Financial Times has in a report on Tuesday described Nigeria as a country going backwards economically to becoming a failed state because it is plagued with terrorism, illiteracy, poverty, banditry, and kidnapping.
The UK-based newspaper said this in an editorial published today titled, ‘Nigeria at Risk of Becoming a Failed State’.
It expressed that the abduction and subsequent rescue of over 300 schoolboys in Kankara, Katsina State, revived memories of the 276 Chibok schoolgirls abducted in Borno State in 2014, some of whom are still in captivity.
According to the report, while the government’s claim that no ransom was paid to the abductors of the schoolboys remains doubtful, other acts of criminality could not be overlooked.
Read Also: Katsina Gov Masari Says No Ransom Was Paid For Rescued Kankara Schoolboys (Videos)
The editorial reads in part;
The government insists no ransom was paid. Scepticism is warranted. In a country going backwards economically, carjacking, kidnapping and banditry are among Nigeria’s rare growth industries. Just as the boys were going home, Nigerian pirates abducted six Ukrainian sailors off the coast.
The definition of a failed state is one where the government is no longer in control. By this yardstick, Africa’s most populous country is teetering on the brink.
Financial Times also questioned claim by President Muhammadu Buhari that Boko Haram had been defeated, saying said contrary to the government’s claim, the terrorist group remained an “ever-present threat”.
Read Also: ‘I Am In Good Health’- ‘DEAD’ Bokoharam Leader Abubakar Shekau RESURFACES In New Video
It stressed;
President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 pronounced Boko Haram technically defeated’. That has proved fanciful. Boko Haram has remained an ever-present threat. If the latest kidnapping turns out to be its work, it would mark the spread of the terrorist group from its north-eastern base.
Even if the mass abduction was carried out by ‘ordinary’ bandits — as now looks possible — it underlines the fact of chronic criminality and violence. Deadly clashes between herders and settled farmers have spread to most parts of Nigeria. In the oil-rich, but impoverished, Delta region, extortion through the sabotage of pipelines is legendary.
Read Also: Abducted Katsina Schoolboys In Zamfara Forest – Gov Masari
According to the publication, security is not the only area where “the state is failing”, adding that Nigeria has more poor people than any other country as well as the highest number of out of school children on earth.
It stated that as oil continues to lose its value, Nigeria’s economy would worsen, stressing;
The population, already above 200 million, is growing at a breakneck 3.2 per cent a year. The economy has stalled since 2015 and real living standards are declining. This year, the economy will shrink 4 per cent after COVID-19 dealt a further blow to oil prices.
In any case, as the world turns greener, the elite’s scramble for oil revenue will become a game of diminishing returns. The country desperately needs to put its finances, propped up by foreign borrowing, on a sounder footing.
Recommending a way forward, the report stated that President Buhari, who has less than three years left in office, must use the remainder of his term, to redouble efforts at improving security.
It advised the government to restore trust in key institutions, among them the judiciary, the security services and the electoral commission, which will preside over the 2023 elections.
Financial Times said the #EndSARS protests led by Nigerian youths, signaled a glimmer of hope for Nigeria’s teeming youth population.
It added;
The broad coalition that found political expression this year in the EndSARS movement against police brutality provides a shard of optimism. At least Nigeria has a relatively stable democracy. Now Nigeria’s youth — creative, entrepreneurial and less tainted by the politics of extraction — should use that system to reset the country’s narrative.
The publication concluded by saying that it was time for Nigeria to restructure its political system and concentrate on security, health, education, power and roads.
Warning about an impending danger, the report stated;
At the present trajectory, the population will double to 400 million by 2050. If nothing is done, long before then, Nigeria will become a problem far too big for the world to ignore.
Via The Financial Times.
