by Elvis Osung
In the wake of the Paris attack, we all blamed Facebook for the profile filter and the safety checks put up for those in France.
There was a momentary euphoric wind of patriotism blowing around, we took advantage of the global solidarity with France to remember our plights at home.
How did the French president respond? He shut the borders and started a man hunt for suspects.
In a few hours, we had information of the identity of the terrorists, how they operated and what improved security arrangement was being put in place to prevent this from happening again.
The next few days France responded by sending fighter jets to bomb ISIS targets in Syria.
Afterwards, it has been series of meetings with world leaders to create a new offensive against ISIS.
Hollande has met Obama, Merkel and even Putin.
Let’s compare with what’s been happening back home.
Since May 29 over 3,000 Nigerians have been killed by terrorist groups, there has been no information from govt on intelligence gathering from these events, we do not know the master minds, they are not even apprehended as a means to prevent them from perpetuating more attacks.
Just recently, it has been widely acclaimed that over 100 soldiers from a battalion in Warri just recently transferred to the war front have been missing, some claim it was a case of friendly fire, others claimed the terrorists overpowered them.
How can the grand commander of the federal republic not take proactive actions on the loss of his men?
Who takes care of the welfare of the families of this military men?
How can he not provide Nigerians with accurate verifiable information?
How can men who fight to protect our territorial integrity be treated with little regard?
Can you imagine how the American public or government will react if any of its troops were unaccounted for in any of its global operations?
To show the value Putin places on the life of a Russian Citizen, Russia has taken very many actions against Turkey economically for the loss of their jet and endangering the lives of their pilots.
That is how responsible presidents respond to loss of citizens, especially men of the armed forces who fight for all of us.
For the umpteenth time, there was a bomb blast in Kano while the president was busy walking the red carpet in Malta in the name of Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting.
As important as a CHOGM meeting may be, I am not sure any of those heads of govt will be in that meeting if they heard that an attack in their country has killed one person let alone 20 or more people.
A responsible leader will leave the meeting and return home or use the platform to advocate for cooperation and support from the CHOGM leaders in the fight against insurgency.
But our leader would prefer to conceal the incident abroad while smiling to the camera and shaking hands with the queen.
It is okay to blame the rest of the world for not showing enough concern towards our plight as Nigerians in the fight against terrorism but is our president doing enough?
Are we as Nigerians also showing sufficient concern and making the issue the front burner issue that requires immediate attention from our govt and the world?
There is a popular saying that “you cannot cry more than the bereaved”.
When our president places a higher premium on the lives of a Nigerian citizen, the whole world will notice and do same.
It’s time for the president to do something drastic to end terrorism, it is one of the key reasons he was voted into power.
December is by the corner, we hope and pray this scourge of terrorism will soon be a thing of the past.
When Nigerian lives matter to us, it will matter to the rest of the world.
Elvis Osung is a leadership strategy analyst and a development knowledge facilitator who is passionate about capacity building through public speaking and mentoring. He is an engineer. Connect with him on Facebook.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
