President of Human Capital Africa, Obi Ezekwesili, says the Nigerian state is broken down and in total collapse because the perpetrators of crimes in the society, do not face the consequences of their actions.
Ezekwesili, while speaking about the plateau killings in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Thursday, also said there is an underlying issue of religious intolerance fueling most of the attacks.
“We have a Nigerian state that is in total collapse, where there is no consequence for people who are culpable for these heinous crimes.
“But one thing that people really agree on is that when things happen around religious seasons, then there is something to it. There is an underlying issue of religious intolerance that is going on there. There is also the point of the farmer-herder crisis that we know to be a problem that has been protracted. Frankly, it is a matter of contest for resources. Land as a resource has created room for competing demands.”
She also said the killings in the northern state describes a society that has lost its soul. She described the situation as an accident that announced itself and yet happened.
“What is going on in the plateau state is the description of what happens in a society that has lost its soul. More than two hundred of our fellow citizens died for nothing but the fact that the Nigerian state has continued to play with the lives of our fellow citizens. This is a curse upon our land and we need to end it.
“Today, accountability for what has happened in the plateau state, rests squarely on the government that is in office. So, what it means is that when a government takes over, it needs to have read all of what it refers to as the many reports that have been submitted. The Plateau state situation is one that is really offensive to the spirit that it happened again.
“It is almost like an accident that was announcing itself and yet happened and happened in a gruesome manner where we have lost hundreds of our citizens and all because there has been a consequence for the killings of the people in the villages of plateau state. They almost sit like dogs just waiting to be slaughtered and the government just carries on with visits and sometimes, no visits at all until the next episode occurs.”
She further called on Nigerian citizens to demand accountability from the government, adding that the human capital is more important than the natural resources which they (government) seem to be more interested in.
“The citizens must compel the national assembly which spends most of the time to make a budget for itself to the point that it has become the legislature who is the most paid in terms of the GDP of a country to the lawmakers’ perquisite. The national assembly and the president have to understand the time that Nigeria is in. One of the things that happens sadly in this society, is that the citizens do not demand accountability of those that have been mandated by the constitution.
“How can you be a commander of the chief of armed forces and you are sitting in the villa and it is your citizens that are being told to speak about something that has happened on security. If your citizens have the mandate of the commander in chief of the armed forces, they would be able to take care of themselves. How can we be more interested in money than we are in human lives? What does it profit the society to gain all the money and you don’t care about the lives of your citizens? It is human capital that has determined human progress more than natural resources.”
