Boko Haram & The Politics Of NGOs, by Gaji Ahmed

Boko Haram & The Politics of NGOs, by Gaji Ahmed

From the inception of boko haram in 2009, Borno in particular and North-East in general knows no peace. The insurgency that was led by 39 year Cleric, Late Muhammad Yusuf had led to a series of sorrow, misery and calamity.

Borno was known to be the most peaceful state in the federation of Nigeria before 2009, BH upheaval, sadly, ten years after the uprising, we are still counting our losses in both human and capital resources.

So far, estimates have shown that nearly 30,000 people were killed, hundreds of thousands were injured, 2.4 million people were displaced, 9 Billion Dollars worth properties were destroyed, about (3.5 Trillion Naira) Several schools were burnt and thousands were widowed and orphaned.

The NGOs who are here to support the victims of insurgency by providing health care, food and other basis needs of the IDPs were recently in the media over an allegation that they are providing humanitarian support to the outlawed terrorist group (BH), in fact, the military authority suspended the activities of 2 NGOs who were suspected of aiding BH terrorist.

Most people do not trust the NGOs, because they are seen as a major obstacle toward achieving a lasting peace in the affected areas, there are several allegations against the aid groups, in my observation, the only way to build trust between the NGOs and the people is by recruiting the indigene of the affected areas to work with the NGOs, the current policy of recruitment by the aid groups has indeed created mistrust, suspicion and resentment among the people, it’s sad to note that, majority of the employees of those NGOS are non indigene, most of them don’t speak the language of the affected areas, there are complaints that the recruitment by the NGOS favor a particular religious group, while the number of overwhelming majority religious group of the affected areas in the service of the aid groups are insignificant, hence, the aim is almost defeated.

If truth be told, the NGOs should consider the indigenous of the affected areas in the first place, because they know the terrain and every bit of the society better than the outsiders, the indigenous are also qualified to do the job well.

If truly they want peace to reign, they should consider the people of the state, by doing so, the issue of BH will be a thing of the past.

There is no way people will be convinced that the NGOs are sincere as long as they continue with the current trend, many locals are of the belief that the aid groups are the ones responsible for the persistence of the insurgency. ..

I am appealing to all NGO’s to consider the above suggestion if truly they want to help us, we know our areas and problems better than any outsiders, our youth are well qualified to do the job, failure to do so will prolong the crisis and the populace will never trust the NGOs, the state government should as a matter of urgency, should monitor all the activities of the NGOs through a competent and patriotic hands who will not place personal interest above communal interest.

May God restore peace back to our dear nation… Amin, G.A…
6/11/19…