Too patient with Nigeria?
July 23, 2014
Sometimes it's hard to put up with the cynics and pessimists, who knew all along that the whole emotional outcry would lead to nothing and that it was a lost cause on the crisis-ridden continent of Africa from the very beginning. But what is harder to put up with is the fact that they were right, or so it would appear at first glance. More than 200 schoolgirls have been held captive by Boko Haram, one of the world's most atrocious terrorist organizations, for a hundred days. The girls only crime was that they wanted to make something out of their lives.
The scenario of the girls' abduction was actually nothing new. It was familiar enough. After it happened, there was initially no response. It happened in a village, somewhere in rural northeast of the country, a region that has always been neglected and arouses little interest either inside or outside Nigeria. A few weeks later, the Islamist sect Boko Haram releases a horrifying video showing the girls, humiliated and scared. Boko Haram leader's Abubakar Shekau had already announced that they would be sold as slaves.
The elite under pressure
Then followed a global solidarity campaign on social media, in which compassionate celebrities like Michele Obama got involved. She was right to do so! Then the mainstream media picked up the story and sent numerous reporters to the region. They turned in highly emotional stories on the relatives and others caught up in the kidnapping. Again, they were quite right in doing this.
The United States, France and Israel sent in special forces to help in the search for the girls. That was also the right thing to do - because it put pressure on Nigeria's selfish and insensitive political elite.
President Goodluck Jonathan was forced to show compassion, put up with critical questions and look for political and military solutions. It was no longer possible to carry on as if nothing had happened.
100 days have elapsed since the girls' abduction and they are still in captivity. That in itself is not a scandal. Meanwhile, it is an open secret that the girls' whereabouts is known to the security forces. But the supposition that hundreds of girls are guarded by an even greater number of heavily armed terrorists has left the military in a state of helplessness, unable to draw a military intervention that could secure their release. .
Where is the equal distribution?
Political negotiations with terrorists remain to be highly a complex issue, and they do not belong in the public domain. Some much is understandable. It is also clear that the media attention has waned with time. The Middle East conflict, the Ukraine crisis and the terrorist activities in the Arab world are also just as important as Nigeria.
The real scandal is that this kidnapping happened at all - and that Boko Haram has been able to kill, maim and kidnap hundreds of other innocent women, men and children in the meantime. Nigeria's key problems haven't changed a bit in the last 100 days. The Nigerian state fails to function at all levels - it fails to distribute the country's oil wealth even just a little bit more equitably than before. Nigerian soldiers continue to flee in the face of Boko Haram fighters, because military funds are embezzled by corrupt generals rather than being used to buying military equipment. The West just stands by and watches what is happening in Nigeria.
Since the downing of the passenger plane over eastern Ukraine, debate is raging over a possible tightening of sanctions against Russia. Apparently the West is slowly losing its patience with the government in Moscow. Many well-known German companies receive huge orders, worth millions of euros from Nigeria. Last year, Germany spent 25 million Euros ($ 34 million) on development aid for the country. Why are people so much more patient with Nigeria?