Lessons fron Norway

Lesson from Norway
Anders Behring Breivik’s name sound strange to us in this clime but his action is not. In our world as a Nigerian, the given nightmare of having to live with Boko Haram, the action is not strange. The reason for this man’s action is not strange in this clime too, what is however; strange is the place of the occurrence. To say the least, it is strange to hear such news from Norway.
Last month Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian soldier and right wing extremist took up arm against his fellow country men, maimed and killed about a hundred of them. Not for their personal sins but for reasons traced to governmental ineptitude and failure to deliver on their electoral promises the hope of which they were selected by their parties and elected by the populace. Another grouse of the mentioned of Breivik was the country’s policy on immigration which allowed people of faith other than Christianity, which was predominant in Norway, to move into and live therein.
The action of Breivik is condemnable and should be condemned by all who subscribe to peaceful co-existence of all, irrespective of tribe or religion. No religion supports the taking of life of the other human being, neither is it right before the common laws. Taking the life of hapless and helpless individuals who have nothing to do with the alleged sins of the government is worse of. Thank goodness, the actor in the ill-fated opera has since been arrested and he is helping security agencies in their investigations.
Granted that taking life of innocent individuals is a cruel means of expressing displeasure, the fish (government) which exhibited the aroma which invited the thieving cat (Killer Breivik) too is criminally culpable. We are all victims of the unfortunate saga and must as such see this as a lesson, learn from it and make sure the ugly incidences that daily nag our lives are nipped in the bud. Whether it is in Cape Town or London the death of a man depreciates me because I am a part of humanity. Our political class in Nigeria must learn that they cannot continue to fool us with their jumbo allowances and give a paltry N18, 000.00 to us and expect any kind of peace in Nigeria. Every sector of the economy is groaning and grinding to a halt, yet every elixir they have applied have not cured the ailments that even the devil Abacha, who was reputed to have failed every examination in his life took no time in seeing. If it was easy to discover, why has it taken all professors and engineers decades to cure? Corruption-that is the simple answer. It should dawn on us all now that the children been sent to Covenant University will employ those who are not going to school now for one purpose or the other, after all Breivik was a soldier guarding the rich. He must have been a Lazarus feeding on the crumbs falling from the rich man’s table, yet he frowned at their way of life. We must all know that for as long as we go to the same market paying a graduates two hundred and fifteen thousand per annum and paying his colleague who is a politician N150m per annum will not solve problem. Instead, let our refinery work, let private individuals build and operate their own refinery, let us stop importation of junks, let our sugar companies work, let our railway work, let our pupils have adequate spaces in the universities, reverse the current exportation of brains, stop doling out millions for senseless reasons like sponsoring people to Jerusalem and Mecca.
There are Nigerians who cannot eke out a living because of government policies here and there if they are not shooting guns and killing it is not because they have no access to guns but they are still conscious of the implications and want to refrain from crime. Just think of it, I was in Rivers State and discovered there are no okada in Port Harcourt. On inquiring, I was told they were taken off the roads because criminals used okada while committing their crimes. The question that comes to my mind is when will this governmental insanity stop? This people occupy the lowest rung in the society, yet our governors have found it convenient to inconvenience them. Is banning okada a solution to crime or further aggravating an already precarious situation? Do they mean all okada riders are thieves? Do they mean if taxi is used to commit crime now they will equally ban taxis too? If planes are used to commit crime would they ban planes? Let the government find proactive means of combating crimes and stop brewing, reactively, beer of commotion.
No sooner than Breivik committed his crime than he was caught. This should be a lesson for us all Nigerians, with all our security apparatus like DMI, SSS, police special squads, Civil Defence etc have we demystify the evasive criminals in our midst? Gani Adams was elusive and was only “arrested” when he willed to be arrested. But for the amnesty programme our “freedom” fighters in the Niger Delta could not be arrested by the Joint Task Force (JTF). What this suggests is that the government has failed and as such the people are protecting the perceived enemies of the government. To the government Gani Adams and his compatriots in the Niger Delta were criminals but to a majority of their people they were freedom fighters. The earlier the government realise this, the better for them in dealing with similar situations in the country. May I ask, are the robbers among us ghosts? No, they live among us. Poverty has affected our psyche to the extent that we now believe that it is criminal to be poor and as such people will want to be rich at all cost. The same trend has manifested in our security operative who know criminals and their hide out but found it useless arresting a thief when the politicians whose house he (the police) guards steal billions daily.
It is useful to be conscious of happenings around us more so when the aphorism that “iku to pa ojugba eni n pa owe si ni” (what kills our peers can also kill us) is still very true. Our leaders cannot continue to send their wards to school in Harvard and Oxford and expect the un-educated and half baked graduates to always say yes at their call and beck. They cannot continue to make their only wards managers of our commonwealth and expect us to be mere gardeners in the palace where our wealth is being shared. There is no need for a Daniel to interpret the handwriting on the wall; they had better heed the call from Norway. Surely, no matter how they cover up their misdeed the truth shall always berth on the shore of justice.