Nigeria. Human life has no value here
There have been cases of barbaric violence in Nigeria practically every day, in which tens, sometimes hundreds of people are killed. Brutality, but also impunity of the perpetrators should raise strong objections from the international community. But that is not the case. Are the Nigerian lives this insignificant?
During the Cold War, terms such as the so-called Third World or the Global South appeared. They were used to describe the least developed countries in the world, mainly in Africa, South Asia, and South America. The rest of the world was divided into communist countries (the so-called Second World) and Western capitalist countries (the so-called First World). Today, this division no longer applies. The communist bloc collapsed, new countries were created, and new alliances emerged. Many countries previously regarded as economically backward have rapidly developed. Six out of the twenty members of the Group of Twenty (G20) are countries that used to belong to the Third World. However, it is still noticeable that the Global South remains largely outside the interest of the Western world. By this, I mean the interest of the international community, including non-governmental organizations, institutions, governments, politicians, and the media. This is clearly visible when we look at conflicts and acts of violence. Atrocities committed by terrorist and fundamentalist groups in African or South Asian countries go practically unnoticed and do not elicit any significant international reaction. The perpetrators feel they have impunity, while local governments are either too weak to fight them or tacitly approve of their criminal activities. We can easily say that innocent people suffer in isolation. Very few offer them empathy and support.
Like in the case of Iraq and Syria, some say again that this is normal “over there”. That Africa, for example, consists of clans and tribal communities that do not match the reality of the 21st century. Many of you may be surprised to hear that Nigeria belongs to the thirty largest world economies. Three years ago, it was the first African country to introduce a digital currency that is now used alongside physical currency. Nigeria’s main source of income is oil, but it also extracts coal and tin. Interestingly, Nigeria has a rapidly developing movie industry known as “Nollywood,” which is the second-largest film-producing industry in the world after Bollywood. In terms of the number of movies made, Hollywood is far behind them.
The Nigerian nightmare
At the same time, one-third of the population in this country of 200 million lives on less than one dollar a day. The lowest monthly salary for which people agree to work and support their families is ten dollars. How is it possible that so many people suffer from terrible poverty while Nigeria’s economy seems rather strong? The most likely reasons are the mismanagement of resources and as well as foreign ownership of a large part of the country’s industries. Another significant factor is widespread and pervasive corruption. Adding to this is the terrorist threat from Boko Haram active in northern Nigeria and attacks on farmers’ settlements carried out by shepherds from the nomadic Fulani tribe.
That’s the case with the Plateau province located in the central part of the country, which is sometimes called the breadbasket of Nigeria. According to various sources, Christians make up between 46-51% of the population, while 46-48% are Muslims. In Plateau, Christians mainly lead a sedentary lifestyle and are largely engaged in agriculture. The Fulani are predominantly Muslim and are primarily herders. The farmer-herder conflict has lasted for decades, but in recent years, the barbaric attacks by the Fulani have intensified. Entire villages inhabited by Christians have become their victims.
The bestiality and ruthlessness of these crimes chills the blood. Men, women, and children are brutally murdered. Attacks involving guns and machetes, burning defenseless families alive, kidnappings, and robberies are common. In many places, this is not a potential threat but a daily reality. People try to defend themselves by organizing self-defense units, but they cannot protect all villages that might become targets. The attackers strike during the day or night. They appear out of nowhere, carry out a massacre, and disappear. That is what happened in mid-April in the town of Mangu, where unknown assailants rode up to the homes of unsuspecting families on motorcycles, opened fire, killing 12 people, and then fled. No one had time to react. The same village was targeted two months earlier as well. Fulani terrorists set houses on fire. In one of them, nearly all of the family members were killed. The only survivor was a little girl who at the last moment was pushed out of a window by her mother. The bandits tried to throw her back in and burn her alive, but luckily the police arrived in time.
Many more examples could be given, but emphasizing human suffering will not change anything. What is needed are actions and aid for those who have suffered. Especially since it is possible to provide it.
We need to “escalate” help
When speaking about our efforts in Iraq, I was sometimes asked if it made sense to help, given that terrorists could destroy what was rebuilt at any moment. I would always respond that it absolutely made sense because passivity would only encourage the bandits even more. They want us to conclude that we are powerless. Instead, we can show them that their actions are futile. Did they burn down a village of houses with wooden roofs? We will build new ones with tin roofs. Did they butcher someone’s sheep herd? We will buy more. We could call it an “escalation of help”. Yes, it will not bring back the lives of daughters, mothers, fathers, and sons. It will not completely heal the wounds inflicted. But it may sustain hope in people, because the lack of hope is what slowly kills them.
The name of the girl whom mother pushed out of the window of a house set on fire by terrorists is Michelle. Soon, together with her uncle, aunt, and cousins, she will move into a new house that we have rented for them. We have also paid her tuition so she can go to school. Additionally, we bought hens and a corn grinder for Gyem, whose husband was murdered in another attack, leaving her with three small children. In Nigeria, grinding corn or grains is a common service. Owning such a grinder powered by a combustion engine allows one to earn money to support their family. And I did not mention covering roofs with tin by accident. That is how we are rebuilding one of the villages that was burned down. These are just a few examples of our aid—there are many more.
The issue worth mentioning is the cost of aid. Although the Nigerian currency has recently been very unstable, with frequent changes in its exchange rate, the expenses of providing aid in this country are very low from our point of view. A wheat grinder costs around 600 Polish zlotys (150 USD/140 EUR). Purchasing a plot of land for a new house costs around 2,500 Polish zlotys (620 USD/570 EUR). A little house can be built for around 2000-3000 Polish zlotys (500-750 USD/450 – 680 EUR). We needed 20,000 Polish zlotys (about 5000 USD/4500 EUR) to rebuild the roofs of more than 100 houses. Of course, each case is different and requires an individual approach as there are no templates in humanitarian aid. But these are still very low amounts which allow us to change people’s lives for the better.
In Nigeria we are also trying to support, to the best of our abilities, self-defense units that protect the local population from terrorists. We purchased a rapid-reaction vehicle for one of these units. It quickly proved its worth in action and was recently used in the evacuation of students after the attack on the university in Bokkos. It is necessary to provide protection to civilians and prevent future attacks. The importance of time and quick response was evident in the case of Michelle, who was literally seconds away from a cruel death.
Will Nigeria become a point of our long-term focus? Most likely yes, because the scale of needs is enormous. It is enough to say that in places where we have been helping, no one was doing that before us. Everyone avoids this region. Once in a while a humanitarian organization may appear here, but most of the time it reaches only the informal camps. To find the victims of terrorists requires a bit more effort and traveling from village to village. They do not reach out for help. They have no one to turn to. We will try to change that.
Author: Dawid Czyż