We need to talk

Last week, we were told that the princely sum of ₦100 billion ($279.3 million) was going to be given to a trade group to help curb banditry in the North West. Defending the statement, the President’s spokesman said that there’s no difference between Miyetti Allah on the one hand, and Oha na Eze and Afenifere on another.

Essentially, Miyetti Allah is no longer a trade group, but has become a socio-cultural organisation. Move over Arewa Consultative Forum then, but that’s gist for another day.

I think it is important that all of #Nigeria’s many contradictions are unbundled, so we can have an honest discussion about who we really are, what we really want to be, and where we really want to go.

In my piece in the Guardian this week, I throw up three previous examples of when our government handed over cash in order to buy peace. They all failed. Have protection rackets ever really worked?

But, what is the message being passed?