Editorial
Boko Haram: Time For Decisive Action
The current security challenges in the country occasioned by the activities of the fundamentalist Islamic sect, Boko Haram, which operates mostly from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, is cause for great concern.
It is remarkable that this sect stepped up its criminal activities of bombing military, police targets and civilian population since the declaration of President Goodluck Jonathan as the winner of the April 19 presidential polls.
Not even the declaration of the international community on the quality of the elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), could deter the Boko Haram fanatics and their sponsors from executing their destabilising activities aimed at undermining the security of the country, which reached a new dimension with the bombing of the Police Headquarters in Abuja, for which the sect claimed responsibility.
Since then, no day passes without Boko Haram unleashing bomb attacks on the society, including the killing of soldiers in Maiduguri.
Despite the fact that its activities clearly undermine national security and constitutes a threat to the peace and unity of the country, the Federal Government had been employing the use of dialogue in finding a solution to the inordinate demands of the sect in the interest of national unity.
Perhaps, government’s treatment of this threat to its authority with kid-gloves had emboldened the sect to spread its tentacle to other states, like Bauchi and Katsina. It is therefore, regrettable that today, Maiduguri is being deserted as residents are moving out of the city in droves, following the reaction of the Joint Military Task Force deployed to restore law and order, after it lost six men to Boko Haram attacks.
The Tide, therefore, feels that the issue at hand requires urgent and more proactive action by the Federal Government to contain this violence and culture of fear which Boko Haram has unleashed on the people, before it is exported to more states.
We are not oblivious that the Presidency has had meetings with security chiefs to chart the way forward even as some Boko Haram adherents had been reportedly arrested by security operatives.
The big surprise is that even as elements suspected to be loyal to the sect are being rounded up, those at large are carrying on their revolt against the Federal Government with impunity by the use of bombs which had killed many Nigerians and destroyed valuable property.
Needless to say that the exodus of citizens from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, would have negative effects in neigbouring states, a situation which could distract government from other important state affairs.
But since the security of lives and property of law-abiding citizens remain the core task of government, and since no government worth its name would watch helplessly while its authority is being challenged, no measure of the Federal Government to assert its authority and curb the violent activities of Boko Haram would be considered too hasty, provided such decision was reached with due considerations for national cohesion, stability and progress.
Therefore, it behoves the security agencies to intensify their information gathering and exchange mechanisms in order to stop the spread of violence to other parts of the country. There is, thus, urgent need for surveillance activities to be stepped up on the nation’s North-East borders to stop the infiltration of hoodlums from neigbouring countries who usually take advantage of our porous borders to commit dastardly across-the-border raids.
While The Tide commends the Federal Government for its calm stance towards this security challenge so far, no stone should be left unturned in unmasking those suspected senior citizens sponsoring these acts.
True, for meaningful change to evolve, some painful decisions are bound to be taken by those in authority for the future development of the country.
What the people expect from the Federal Government now is a clear departure from old practices whereby those fingered as brains behind violent crimes against humanity are never exposed and prosecuted for political and other primordial reasons.
Therefore, we challenge the Federal Government to assert itself by refusing to be stampeded into taking wrong decisions concerning this Boko Haram menace because anyone or group of persons who after Nigeria’s 50th year of independence still orchestrates those things that divide us should be made to pay, according to law.
Thus, the Federal Government should never bow to any suggestion at negotiating with the Boko Haram sect in order to avoid creating a dangerous precedent. It is our view that soldiers should not be withdrawn from the streets of Maiduguri, as being canvassed by some elders in that state until the safety of lives and property of fellow Nigerians are guaranteed.
There are moments in the life of a legislature when plain speaking becomes a public service. Senator Adams Oshiomhole provided such a moment on the floor of the Senate when he accused the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, of manifestly neglecting critical federal arteries in Edo and Delta States, and implored his colleagues to prevail on the Minister to adopt a more equitable and genuinely national approach to road infrastructure delivery. It was blunt, it was uncomfortable, and it was necessary.
The specifics of his complaint deserve restating. Drawing attention to the recent approval of some 20 new road projects despite the parlous state of existing ones, the former Edo State governor lamented that Nigerians cannot travel from Benin to Warri, Benin to Asaba, Benin to Auchi, or Auchi to Okene without encountering severe distress. He alleged a deliberate omission of these corridors from the national budget in the last three years, save for palliative interventions directed by President Bola Tinubu through tax credit arrangements. His question — “What have we done wrong?” — resonates far beyond the chambers of the National Assembly.
