It is well
There’s a new terrorist group in Nigeria, and we should all be concerned
I’d say “Happy Friday” but I’m not in the mood this morning. It was literally just yesterday that I promised to call for the head of all the people behind this nonsense grid thing and I’m starting today. I’ll take one for the team. Nigeria will be great again (you’re welcome).
- Margaret
Word count: ~1400
Reading time ~ 5 mins
Let’s get into today’s edition:
There’s a new terrorist group in Nigeria
Female representation in Nigerian governance is in the mud
The Kaduna State governor is doing a giveaway for released #EndBadGovernance protesters
The Big Deal
There’s a new terrorist group in Nigeria
We hope you have one last “it is well” in you today because you’ll need those words of affirmation to keep you sane. The Nigerian Defence Headquarters has confirmed that a new terrorist group called Lukarawas has started operating in the Northwest region of the country.
Maj.-Gen. Edward Buba, the Director of Defence Media Operations, explained that the new terrorist group took advantage of the political unrest in Niger to illegally move to Northern Nigeria.
In case you’re wondering, this goes all the way back to July 26, 2023, when a military coup in Niger turned the country’s government upside down and made its constitution useless.
Before this coup, Niger, alongside other countries in the Lake Chad basin were part of a Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) working closely to fight terrorism in the region. After the coup happened, ECOWAS suspended Niger from being its member and also imposed some sanctions on the country, all in an effort to get its military to restore democratic government, but so far, this has worked the other way around–Niger pulled out of the MJTF because of the sanctions, weakening border security and the regional fight against terrorism. The result of this action is the news we are bringing you today; that Lukarawas snuck into Nigeria and are now wrecking more havoc than we already have to deal with.
While Buba broke the sad news on November 7, he said that Lukarawas’ attacks have mostly affected only Sokoto and Kebbi states. Not sure if that’s supposed to help any one feel better.
Why is this a big deal?
Terrorism isn’t great for any country, but it's particularly a misfortune for a country like Nigeria that’s already dealing with an insane level of insecurity. To help you understand how crazy it is, we found some important numbers so walk with us.
A 2021 study by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) shows that 350,000 people in Northeast Nigeria have lost their lives as a result of the 12-year-long terrorism and conflict in the country. Out of the 350,000 deaths, more than nine out of 10 of those killed were kids below the age of five. The UN said this level of insecurity has hit agriculture and trade hard, making food harder to get and putting Nigerians at risk of food insecurity.
It’s not only taking the lives of Nigerians, it’s also taking food off their table and worsening the country’s economic problems. From January to June 2024, the Tinubu administration invested a total of ₦1.03 trillion in fighting insecurity and terrorism yet things don’t seem to be getting better. If you read yesterday’s edition, you would know that Nigeria is walking on thin ice financially. We cannot afford to continually invest that kind of money in terrorism management.
With the unexpected operation of a new terrorist group, we expect these disturbing figures to rise in the coming months if the Nigerian government doesn’t take action immediately.
Most importantly, there’s a high chance that we’ll see more Nigerians losing their lives to violence and insecurity in the coming months. According to analysed data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), an organisation that collects data on violence and protests, at least 2,336 Nigerians lost their lives to insecurity in just the first three months of 2024. This could be rookie numbers compared to what’s to come.
Even though Buba mentioned that the Nigerian military has increased intelligence and surveillance efforts to track down these terrorists, the fact that a breached border is what landed us in this mess raises some trust issues.
Female representation in Nigerian governance is in the mud
Some folks on X seem to think that Nigeria would elect a female president before America , but we found a new update that screams “sike!” (Baby boomers, sike is how the cool kids say “you wish” these days.)
Dataphyte, a media research and data analytics organisation, released a report on November 7 that shows how women have been taking major L’s in Nigerian politics. The report revealed that only 23 women managed to squeeze a win in the 618 Local Government Elections conducted across 29 states this year, while men dominated with 595 wins. This means that governance at the grassroots level is currently made up of 96.3% men and 3.7% women.
The whole point of these elections is to represent people at the grassroots level, but if the results show that there are barely any women in this position, this means that women's interests might not be properly represented. We would have been more confident if it was any different at the higher tier of government, but that’s another ghetto that screams “bare minimum.”
The report adds that “In 2024, there are 451 males and 18 females in the Federal House of Assembly and House of Representatives. This shows that more men are represented in the political decision-making processes than women.”
Even though the pattern of female underrepresentation in government isn’t new in Nigeria, Tinubu promised to fix it as much as he could. But despite reshuffling his cabinet in October 2024, the President still isn’t close to hitting the goal of having 35% women representation in all government positions as he promised in his manifesto. We don’t need to sit at dinner tables with the President to know that this suggests the 35% goal is no longer high on his priority list. However, the lack of effort to balance this gap puts Nigerian women at risk of remaining underrepresented beyond 2030 (which is the United Nations’s set year to achieve the sustainable development goal of gender equality across the world).
The Kaduna State governor is doing a giveaway for released #EndBadGovernance protesters
On Monday, we told you how the Nigerian government detained about 76 protesters, mainly children, who appeared in the Federal High Court in Abuja on November 1. These protesters were released on Tuesday, November 5. Most of them have returned to their states since then.
Governor Sani Uba of Kaduna State didn’t just receive his own people like that. He has shown some generosity to the recently released protesters from his state. And no, it’s not rice. He gifted them ₦100,000 and smartphones—a little cash and tech to help them get back on their feet.
There are still other items on the governor’s giveaway list– He has promised to rehabilitate the 39 protesters and even empower them, provided they play nice from now on. To ensure they do, Kaduna's Secretary to the State Government, Abdulkadir Meyere, said that the governor will look at their credentials, especially if they have a degree. Those with the skills or the big brains might get start-up capital to start a business, while others will be taught new trades or get jobs.
The 39 protesters will be closely monitored to ensure they’re on their best behaviour before they start enjoying the governor’s generosity. The state government already has their contact info, next of kin, and even their phone numbers.
And to make sure they’re spiritually ready for this new chapter, both Christian and Islamic leaders gave them some “change your ways” sermons. We can argue that it's the government that ordered the arrest of Nigerians who expressed their right to protest that needs the sermon but okay.
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