The story of insurgency in Nigeria over the past years has not been new to most patriotic Nigerias. We wake up most mornings to have bitter news about what transpired the previous day. What this speaks of is the lifestyle of people plagued by uncertainties about what is next and who is the next victim. This persistent fear has created more and more anxiety in many Nigerians as we live in much fear. Our societies ruined, our functionality turned into shrugs, our communal lifestyles in disarray, our villages turned into some mini theatre of war, our children living and feeding on the streets, our men thrown into distress, and our lives defined by meaninglessness. War is a monster!
When the sound stops, another sound starts afresh. This sound is not physical, but psychological… who feels this is the survivor of this warfare with its spill over effect on the society. We are left with flash backs and frightening thoughts of what occurred, we are left with the fear of witnessing and seeing another occurrence, we are left with a people that only know war to be the best form of life, we are left with thoughts that hardly allow us to live a life, we are left with survivors with tunnel vision who seem to be helpless, we are left with so much troubles to find a way out…….. WE are then forced to ask ourselves questions; should we go back to the streets? That’s if war made a lot of sense to us… should we use our experiences to intimidate others? That’s if after de-radicalization and displacement we are left idle and not provided with alternative forms of lives, the streets and people around us will live in distress because they are our next hub. We are likely to have repetitive behaviours such as increased theft in our communities, increased number of child headed homes, increased number of child unwanted pregnancies as our girls prey into the hands of men with little resources, increased number of drug and substance users to help mask symptoms of trauma and depression, increased number of children on the streets due to displacement, increased number of children not in school, increased need for social amenities as outcome of post conflict…. In fact, post conflict management is more difficult to the conflict management itself because we are making a move to bring in sanity in all spheres. And my question here will be posed this way; what measures have the government to alleviate these problems?
Should the sound of the gun stops today, what will be next?
The mistake our policy makers did was not telling the upcoming generation the story of the dreaded civil war. This story was kept a bay from the people and I can’t say why. My accolades go to Chinua Achebe (There was a country) and Chimamanda Adichie (Half of a yellow sun) for writing and sharing the Biafran story, but to me, that was their views and it matters a lot; what of other versions of the story? Today, this same thing we have neglected is coming back to us. At least a psycho-education would have put a lot of things on check. Same with the story of the MASSOB, it should be taught so history can help us make informed decisions. Then, coming back to the North East, who will tell this story to the next generation? To my own view, when the whole traumatic event gets finished, there will be a need to debrief a lot of persons. In the process of debriefing, there is a need to still tell the people about the harmful effects of war which they have seen. What then comes from policy? Are our schools good enough to ensure compulsory free education for these children? Are our hospitals good enough to provide medical services to these displaced persons? Are our societies expanded enough to ensure that these children come out of school to earn a living maybe through trade and others? Are government at different levels providing the enabling grounds for rehabilitation, and reintegration? What if all the International humanitarian actors parked out of the region today, what practical ways will the government improve the lives of their people? And to the people……was there a functional society before? Can the people work out a way to help themselves? These are basic questions I keep asking and It seems to me as thou both the people and our policy makers are not ready for an afterlife.
Let us travel a bit to one country plagued by unrest in Africa….RWANDA, the genocide in Rwanda claiming about a million people; what did Paul Kagame do? He rehabilitated the survivors, reintegrated them, brought in clear cut policies backed by action, and today, Rwanda is seen as one of the African country with almost the best advancement in growth and development of recent times. The people of Rwanda have appreciated how this man did it all, and they dare not forget their story.
SOUTH AFRICA, plagued by apartheid struggles. Nelson Mandela (of blessed memory) and his team brought back South Africa to a stable position; this was possible via policy formulation, followed with action of reconciliation, reconstitution, restructuring, and rehabilitation; today South Africa is a booming nation, and they dare not forget their story.
Taking a global incidence rate in Africa: what will happen next with President Salva Kiir in South Sudan after the gun stops sounding? What will Yoweri Musuveni of Uganda do? What will Joseph kabila of DR Congo do? What will be next in CAR with president Faustin-Archange Touadera, what will be next of President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed in Somalia after Al Shabab has been taken down, what will Omar El Bashir do in South Sudan after the whole dust? Then driving back home, what will our NIGERIAN LEADERS do to help our people who seem to be in distress?? What will the African Union do at the continental level to help these ailing countries?
Will all these countries follow and design indigenous policies that will take a critical look at the fore bearing needs of their people looking at how these different armed conflicts emanated and how to prevent future occurrences? What happened to Liberia and Sierra Leone after the war? President Johnson Sir Leaf has tried in Liberia but she needs to do more in policy and action; President Tijan Kabah (immediate past president, of blessed memory) has tried despite being gullible, and now Ernest Bai Koroma will have to try more and more to attend to his people. More importantly, the story of this dreaded civil war should be told.
I hereby call on Nigerian leaders to do more and see how lasting peace can be achieved. This country should not live in fracture and the people already fractured should be attended to; post conflict management is always a Herculean task. We will have to make a move from conflict to social care and policy formulations, accompanied with action.
When we work actively, putting up relevant indigenous templates for peace, reconstruction, rehabilitation, and reintegration, then African societies will be well shaped and the people will live in less distress. Post conflict arrangements should be at the fore of policy formulation in Nigeria to be able to ensure that these wars are not repeated again. Furthermore, our curriculum will have to revisited, we need to know our story, we need to learn to accept our fate via our story and this story will have to be passed on to generations.
Nigeria will be great!!!
Evans Binan Dami
Clinical Psychologist/writer/researcher/social activist
[email protected]
07035578447
evansbinan.blogspot.com

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After The Barrel (Gun) Stops Sounding, What Will Be Next? To Our Policy Makers – Evans Binan Dami