We lend our full and unequivocal support to that call. The Auchi-Benin Road, for instance, has been in a deplorable and near-impassable condition for several years, turning what should be a two-hour journey into an all-day ordeal of broken axles, extortionate fares, and despondent commuters. The media have, on multiple occasions, chronicled the suffering of motorists, traders, and students who ply that route. To describe it as a federal road today is to stretch the meaning of the term beyond recognition.
This pattern of sidelining is not confined to Edo or Delta. Even here in Rivers State, the disposition of the Federal Ministry of Works has left much to be desired, particularly along the Eleme axis of the East-West Road. That road, which ought to be a flagship of federal presence in the Niger Delta, has remained in a wretched state for long. Those who use it daily — workers at the Eleme Petrochemical Complex, the two refineries, Onne Port, and the countless ancillary industries — can attest to its deterioration. Work has proceeded in fits and starts without the sustained urgency such a strategic road demands.
The Eleme stretch is not a mere intra-state byway. It is the gateway to the nation’s economic jugular. According to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing’s 2023 Highway Condition Survey, only about 35 per cent of the country’s 36,000 kilometres of federal roads are rated as being in good or fair condition, with the remainder classified as poor or very poor. The East-West Road, conceived in the 1970s to bind the entire Niger Delta, remains unfinished in critical sections more than four decades after. If it had been treated as a priority, the perennial gridlock, carnage, and economic loss on the Eleme-Refinery junction would have long been consigned to history.
The irony is as painful as it is glaring. The Niger Delta remains the goose that lays the golden eggs. Data from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative [NEITI 2023 Oil and Gas Audit] show that the region still accounts for over 78 per cent of Nigeria’s federally collected export earnings and about 65 per cent of total government revenue. The National Bureau of Statistics [NBS Foreign Trade Report Q4 2024] similarly confirms that crude oil continues to dominate export receipts. By every metric of equity and economic logic, a region that sustains the national purse deserves first-rate consideration in the allocation of infrastructure, not afterthoughts and tokenism.
Road infrastructure is not largesse to be dispensed by favour; it is the skeleton upon which commerce, cohesion, and citizenship hang. When contracts are concentrated in one geopolitical zone while other zones are left to contend with craters, it erodes trust in the federation itself. The World Bank’s Nigeria Development Update [June 2023] estimated that poor transport connectivity inflates the cost of moving goods by up to 40 per cent and costs the Nigerian economy an estimated $1.5 billion annually in lost man-hours and vehicle maintenance. If we profess to be one country, then equity must be the compass that guides key institutions before any project is executed. Development must spread round, not pool in one place as though other regions do not matter.
There is also a grave security dimension that can no longer be ignored. The deplorable condition of federal roads has become a veritable enabler of criminality. The NBS Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey reported over 2.5 million incidents of kidnapping-related occurrences nationally, with transport workers identifying bad road spots as prime ambush points. When vehicles are forced to crawl at 10 kilometres per hour through failed sections at Auchi, Sapele Road, or Eleme, they become sitting ducks for armed gangs. Fixing bad roads, therefore, is not merely about convenience; it is about safeguarding lives.
By his intervention, Senator Oshiomhole has hit the nail on the head and reminded Minister Umahi of a fundamental constitutional truth: public office is held in trust. The Ministry of Works is not a personal estate where contracts are awarded according to whim or political convenience. It is a national institution funded by the collective resources of Nigerians, including the oil and gas rents from the very communities whose roads are now neglected. The Minister must demonstrate balance, transparency, and a pan-Nigerian outlook in the distribution of projects that impact the daily existence of citizens. Selective neglect breeds suspicion, and suspicion is corrosive at a time when the nation is preaching unity, oneness, equity, and justice.
Consequently, the National Assembly must go beyond rhetoric and assert its oversight powers with vigour. Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution [as amended] empower the legislature to investigate and expose any maladministration in the execution of federal projects. If an office holder is not acting rightly, it is the duty of the Senate and the House of Representatives to call him to order. Oversight must not be reduced to budget approval ceremonies; it must translate to field verification, public hearings, and insistence that the Federal Character principle, as enshrined in Section 14(3) of the Constitution, reflects in road awards.
Let the Auchi-Okene, Benin-Warri, Benin-Asaba, and Eleme East-West gangways be restored to motorable dignity. Let priority be given to completing existing, economically vital roads before embarking on new ones. If those who, through their resources, sustain the federation are sidelined in the distribution of tangible dividends, it tells poorly of our nationhood. Bad roads must be fixed, and they must be fixed now, with fairness as the guiding standard.
