I had reason to be at the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) not too long ago. As I was driving through the campus from the University’s main gate, I beheld an ugly sight. A herd of cattle shepherded by grubby herdsmen were grazing in a somewhat removed portion of the vast land mass that the university occupies. I could not believe my eyes. I felt scandalized. I wondered: how can a university campus of all places be a grazing ground? Why did the university community allow it? What manner of permissiveness will make an academic community, a citadel of learning, share part of its serene environment with marauding pastoralists and their cows?
Then I began to query no one in particular. How did the cattle gain access into the campus? Is the university not fully covered with perimeter fencing? Whatever may be the right answer to this myriad of questions, the immediate impression it leaves on the mind is that the campus is porous. Its security is lax. That, for me, is a sad commentary on the management of the university.
Then I began to wonder how the authorities of the university see this embarrassing scenario. Is it normal in their eyes? If it is not, what steps are being taken to ensure that the campus is shielded from the insecurity that pervades the settlements around it?
I have not had cause to return to FUTO for some time now. But I always remember. I often remind myself of that scenario that is most unbefitting of an academic community. If I am broaching this ugly setup long after I encountered it, it is because what I witnessed then has grown wings now. Beyond finding a comfort zone on the campus, armed herdsmen have practically taken over the roads and settlements adjoining the university. The major road leading to the campus from Obinze is no longer safe. Herdsmen routinely attack and kidnap road users along that road. Just recently, a female student of FUTO was abducted on that road. She lost her life in the process. Students of the university were reported to have been agitated over this unfortunate development. But no concrete action was taken neither by the students nor the management of the university. Just a few days ago, Eziobodo, a community that lies quietly at the back gate of the university, came under assault by armed herdsmen. Lives were reportedly lost with many others escaping with various degrees of injury. The situation around the university is so parlous that those living in and around the campus are in fear.
This setup is a debasement of the university. It is an assault on the concept of the university as an ivory tower. The concept of the ivory tower means that a university is a place of privileged seclusion from the harsh and practical realities of real life. It is a place where people choose to disconnect from the town in order to pursue their interests, be it mental or esoteric. It is an environment for intellectual pursuit disconnected from the practical concerns of everyday life. This was the ideal upon which the idea of the university was anchored. The situation in the Nigerian society of today negates this ideal. And that is understandable. Life in Nigeria has become a nightmare. It is tellingly harsh so much so that the people are merely ambling along.
But then, bad as the situation may be, a university community is expected to still enjoy a modicum of ambience. The violation that a university like FUTO faces is an aberration. It is abhorrent. It should never be allowed to become the norm. Regrettably, those who should nip this cankerworm in the bud are looking the other way.
Beyond the University
But the menace taking place in and around FUTO is not limited to that environment. Most communities in Imo State, especially those bounded by large expanses of arable land, are at the mercy of Fulani herdsmen. They have infiltrated the bushes so much so that natives dare not step into them again. Yet, the armed invaders are not content occupying the bushes, they now come out in the open to kidnap road users for ransom. It is now a thriving business in different parts of southern Nigeria. Imo, the Eastern Heartland, is particularly afflicted by this menace. Kidnappers are on the prowl along roads and bushes in Owerri West, Oguta and Mbaitoli local government areas. Kidnapping in this axis of the state is now a daily fare. It has become customary.
But the problem here is not just that kidnappings are taking place with attendant loss of lives. The real regret is that security agencies are complacent. There is nothing that suggests that the government and the security agencies it superintendents over are keen on combating this menace. Imagine this scenario. A native gets kidnapped along a road in his community or a neighboring one. His abductors take him into the bush, torture him for days on end , and then demand huge ransom from the relatives of the abducted. At the time he is to be released, the kidnappers march him very close his village, meet with those bearing the ransom, collect it with some other things they may have demanded for and then release their victim. Having done that, they walk back into the bush without encountering any challenge. By the time the kidnapped returns home with his people, he tells the story of his ordeal. The kidnappers did not take him to any unfamiliar terrain. They dwell and operate in the territory that is known to the abductee.
That is not all. The kidnappers, we are told, live in the bushes. When they kidnap someone, they collect millions of naira in cash from their victim’s family. The question to ask is this: how does the kidnapper, the bush dweller, dispose of the huge swathe of cash at his disposal? You can imagine the answer. He has collaborators outside the bushes. All he needs do is to walk out of the bush, go straight to his collaborators and hand over the cash to them. Once he is done with that, he returns to the bush to lie in wait for another victim. What this means is that the kidnapper who dwells in the bush is a member of a syndicate. They have a network. And their network is always on top of the situation.
In the face of all this, the affected communities are just sitting and looking. They are incapable of getting angry to the point of invading the bushes that the kidnapper has taken over. The reason is simple: they are not armed. Therefore, daring the armed terrorists in the bush will be suicidal. That is why the terrorists in our bushes are winning. They have overwhelmed the natives, the land owners with their superior fire power.
If the unarmed natives are helpless, what about the security agencies? Why are they not responding to the audacity of the terrorist who operates with reckless abandon? Is it not embarrassing to think that our security agencies know where the terrorists are but are unable to confront them? This seeming helplessness or inaction of our security agencies is making our situation look hopeless. Should this be the case in a country that claims to have a government? Nobody needs to remind the concerned that the primary reason for the existence of government is the protection of life and property. Any government that fails in this regard has failed the country and its peoples and therefore loses the right to continue to govern over them. This is the unfortunate case in our country.
In Nigeria, Thomas Hobbes lives on. His state of nature is our very own state. Here, life is nasty, brutish and short. Is this the Nigeria that will build a future generation that can hold its own in global affairs? I do not think so. Our governments should ponder this question. If they refuse to do so, this polluted society will take its revenge on the system. It is only a matter of time.
QUOTE:
“The violation that a university like FUTO faces is an aberration. It is abhorrent. It should never be allowed to become the norm. Regrettably, those who should nip this cankerworm in the bud are looking the other way”.
