The news of the execution of Hauwa Liman, a humanitarian worker with the Red Cross by terror group Boko Haram, has left the country in shock. Her death casts a huge pall on the country’s image and economic progress going forward especially as the terror group and killer herdsmen have free rein. Government must act to bring the killings to a halt if the economy is to attract foreing capital and grow in tandem.
The flow of Liman’s innocent blood is reminiscent of the ‘Bleed, bleed, poor country!’ cry by Macduff a character in Macbeth when he described the state of affairs in Scotland during the middle ages. So bad is the situation that Macbeth himself, the orchestrator of the murders wondered to himself: ‘Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand?’ This may well be describing the situation in modern day Nigeria where suspected herdsmen and men of shady ilk go on a bloodletting spree.
Like all the blood spilled by Macbeth in his time, those massacred in Nigeria’s ‘bloody business’ has its consequences. For Nigeria, beyond the geopolitical consequences, there are economic backlashes that could result from a land overflowing from the blood of the innocent, many cut short in their sleep. The first with terror credentials so acute, Nigeria would rank higher in the terror index; much higher than the last available score of 9.01 in 2016. ‘Terrorism Index in Nigeria averaged 6.50 from 2002 until 2016, reaching an all time high of 9.31 in 2015 and a record low of 3.86 in 2002,’ according to tradingeconomics.com.
The Global Terrorism Index (GTI) is a report published annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). The index provides a comprehensive summary of the key global trends and patterns in terrorism since 2000. It produces a composite score in order to provide an ordinal ranking of countries on the impact of terrorism. It is an attempt to systematically rank the nations of the world according to terrorist activity.
Though in Nigeria, there is no empirical evidence linking the spate of terrorism to low or high Foreign Direct Investment, it is noted that capital goes to where there is peace and where they are secure. This is the much talked about enabling business environment crucial for business survival.
It is in the news that farmers are fleeing danger zones to safe havens, leaving behind thriving farms and businesses to escape the blood thirsty hordes of herders. But Benue and neighbouring states are the food basket of the country! The country is in for food shortages and price increases in the coming months that would undermine food security should the situation persist. Already, the inflation has started a northward ride. “Nigeria’s annual inflation rate rose further to 11.28 percent in September of 2018 from 11.23 percent in August. It was the highest inflation rate since May, mainly due to higher cost of food”, says tradingeconomics.com.
It would be terrible if not horrifying not to have easy access to all that fresh vegetables and crops from that part of the country including beef, if there are reprisal attacks by communities. Yams, for which the country is the world’s leading producer, may become scarce. In fact yams may become forbidden items as they would be reaching us at great costs, the cost of human lives. Call them blood yams if you like, akin to blood diamonds that reach the international market from conflict zones. Interestingly, government has a yam export policy. That policy, already bugged by ineptitude and poor planning, will have one more problem-unavailability of the crop and a missed chance to earn the much harped forex from the trade.
Following from this, the economy of the region is going to take a major hit, being dependent on the agrarian economy and being dominated by peasant farmers or subsistent farmers. What a grave loss that would be. The news that filtered out of the north east, especially places like Danboa, Chibok, should give us a feel of how ghostly a town can become when livelihoods are lost. People from Kano can relate to this giving that they have had their fair share of misery during the religious crises of the middle 2000s. There is also the horror of internally displaced persons who literally scoured the length and breadth of the country for succour. Some even sought escape by crossing the borders to Niger, Chad and the Cameroons.
Let us not also forget that some manufacturers depend on farm produce coming from that part of Nigeria. These factories may close down and jobs would be lost. It would threaten manufacturing output, which in turn would translate in lower Purchasing Managers Index (PMI). When that happens, the economy could regress. There is no telling what the outcome will be with a sudden drop in agricultural and manufacturing output to the GDP.
These are the possible dire consequences of the killing of Hauwa Liman and the various terror activities that have bloodied this land. It is time for action too many Hauwa Liman may happen should the status quo perpetuate.
END
Be the first to comment