buhari’s presidential campaigns, from 2003-2015, security, corruption and economy were his major themes. But, agriculture is now decaying, by implication, due to lack of security that is majorly caused by the corruption he promised to fight!

There is no region that deserves such ungodly and weak treatment with its security. For the North that has the Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Air Staff, IGP, Minister of Defence, DG DSS and NIA, and above all, the President, this is unacceptable!

A region with such a galaxy of top security captains couldn’t stop the bloodshedding in their own region; how do we expect them to protect the whole country from external attack?

In the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, all efforts were put in place to contain it; may be, out of fear that the deadly virus is capable of reaching and killing all. But the activities of Boko Haram and the other terrorists have only direct effect on the lives of the masses, because they have no means to use aeroplane, in order to avoid being kidnapped, or have no abundant cash to use in purchasing foods that could stop them from farming.

How do we expect the North to develop economically, while investors in agro-allied have no certainty in returns of their investments due to the current deteriorating insecurity?

I wish Sir Adam Smith were alive today, I would’ve told him that in his discussion of the water-diamond paradox,  in a peaceful society, diamond is more valuable than water, but to the likes of Zamfara, Birnin Gwari, Villages of Borno and other places ravaged by persistent insecurity in Northern Nigeria, water is more valuable than diamond.

Our simple demand to the President is not that usual presidential expression of shock from Aso Rock Villa after lives are lost, but an action to fulfil those 2003-2019 promises of securing our lives and property.

Muhammad Sagir

Bauchi, Bauchi State

ibrahimsagir1227@gmail